154th Open Championship: See who earned starts at Royal Birkdale via Final Qualifying

Final Qualifying for The Open Championship, contested on Tuesday, June 30, provided one of the last chances for players to qualify for The 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.

The R&A offered five spots in The Open via each of four 36-hole qualifying sites: Burnham & Berrow, Dundonald Links, Royal Cinque Ports and West Lancashire.

The Open Final Qualifying exudes a similar vibe to U.S. Open Final Qualifying, with rising stars and wily veterans jockeying for tee times in a major championship (and ties for the last qualifying position settled by a hole-by-hole playoff).

Here's a look at the players who qualified for The 154th Open Championship via Tuesday's Final Qualifying.

Burnham & Berrow

• Location: Burnham-on-Sea, England
• See scores here
• Qualifiers: James Nicholas, Caleb Surratt, Tom Sloman, Alejandro de Castro Piera, Austen Truslow

Storyline to know: The summer of James Nicholas continues, as the Korn Ferry Tour pro carded rounds of 65-67 to earn medalist honors and punch his ticket to his second major of the season. In the last 10 days, Nicholas played the weekend at the U.S. Open in his native New York, played the Korn Ferry Tour's Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS in Springfield, Illinois, and flew to England to compete in Final Qualifying on Tuesday. The Yale alum currently stands No. 16 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List, with the season-ending top 20 earning PGA TOUR membership for 2027. Nicholas has never held a PGA TOUR card, but his major experience should serve him well during the Korn Ferry Tour's stretch run.

Dundonald Links

• Location: Irvine, Scotland
• See scores here
• Qualifiers: Jack McDonald, Matthew Baldwin, David Howard (a), Nevill Ruiter (a), Marcus Plunkett

Storyline to know: 32-year-old Marcus Plunkett, who served five years in the United States Army as a transportation officer, is headed to The Open. Plunkett carded rounds of 69-72 at Dundonald Links to punch his ticket to Royal Birkdale by the slimmest of margins; had he finished one stroke higher, he would have faced a 5-for-1 playoff. Plunkett turned pro in 2021 after his military stint and earned Korn Ferry Tour membership for 2025, but he finished No. 134 on the season-long standings and lost his card. He's currently competing on the Asian Tour and Asian Development Tour, but he made a Tuesday trip to Scotland that proved fruitful, and hence he will make his major-championship debut in two weeks.

Royal Cinque Ports

• Location: Deal, England
• See scores here
• Qualifiers: Baard Bjoernevik Skogen, M.J. Daffue, Matthew Southgate, Peter Uihlein, Antoine Rozner

Storyline to know: Baard Bjoernevik Skogen has kept the good times rolling for Norwegian golf, posting rounds of 68-64 to share medalist honors at Royal Cinque Ports and comfortably advance into his first major championship. Skogen played collegiately at Texas Tech, where he won the 2024 NCAA Baton Rouge Regional as a senior, and he is currently competing on the HotelPlanner Tour (the premier pathway to the DP World Tour).

West Lancashire

• Location: Liverpool, England
• See scores here
• Qualifiers: Samuel Bairstow, Kazuma Kobori, Jose Luis Ballester Barrio, Tiger Christensen, Matthew Jordan

Storyline to know: 30-year-old Matthew Jordan has been a maestro at The Open Championship in recent years, and the Englishman has punched his ticket to the season's final major once again. Jordan advanced from a 3-for-1 playoff at West Lancashire after finishing at 8-under for 36 holes, and he'll look to build on three consecutive made cuts at The Open, including a pair of T10 finishes in 2023 and 2024. Jordan, who competes on the DP World Tour, will make his fifth straight start at The Open.