The R&A has announced changes to the entry criteria ahead of The Open Championship’s 150th Anniversary, to be played at St Andrews from 11 – 18 July 2010.

A new exemption category has been introduced for the 2010 Open. Condition F(4) exempts from qualifying any past Open Champions who finished in the top 10 and ties in any of the previous five Open Championships, thus effectively providing them with a five year exemption into the Championship.

As a result, Watson and Norman can play the British Open through 2014. Watson won the Open five times, with his last victory coming in 1983. Norman, a two-time Open Champion, finished tied for third at Royal Birkdale in 2008.

“We have introduced this exemption as a direct response to seeing two of our great Open Champions, both in their fifties, challenging to win our championship these last two years,” explained Peter Dawson, Chief Executive of The R&A. “We rightly reduced the age of exemption for past champions from 65 to 60 two years ago and our intention was never to remove players still at the top of their game from competing in The Open.”