Past Open Champions aged 60 or under on 18 July 2010 Mark Calcavecchia, Stewart Cink (2,5,6,16,20), Ben Curtis (2,4), John Daly, David Duval (2), Ernie Els (2,4,5,6,7,16,20), Nick Faldo, Todd Hamilton (2), Pádraig Harrington (2,4,6,7,14,16), Paul Lawrie, Tom Lehman, Justin Leonard (4,5,20), Sandy Lyle, Mark O'Meara, Tom Watson (4,5), Tiger Woods (2,4,6,12,14,16,20) (Eligible but not playing: Ian Baker-Finch, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Price, Bill Rogers) (Greg Norman (4) withdrew due to a shoulder injury.

First 10 and anyone tying for 10th place in the 2009 Open Championship Thomas Aiken, Luke Donald (6,16), Mathew Goggin, Retief Goosen (6,7,16,20), Søren Hansen (7), Richard S. Johnson, Lee Westwood (6,7), Chris Wood 6.

The first 50 players on the Official World Golf Rankings for Week 21, 2010 Robert Allenby (7,20), Ángel Cabrera (12,13,16,20), Paul Casey (7,8), K. J. Choi, Tim Clark (15,20), Ben Crane, Ross Fisher (7), Jim Furyk (16,20), Sergio García (7,15), Lucas Glover (12,16,20), Peter Hanson (7), Yuta Ikeda (25), Ryo Ishikawa (20), Thongchai Jaidee (7,21), Miguel Ángel Jiménez (7,8), Dustin Johnson (16), Zach Johnson (13,16,20), Robert Karlsson, Martin Kaymer (7), Matt Kuchar, Graeme McDowell (12), Rory McIlroy (7), Hunter Mahan (16,20), Phil Mickelson (13,14,16,20), Edoardo Molinari, Francesco Molinari (7), Kevin Na (16), Geoff Ogilvy (7,12,16,20), Sean O'Hair (16,20), Louis Oosthuizen, Kenny Perry (16,20), Ian Poulter (7), Álvaro Quirós (7), Charl Schwartzel (7), Adam Scott (20), Michael Sim (22), Henrik Stenson (7,15), Steve Stricker (16,20), Camilo Villegas (7,20), Nick Watney (16), Oliver Wilson (7), Yang Yong-eun (14,16,20) (Anthony Kim (20) withdrew due to thumb surgery.

First 30 in the PGA European Tour Final Race to Dubai for 2009 Simon Dyson, Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño, Anders Hansen (23), Søren Kjeldsen, Thomas Levet, Ross McGowan, Alex Norén, Robert Rock 8.

First 3 and anyone tying for 3rd place, not exempt having applied above, in the top 20 of the 2010 PGA European Tour Race to Dubai on completion of the 2010 BMW PGA Championship Fredrik Andersson Hed, Rhys Davies (the only two golfers in the top 20 of the Race to Dubai at that time who were not already exempt) 10.

Top 30 on the Official 2009 PGA Tour FedEx Cup points list Jason Dufner, Brian Gay, Jerry Kelly, Marc Leishman, Steve Marino, John Senden, Heath Slocum, Scott Verplank, Mike Weir (20) (David Toms withdrew due to a shoulder injury.

First 3 and anyone tying for 3rd place, not exempt having applied above, in the top 20 of the FedEx Cup points list of the 2010 PGA Tour on completion of the HP Byron Nelson Championship Jason Bohn, Bill Haas, J.

The leading player, not exempt having applied above, in the first 5 and ties of each of the 2010 AT&T National and the 2010 John Deere Classic Paul Goydos, Ryan Moore 20.

The leading 4 players, not exempt, in the 2010 Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic Hirofumi Miyase, Park Jae-bum, Shunsuke Sonoda, Toru Taniguchi 27.

First 2 and anyone tying for 2nd place, not exempt having applied (26) above, in a cumulative money list taken from all official 2010 Japan Golf Tour events up to and including the 2010 Mizuno Open Yomiuri Classic Kim Kyung-tae, Katsumasa Miyamoto 28.

[15] Jason Dufner's ball would not stay still on the 7th green due to the gale force 40 mph (65 km/h) winds, which caused play to be suspended for 66 minutes.

Tiger Woods had a bad start with bogeys on the first two holes, and despite three-putting four times that day, grinded out to shoot 73 (+1) on Friday for 140 (−4), 8 shots behind the leader.

Notable players who missed the cut were Ernie Els, Pádraig Harrington, Tom Watson, and Jim Furyk.

Tiger Woods struggled with the flat stick, with 35 putts for the round and ten three-putts through 54 holes.

Louis Oosthuizen's consistency never wavered, and he ended the day with a four-shot lead over Paul Casey, who shot a five-under 67.

Tiger Woods switched back to his old putter with improved results, but poor ball striking left him with an even-par 72.