USA

A first major title surely beckons for a player whose second place in The Masters in April, a stroke behind Patrick Reed, was his third runner-up finish and eighth time in the top five.

In his last four events of 2017 Fowler had two more second places and then a four-stroke victory at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas thanks to a closing 61. In 2014 he finished tied second behind Rory McIlroy in The Open at Hoylake and Martin Kaymer in the US Open during a season which also saw him come third at the PGA Championship and fifth in The Masters. At the 2015 Players Championship he played the last six holes in six under par and produced two more birdies to win a play-off against Kevin Kisner and Sergio Garcia.

In the same season he added the AAM Scottish Open and Deutsche Bank Championship and when he also triumphed at the 2016 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship he was a career-high fourth in the world. As an amateur led the world rankings for 36 weeks and won seven out of eight games in two Walker Cup appearances. Has already played three Ryder Cups and two Presidents Cups.