The 2018 Open Championship was the 147th Open Championship and was held from 19–22 July 2018 at Carnoustie Golf Links in Angus, Scotland. It was the eighth Open Championship to be played at Carnoustie.
Playing conditions were unusual as a result of the heatwave in Scotland which had produced brown, dry and sun-baked fairways and brown rough. The fairways played quickly, enabling several players to hit drives that covered over 400 yards.
Francesco Molinari posted a bogey-free final round of 69 to win his first major championship. Molinari finished two shots ahead of Kevin Kisner, Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Xander Schauffele. He became the first Italian player to win a major.
Media The 2018 Open Championship was the third to be televised domestically by Sky Sports on dedicated channel Sky Sports The Open. In the United States, it was the third Open Championship to be televised by NBC (Golf Channel's parent network).
Venue
The 2018 event was the eighth Open Championship played at the Carnoustie Golf Links. The most recent was in 2007, with Pádraig Harrington winning the first of his two consecutive Open titles.
Course layout Championship Course
HoleNameYardsPar HoleNameYardsPar1 Cup 396 4 10 South America 465 42 Gulley 461 4 11 Dyke 382 43 Jockie's Burn 350 4 12 Southward Ho 503 44 Hillocks 415 4 13 Whins 175 35 Brae 412 4 14 Spectacles 513 56 Hogan's Alley ^ 580 5 15 Lucky Slap 472 47 Plantation 410 4 16 Barry Burn 248 38 Short 187 3 17 Island 460 49 Railway 474 4 18 Home 499 4Out 3,685 36 In 3,717 35 Total 7,402 71 ^ the 6th hole was named Long until 2003
Lengths of the course for previous Opens:
2007: , par 71 1999: , par 71 1975: , par 72 1968: , par 72
1953: , par 72 1937: , par 72 1931: , par 72
Field The Open Championship field was made up of 156 players, who gained entry through various exemption criteria and qualifying tournaments. The criteria included past Open champions, recent major winners, top ranked players in the world rankings and from the leading world tours, and winners and high finishers from various designated tournaments, including the Open Qualifying Series; the winners of designated amateur events, including The Amateur Championship and U.S. Amateur, also gained exemption provided they remain an amateur. Anyone not qualifying via exemption, and had a handicap of 0.4 or lower, could gain entry through regional and final qualifying events.
The 2018 Open was the final appearance for 1985 champion Sandy Lyle.
Criteria and exemptions Each player is classified according to the first category in which he qualified, but other categories are shown in parentheses.
1. The Open Champions aged 60 or under on 22 July 2018
Mark Calcavecchia Stewart Cink (2) Darren Clarke (2) David Duval Ernie Els (2) Todd Hamilton Pádraig Harrington (2) Zach Johnson (2) Tom Lehman Sandy Lyle Rory McIlroy (2,3,4,5,10) Phil Mickelson (2,4,15) Louis Oosthuizen (2,4,15) Jordan Spieth (2,3,4,8,9,12,15) Henrik Stenson (2,4,5) Tiger Woods
Eligible but did not enter: Ian Baker-Finch, Ben Curtis, Justin Leonard Paul Lawrie and John Daly withdrew before the tournament.
2. The Open Champions for 2008–2017
3. Top 10 finishers and ties in the 2017 Open Championship
Rafa Cabrera-Bello (4,5) Branden Grace (4,5,15) Brooks Koepka (4,8,12,15) Matt Kuchar (4,12,15) Marc Leishman (4,12,15) Li Haotong (4,5) Alex Norén (4,5,6) Matthew Southgate
4. Top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) for Week 21, 2018
Kiradech Aphibarnrat (5) Daniel Berger (12,15) Patrick Cantlay (12) Paul Casey (12) Kevin Chappell (12,15) Jason Day (10,11,12,15) Bryson DeChambeau Tony Finau (12) Ross Fisher (5) Matt Fitzpatrick (5) Tommy Fleetwood (5) Rickie Fowler (12,15) Sergio García (5,9,12) Adam Hadwin (12,15) Brian Harman (12) Tyrrell Hatton (5) Charley Hoffman (12,15) Dustin Johnson (8,12,15) Kim Si-woo (11,15) Kevin Kisner (12,15) Satoshi Kodaira (20) Alexander Lévy (5) Hideki Matsuyama (12,15) Francesco Molinari (5,6) Pat Perez (12) Ian Poulter Jon Rahm (5,12) Patrick Reed (9,12,15) Justin Rose (5,12) Xander Schauffele (12) Charl Schwartzel (5,15) Webb Simpson (11,12) Cameron Smith Kyle Stanley (12) Brendan Steele Justin Thomas (10,12,15) Bubba Watson (9) Gary Woodland (12)
5. Top 30 on the 2017 Race to Dubai
Nicolas Colsaerts Paul Dunne Dylan Frittelli Scott Jamieson Shane Lowry Thorbjørn Olesen Thomas Pieters Jordan Smith Hideto Tanihara Peter Uihlein Lee Westwood Fabrizio Zanotti
Bernd Wiesberger did not play due to injury.
