Mito Pereira and Sebastian Munoz, two of the latest recruits to LIV Golf, have lost their spots into The Open Championship following the removal of the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup exemption.
The exemption, which applied in alternate years, had given players in the most recent Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup an exemption into the only Major outside of the States.
But Pereira and Munoz along with PGA Tour players Taylor Pendrith and Cameron Davis will now have to find another qay to qualify for the 151st edition at Royal Liverpool later this year.
Reigning Open champion Cameron Smith and fellow LIV players Phil Mickelson, Henrik Stenson, Louis Oosthuizen, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Thomas Pieters, Richard Bland, Joaquin Niemann and Talor Gooch remain eligible through various categories.
Golfers aiming to book their place in The Open will have opportunities at 15 professional events in nine countries.
A total of 34 places are available through The Open Qualifying Series being played around the world on the PGA TOUR, DP World Tour, Asian Tour, Japan Golf Tour, PGA Tour of Australasia and Sunshine Tour.
The number of places at Final Qualifying has been increased by four to provide a minimum of 16 places through events being held at Burnham & Berrow, Dundonald Links, Royal Cinque Ports and West Lancashire on 4 July.
Johnnie Cole-Hamilton, Executive Director – Championships at The R&A, said, “We have created an exciting schedule of events which takes in many regions around the world and provides the chance for golfers to earn a place in The Open at Royal Liverpool. We are grateful to our colleagues at the professional tours for their support and look forward to seeing who emerges from each event to book a sought-after place in the Championship this year.”
Three PGA TOUR events are included in the schedule, including the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, the Wells Fargo Championship and the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday. Each event will offer three qualifying places.
In Asia, a total of ten places will be available through the World City Championship presented by the Hong Kong Golf Club on the Asian Tour, the Mizuno Open on the Japan Golf Tour and the KOLON Korea Open, which is co-sanctioned by the Korean Golf Association and Asian Tour.
On the DP World Tour, three places will be awarded at the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo, Made in HimmerLand and Genesis Scottish Open.
Six golfers have already earned places through the Joburg Open and ISPS HANDA Australian Open which were played at the end of last year.
In a change to previous criteria, qualifying places will now be awarded to the leading players who make the cut and are not already exempt as of the closing date of entries for The Open on 1 June.
Any golfer earning a qualifying place who then becomes exempt under one or more categories before the closing date of entries will result in that place being awarded to the next non-exempt golfer, which will determined by a reserve list for each event played before 1 June.