Alex Noren

Practised as first reserve at St Andrews in 2022 but, unsure of a start, chose to fly to the PGA Tour’s Barracuda Championship instead and was runner-up to Chez Reavie. 

If he had stayed in Scotland, he would have replaced injured Justin Rose on the morning of the first round.

“I didn't think anybody would withdraw,” he said. “But golf is a long career and I'll get to play it again.”

And so he will, earning his Royal Liverpool spot off the DP World Tour Rankings following joint second place finishes at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and season-ending DP World Tour Championship.

Won two of his three games on his Ryder Cup debut in 2018 after making the world’s top 10 following wrist injuries that restricted him to a mere two DP World Tour events four years earlier.

Achieved five wins in under a year, a run which began with him taking the 2016 Scottish Open at Castle Stuart before he added the Omega European Masters, the British Masters and then the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa to finish third on the money list.

Then, the following May, a stunning last-day 62 swept him to victory in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.