The 2014 event was the twelfth Open Championship played at Royal Liverpool Golf Club.[3] The most recent was in 2006, with Tiger Woods winning his second consecutive Open Championship title, holding off Chris DiMarco with a two-shot victory. The first open at the venue was in 1897, won by amateur Harold Hilton by a stroke ahead of James Braid.
8. First 5 European Tour members and any European Tour members tying for 5th place, not otherwise exempt, in the top 20 of the Race to Dubai on completion of the 2014 BMW International Open
14. First 5 PGA Tour members and any PGA Tour members tying for 5th place, not exempt in the top 20 of the PGA Tour FedEx Cup points list for 2014 on completion of the 2014 Travelers Championship
21. First 2 and anyone tying for 2nd place, in a cumulative money list taken from all official 2014 Japan Golf Tour events up to and including the 2014 Japan Golf Tour Championship.
Major changes were made to qualification routes.[16] The Open Qualifying Series (OQS) was introduced, consisting of 10 events from the six major tours. This series largely replaced International Final Qualifying. Places were 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 according to their position in that week's Official World Golf Ranking.
Unlike in previous years, when final qualifying had been held on courses close to the Open Championship venue, events were played at four courses covering Scotland and the North, Central and South regions of England.
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. Any places made available after the week 27 rankings issued on 6 July 2014 used these week 27 rankings.[10]
From the Week 26 Official World Golf Ranking:[18][19]
Rory McIlroy shot a second consecutive round of 66 (−6) to post a 132 total (−12) and a four-shot lead after 36 holes.[24]Dustin Johnson had the lowest round of the tournament with a 65 (−7) to move into second place.[25]
In anticipation of an approaching severe storm with lightning Saturday afternoon, the R&A announced Friday that the third round would be played off both the 1st and 10th tees in threesomes. Normal play is from only the first tee in pairs. This was the first time that play went off both tees at The Open.[26]
Rickie Fowler, beginning the round six shots behind leader Rory McIlroy, recorded birdies on 7 of his first 12 holes to pull into a tie for the lead at 12-under. Still tied, Fowler made bogey on the 14th, while McIlroy made a 35-foot (11 m) putt for birdie and a two-shot swing which gave him the lead again. At the par-5 16th, Fowler made another bogey to drop into a tie for second with playing partner Sergio García.[27] McIlroy then eagled the hole to take a 5-shot lead after the three-shot swing with Fowler. All three players bogeyed the 17th. At the par-5 18th, García made par and Fowler made birdie, but McIlroy hit his approach to 6 feet (1.8 m) and made another eagle, pushing his lead to six shots after 54 holes. McIlroy was the only person to eagle the 16th and 18th holes in the third round. Going into the closing round, McIlroy was within three shots of both the Open scoring record to par and the record score to par for all major championships, both of which are −19. The severe storms expected never materialized, although heavy showers preceded and followed third round play.[28]
Sergio García applied pressure on the leader Rory McIlroy early, making birdie at three of the first five holes. McIlroy responded with a birdie at the 1st hole, while playing partner Rickie Fowler missed a number of early opportunities for birdie. McIlroy made bogey at both the 5th and the 6th to drop his lead to 3 shots, and came back with a birdie at the 9th. García made an eagle at the 10th, besting McIlroy and Fowler who both made birdie.[29] McIlroy made bogey at 13 to fall to −16 and his lead fell to two shots over García. However, García missed the green at the 15th in a greenside bunker and failed to escape the bunker on his first attempt. He made bogey and dropped into a tie with Fowler at −13.[30] All three players made birdie at 16, and McIlroy missed the green at the 17th. His chip shot rolled to within a foot from the cup, securing par. Fowler and García both made birdie at the 18th. McIlroy made par for a two-shot victory.[31]Jim Furyk finished fourth, as he did in 2006, also at Hoylake.[32]
The low round of the day and the championship was 65 (−7), recorded by four players in placid conditions on Sunday.[33]
Rory McIlroy
