The Open Championship qualification was first introduced in 1907, and is the process that a player goes through to qualify for The Open Championship. The Open Championship is the oldest golf competition in the world, and generally regarded as one of the most prestigious.^[1] The qualifying structure is designed to reduce more than 2,500 entrants on five continents, to a field size of 156 competing in the tournament.^[2]

In the modern era, the main way players qualify is by an exemption due to their performance in major golf tours, major tournaments, or their position in the official world golf rankings. For those who are not exempt, they can qualify by performing well in the Open Qualifying Series of international sanctioned tournaments, or via local qualifying in the UK.^[3][4]

The format of the final tournament was originally 36 holes played on a single day, but has evolved to the current format of four days of 18 holes, with the lowest scoring golfers cut after the first 36 holes.

Players can qualify one of four ways, an exemption, via the Open Qualifying Series (OQS), via local qualifying, or if the field size has not reached 156, being one of the highest rated players in the official golf rankings that is not already qualified.

• Field: 156 players^[7]
• Basic format: 72 hole stroke play. Play 18 holes a day over four days, weather permitting.^[7]
• Date of tournament: Starts on the day before the third Friday in July.^[8]
• Tournament days: Thursday to Sunday.^[7]
• Tee off times: Each player has one morning and one afternoon tee time in first two days in groups of three, which are mostly randomised (with some organiser discretion). Groupings of two on the last two days with last place going off first and leaders going out last.
• Cut: After 36 holes, only top 70 and ties play the final 36 holes.^[7]
• Playoff: If there is a tie for the lead after 72 holes, a three-hole aggregate playoff is held; followed by sudden death if the lead is still tied.^[7]

Qualifying was first introduced from 1907, except 1910–1911, where a 36 hole cut was made instead. 1926 was the first year where there was both a cut and qualifying, and this has been the situation ever since. Qualifying generally happened the day before or shortly before the Open, and everyone was required to qualify until 1962. In 1963 exemptions from qualification began, mainly for past champions, but this has now expanded to cover a multitude of achievements and most of the field now qualify by exemption. In the 1980s, the R&A was concerned that its process was not adequately allowing for players which played on multiple tours, and so actively brought about what is now known as the Official World Golf Ranking to use as part of the exemption process.^[9]

In 2004 international qualifying was introduced, which meant that players did not have to travel to the UK to participate in qualifying. This was replaced in 2014 by the Open Qualifying Series, which gave qualifying spots to the best performers in existing global golf events.

The biggest change to the format of the tournament was in 1892 when the tournament was expanded from 36 holes to 72 holes. Another notable change in the rules was making it mandatory to use the "bigger" ball (as was used in America) in 1974.