Branden Grace

Was the talk of golf at Royal Birkdale in 2017 when he became the first man to achieve a round of 62 - since matched by Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele at last month's US Open - in any of the four majors.

It followed 31 scores of 63, 10 of them in The Open, yet for Grace, who finished joint sixth, it was not his lowest on the European Tour. That was a 12-under par 60 at Kingsbarns in his capture of the 2012 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

He produced another great round, a closing 62, to win the 2020 South African Open, which earned him a place at Royal St George’s the following year through The Open Qualifying Series. This time, he had to come through the 36-hole Final Qualifying event at Royal Cinque Ports.

A winner of all his five games in the 2015 Presidents Cup match in South Korea, four of them with fellow South African Louis Oosthuizen as his partner, Grace is a nine-time European Tour champion.

Since attending the European Tour Qualifying School in 2011 he has reached the world’s top 10 and finished fourth and fifth in the U.S. Open and third and fourth in the PGA Championship.

He had his first PGA Tour success at the 2016 RBC Heritage and claimed his second in the 2021 Puerto Rico Open by finishing eagle-birdie for a one-stroke win.