Blixt and Weekley among 18 players receiving last spots in British Open

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – A total of 18 players will fill out the field for next week’s British Open after securing exemptions through the FedExCup rankings, the Race to Dubai and the Official World Golf Ranking, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club announced Monday.

Five players got in the field based on their FedExCup standings after the Greenbrier Classic: 

--Billy Horschel, who won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. 
--Boo Weekley, who won the Crowne Plaza Invitational. The former Ryder Cup tied for 13th at 2009 Open.
--Russell Henley, who won the Sony Open in Hawaii. 
--Jimmy Walker, who tied for second at the Greenbrier Classic. He will make his Open debut at age 34.
--Harris English, who won the FedEx St. Jude Classic last month. English, 23, tied for 54th at Royal Lytham & St. Annes last year.

Five players also got in based on the European Tour’s Race to Dubai standings after the Alstom French Open:

--Richard Sterne of South Africa, who finished four shots back at the French Open after winning his sixth European Tour event at the Joburg Open in February. The 32-year-old finished tied 34th at the 2009 Open. 
--Brett Rumford of Australia, who  has amassed five wins on the European Tour, including two victories within seven days this year in the Ballantine’s Championship in Korea and the Volvo China Open. His best Open finish was a tie for 16th at Royal Liverpool in 2006. 
--Mikko Ilonen of Finland, who won his third European Tour title at the Nordea Masters in Sweden in June. He won the British Amateur in 2000 and then tied for ninth at the Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes in 2001. 
--Thomas Bjorn of Denmark, who will play in his 16th Open after being runner-up at the BMW International Open in Germany and the Lyoness Open in Austria last month. He tied for second at St. Andrews in 2000 and again at Royal St. George’s in 2003.
--Marc Warren of Scotland, who tied for second at the BMW PGA Championship in May. He will be making his Open debut.

A further eight players have secured their places as the highest ranked non-exempt players in the Official World Golf Ranking at the end of Week 27:

--Jonas Blixt of Sweden 
--Martin Laird of Scotland 
--Fredrik Jacobson of Sweden 
--Marc Leishman of Australia 
--Graham DeLaet of Canada 
--Kyle Stanley of United States 
--Chris Wood of England 
--Ken Duke of United States

The first 10 alternates are:
1st reserve: Stephen Gallacher of Scotland 
2nd reserve: Scott Stallings of United States 
3rd reserve: Joost Luiten of Netherlands 
4th reserve: Charles Howell III of United States 
5th reserve: Brendon de Jonge of Zimbabwe 
6th reserve: David Lingmerth of Sweden 
7th reserve: Ryan Palmer of United States 
8th reserve: Sang-moon Bae of Korea 
9th reserve: Kevin Chappell of United States 
10th reserve: Pablo Larrazabal of Spain