Originally scheduled for 15–18 July 2021, the championship was put back one year after the 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring that the sesquicentennial celebration was at the "home of golf".[1]
Organisation
The Open Championship is organised by the R&A, and is included in the PGA Tour, European Tour, and Japan Golf Tour calendars under the major championships category. The tournament is a 72-hole (4 rounds) stroke play competition held over 4 days, with 18 holes played each day. Play is in groups of three for the first two days, and groups of two in the final two days. Groupings for the first two days are decided by the organisers, with each group having one morning, and one afternoon tee time. On the final two days, players tee off in reverse order of aggregate score, with the leaders last. After 36 holes there was a cut, after which the top 70 and ties progress through to compete in the third and fourth rounds. In the event of a tie for the lowest score after four rounds, a four-hole aggregate playoff will be held to determine the winner; this will be followed by sudden-death extra holes if necessary until a winner emerges.
The 2022 event was the 30th Open Championship played at the Old Course at St Andrews.[2] The most recent was in 2015, when Zach Johnson won the four-hole playoff for his second major title.
The Open Championship field is 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, can gain entry through regional and final qualifying events.
Criteria and exemptions
Each player is classified according to the first category in which he qualified, but other categories are shown in parentheses.[5][6]
1. The Open Champions aged 60 or under on 17 July 2022
The Open Qualifying Series for the 2022 Open Championship consists of 12 events. Places are available to the leading players (not otherwise exempt) who finished in the top n and ties. In the event of ties, positions went to players ranked highest according to that week's OWGR.[11]
Final Qualifying events were played on 28 June at four locations. Four qualifying places were available at each location, with 72 golfers competing at each.[12]
In order to fill additional places or replace exempt players who had withdrawn prior to the start of the Championship, and maintain the full field of 156, additional players were either taken in ranking order from Official World Golf Ranking at the time they were added, or from Final Qualifying.[6]
From the Week 26 (26 June) Official World Golf Ranking:[13]
PGA Tour rookie Cameron Young had a two-shot lead after a bogey-free round of 8 under par, two shots ahead of pre-tournament favourite Rory McIlroy.[14] Defending champion Collin Morikawa opened with a level-par 72 while three-time winner Tiger Woods double-bogeyed the first and continued to struggle there on, finishing at 6 over.[15]
Cameron Smith took the lead on a score of 131, the lowest 36-hole score in Open Championship history at St. Andrews.[17]Cameron Young fell to second place, two strokes behind, after a second-round 69. Viktor Hovland and Rory McIlroy were a further stroke behind in a tie for third place. 83 players made the cut of level par, including four amateurs. Defending champion Collin Morikawa missed the cut by a stroke.
Viktor Hovland and Rory McIlroy each shot rounds of 66 to tie for first after the third round at −16. Cameron Smith, who shot 73, and Cameron Young, who shot 71, dropped back to four strokes behind at −12. McIlroy was trying for his second Open title and first major victory in eight years while Hovland was looking for his first major.[18]
Cameron Smith came from four strokes behind to win the Open. He made eight birdies in his round of 64, which was joint low round of the tournament, and was the lowest final round score by a champion at St Andrews. Cameron Young made an eagle on the final hole to finish one stroke back. Rory McIlroy, third round co-leader, managed only two birdies in his round and finished a further stroke behind. Viktor Hovland, the other third round co-leader, shot a two-over-par 74 to finish tied for fourth with Tommy Fleetwood. Smith's total of 20 under par tied the to-par record in a major, last reached by Dustin Johnson at the 2020 Masters Tournament.[19]
^Calcavecchia was 62 years old, but was given an exemption into the event following cancellation of the 2020 event and injury in 2021.[7]
^ abDaniel Berger withdrew due to a back injury; he was replaced by Sahith Theegala.[8]
^ abJustin Rose withdrew shortly before his scheduled first round tee time due to a back injury; he was replaced by Rikuya Hoshino (first reserve Alex Norén (67) was unavailable, not having travelled to Scotland).[9][10]
^ abErik van Rooyen withdrew before his tee time due to a neck injury; he was replaced by Aaron Rai.[9][10]
^All players in the top 20 were already qualified.
