Road to Royal Troon Begins: R&A reveals initial qualifying events for the 152nd Open

The R&A recently announced the initial qualifying events for the upcoming 152nd Open. Apart from the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, and the PGA Tour of Australasia, the list of qualifying series events includes various tournaments across other golf circuits such as the Japan Golf Tour, the Asian Tour, and the KPGA Korean Tour.

The 152nd edition of the world's oldest golf major tournament will be played at the Royal Troon Golf Club, in South Ayrshire, Scotland. The tournament is slated to kick off on July 18 and will be played until July 21.

Players from LIV Golf can also qualify for the 152nd Open through various qualifying series events they are eligible to play. Dean Burmester, Charl Schwartzel, and Branden Grace are a few LIV golfers who will be seen playing in the Sunshine Tour's Joburg Open later this week and can earn an invite for themselves.

The R&A's executive director of championships Johnnie Cole-Hamilton has issued a statement in connection with the qualifying scenarios for the 152nd edition of the world's oldest golf major tournament.

As quoted by the official website of The Open Championship, he said:

"The race to qualify for The 152nd Open at Royal Troon is now underway and offers golfers all over the world a range of opportunities to secure a coveted place in the Championship. We look forward to seeing the drama unfold in the coming months as golfers emerge from tour events or Final Qualifying to book their place at Royal Troon next year."

Exploring the list of tournaments revealed by R&A as qualifying events for the 152nd Open

In the press release, it was stated that the four PGA Tour events would fill seven spots. The Arnold Palmer Invitational, The Memorial Tournament, the RBC Canadian Open, and the John Deere Classic are the four tournaments from the leading Northern American golf tour.

Also, three more events from Asia are said to be added as the qualifying series events for the 152nd Open. The Final Qualifying events scheduled on July 2 will offer at least 16 spots.

Below is the initial list of qualifying series events:

Joburg Open (Three places)

Venue - Houghton, Johannesburg
Date - November 23 to 26

ISPS Handa Australian Open (Three places)

Venue - The Lakes & The Australian, Sydney
Date - November 30 to December 3

Arnold Palmer Invitational (One place)

Venue - Bay Hill, Florida
Date - March 7 to 10

RBC Canadian Open (Three places)

Venue - Hamilton Golf & Country Club, Toronto
Date - May 30 to June 2

The Memorial Tournament (One place)

Venue - Muirfield Village, Ohio
Date - June 6 to 9

KLM Open (Two places)

Venue - The International, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Date - June 20 to 23

Regional Qualifying (Various)

Date - June 24

Italian Open (Two places)

Venue - Adriatic Golf Club, Cervia
Date - June 27 to 30

Final Qualifying (minimum of 16 places)

Venues - Burnham & Berrow, Dundonald Links, Royal Cinque Ports, West Lancashire
Date - July 2

John Deere Classic (Two places)

Venue - TPC Deere Run, Illinois
Date - July 4 to 7

Genesis Scottish Open (Three places)

Venue - The Renaissance Club, East Lothian
Date - July 11 to 14

It is noteworthy that the R&A mentioned that if any player initially qualified through the qualifying series events gets an exemption through any other category, the next-best player would earn an invite to the 152nd Open.