6. Last three BMW PGA Championship winners
Chris Wood
7. Top 5 players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2018 Race to Dubai through the BMW International Open
Alexander Björk Jorge Campillo Matt Wallace
8. Last five U.S. Open winners
Martin Kaymer
9. Last five Masters Tournament winners
Danny Willett
10. Last five PGA Championship winners
Jason Dufner (12) Jimmy Walker
11. Last three Players Championship winners
12. The 30 qualifiers for the 2017 Tour Championship
Russell Henley Jhonattan Vegas (15)
13. Top 5 players, not already exempt, within the top 20 of the 2018 FedEx Cup points list through the Travelers Championship
Chesson Hadley Patton Kizzire Luke List
14. Winner of the 2017 Open de Argentina
Brady Schnell
15. Playing members of the 2017 Presidents Cup teams
Emiliano Grillo Anirban Lahiri Adam Scott
16. Winner of the 2017 Asian Tour Order of Merit
Gavin Green
17. Winner of the 2017 PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit
Brett Rumford
18. Winner of the 2017–18 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit
George Coetzee
19. Winner of the 2017 Japan Open
Yuta Ikeda
20. Top 2 on the 2017 Japan Golf Tour Official Money List
Yūsaku Miyazato
21. Top 2, not already exempt, on the 2018 Japan Golf Tour Official Money List through the Japan Golf Tour Championship
Kodai Ichihara Ryuko Tokimatsu
22. Winner of the 2017 Senior Open Championship
Bernhard Langer
23. Winner of the 2018 Amateur Championship
Jovan Rebula (a)
24. Winner of the 2017 U.S. Amateur Doc Redman forfeited his exemption by turning professional in May 2018.
25. Winner of the 2018 European Amateur
Nicolai Højgaard (a)
26. Recipient of the 2017 Mark H. McCormack Medal Joaquín Niemann forfeited his exemption by turning professional in April 2018.
27. Winner of the 2017 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship
Lin Yuxin (a)
Open Qualifying Series The Open Qualifying Series (OQS) consisted of 11 events from the six major tours and the Korean Tour. Places were available to the leading players (not otherwise exempt) who finish in the top n and ties. In the event of ties, positions went to players ranked highest according to that week's OWGR.
Location Tournament Date Spots Top Qualifiers Australia Emirates Australian Open 26 Nov 3 10 Jonas Blixt, Cameron Davis, Matt Jones Africa Joburg Open 11 Dec 3 10 Shaun Norris, Shubhankar Sharma, Erik van Rooyen Singapore SMBC Singapore Open 21 Jan 4 12 Danthai Boonma, Sean Crocker, Lucas Herbert, Jazz Janewattananond Japan Mizuno Open 27 May 4 12 Shota Akiyoshi, Michael Hendry, Masahiro Kawamura, Masanori Kobayashi Korea Kolon Korea Open 24 Jun 2 8 Choi Min-chel, Park Sang-hyun France HNA Open de France 1 Jul 3 10 Marcus Kinhult, Russell Knox, Julian Suri United States Quicken Loans National 1 Jul 4 12 Abraham Ancer, Ryan Armour, Bronson Burgoon, Kang Sung-hoon Ireland Dubai Duty Free Irish Open 8 Jul 3 10 Ryan Fox, Zander Lombard, Andy Sullivan United States A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier 8 Jul 4 12 Austin Cook, Jason Kokrak, Kelly Kraft, Brandt Snedeker Scotland Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open 15 Jul 3 10 Jens Dantorp, Eddie Pepperell, Brandon Stone United States John Deere Classic 15 Jul 1 5 Michael Kim
Final Qualifying The Final Qualifying events were played on 3 July at four courses covering Scotland and the North-West, Central and South-coast regions of England. Three qualifying places were available at each location.
