11 huge names not playing at The Open from injured LIV star to three-time champion

Scottie Scheffler will defend The Open at Royal Birkdale this weekend as a sea of prominent names flock to Merseyside. The American will hope to become the first golfer in nearly two decades to win the tournament in back-to-back years after claiming the crown at Portrush in 2025.

Rory McIlroy will be one of the biggest threats to Scheffler over the coming days. Twelve years have passed since McIlroy won The Open just down the coast at Royal Liverpool, hoping a return to familiar territory will help him add to the Masters title he already won in April. However, the field will have a number of notable absences from Thursday’s tee list as the fourth and final major of the year gets underway. The most significant among those could be three-time champion Tiger Woods, who also won one of those crowns on Merseyside back in 2006.

Woods, 50, remains sidelined following a car crash in late March. He attended rehab following the Florida incident and is now said to be recovering, though that hasn’t included any appearances on the court just yet.

Another elder statesman set to miss out is Phil Mickelson, who has endured some personal struggles of his own this year. ‘Lefty’, who won The Open at Muirfield in 2013, has sought to keep his family health issues out of the public spotlight and has played just one LIV Golf event so far in 2026.

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Dustin Johnson will also sit this one out after failing to qualify for the tournament, with his exemption following victory at the 2020 Masters finally running out. The world No. 211 has yet to win The Open but did finish with a share of second place in 2011, ending up three strokes behind Darren Clarke.

Johnson withdrew from Final Qualifying last month, whereas Sergio Garcia ended seven shots short of the score he needed to make a late run into contention. Tony Finau also misses the mark after slipping out of the world’s top 100 and misses all four majors in a calendar year for the first time since 2014.

Elsewhere, Louis Oosthuizen will not feature at The Open for the first time since 2008. After withdrawing from the recent LIV Golf UK event, the South African and 2010 champion released a statement saying his ongoing back injury would rule him out of The Open, too.

Zach Johnson, who won The Open at St. Andrews in 2015, also could have played thanks to his exemption, but won’t be at Royal Birkdale. The American cited a busy schedule as the reason for his absence, but he’ll be back at Gleneagles next week for the Senior Open.

English favourite Danny Willett and former amateur standout Will Zalatoris have each failed to qualify. Zalatoris, in particular, has disappeared from major contention over the last couple of years, missing the cut in his last four major appearances and failing to even qualify for a tournament since the 2025 PGA Championship.

Australia’s Elvis Smylie was expected to take part at Royal Birkdale but has been sidelined by a rib injury. Meanwhile, former No. 1 amateur Jackson Koivun gave up his exemption to the tournament, earned after winning the Mark McCormack medal, after turning pro last month.