Location Qualifiers Notts (Hollinwell) Rhys Enoch, Ashton Turner, Oliver Wilson Prince's Retief Goosen, Tom Lewis, Haraldur Magnús St Annes Old Links Marcus Armitage, James Robinson, Jack Senior Renaissance Club Thomas Curtis, Grant Forrest, Sam Locke (a)
Alternates To make up the full field of 156, additional places were allocated in ranking order from the Official World Golf Ranking at the time that these places were made available by the Championship Committee. From the Week 25 (week ending 24 June) Official World Golf Ranking:
Chez Reavie (ranked 53) An Byeong-hun (56) Charles Howell III (60) Kevin Na (63) Beau Hossler (64) Ryan Moore (67)
From the Week 27 (week ending 8 July) Official World Golf Ranking:
Andrew Landry (68) Keegan Bradley (75)
Round summaries First round Thursday, 19 July 2018
Kevin Kisner opened with 66 (−5) for a one-shot lead over Tony Finau, Zander Lombard, and Erik van Rooyen. Kisner was one-over after his first five holes before making a 40-foot eagle putt at the 6th. He made another 35-footer for birdie at the following hole, and added three straight birdies on the back-nine.
Finau made eight birdies in his round to join Van Rooyen and Lombard in second place. Defending champion Jordan Spieth was 3-under before playing his final four holes in 4-over, including a double bogey at the 15th. He finished with 72 (+1). Three-time champion Tiger Woods, playing at the Open for the first time since 2015, had two early birdies but made three bogeys on the back-nine to finish even-par.
PlacePlayerScoreTo par1 Kevin Kisner 66 −5T2 Tony Finau 67 −4 Zander Lombard Erik van RooyenT5 Ryan Moore 68 −3 Brendan Steele Brandon StoneT8 Russell Henley 69 −2 Zach Johnson Kang Sung-hoon Rory McIlroy Pat Perez Jon Rahm Chez Reavie Matthew Southgate Justin Thomas Danny Willett
Second round Friday, 20 July 2018
Zach Johnson, the 2015 champion, holed a 30-foot putt at the 18th to post a round of 67 (−4) and tie first round leader Kevin Kisner. Kisner held a two-shot lead playing the 18th, but hit his approach in the burn guarding the green and made double bogey.
Pat Perez, Tommy Fleetwood and Xander Schauffele were a shot behind at five-under. Perez was tied for the lead playing the 18th, but hit into a bunker and made bogey. Fleetwood, runner-up at the U.S. Open after shooting 63 in the final round, shot a bogey-free 65 (−6); Fleetwood owns the course record of 63 at Carnoustie, made at the 2017 Dunhill Links Championship.
Rory McIlroy, the 2014 champion, shot 69 (−2) for a second straight day to join a group two shots out of the lead. Jordan Spieth, one-over after the first round, rebounded with a 4-under 67 to get within three of the lead, while Tiger Woods shot another even-par round.
World No. 1 and 2 Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas both missed the cut, Johnson making a double bogey at the last while Thomas made three straight double bogeys on the front-nine.
PlacePlayerScoreTo parT1 Zach Johnson 69-67=136 −6 Kevin Kisner 66-70=136T3 Tommy Fleetwood 72-65=137 −5 Pat Perez 69-68=137 Xander Schauffele 71-66=137T6 Tony Finau 67-71=138 −4 Matt Kuchar 70-68=138 Zander Lombard 67-71=138 Rory McIlroy 69-69=138 Erik van Rooyen 67-71=138
Amateurs: Locke (+3), Højgaard (+6), Lin (+12), Rebula (+16)
Third round Saturday, 21 July 2018
Defending champion Jordan Spieth shot a six-under 65 to tie Kevin Kisner and Xander Schauffele for the 54-hole lead. Spieth, beginning the third round three off the lead, drove the green on the par-four 1st and made eagle, and then added a birdie on the 4th to tie. At the 10th, he hit his tee shot into the rough but managed to escape with a birdie, and then made another at 11. He birdied the par-5 14th, and then holed a long birdie putt at the par-3 16th.
Schauffele shot a four-under 67 that included six birdies, finishing his round with a long putt at the 18th from just off the back of the green. Kisner, tied for the lead coming into the round, shot a bogey-free 68 (−3).