Chris Gotterup

With his 26th birthday coinciding with the final round of The Open, Gotterup did not even have a place in the championship until he sensationally won the preceding week's Genesis Scottish Open.

Coming into the event ranked 158th in the world, a nine-under-par 61 which equalled The Renaissance Club course record catapulted him into the halfway lead. With a round to go he was sharing top spot with Rory McIlroy and he out-scored the Masters champion and world No2 to not only take the title, but also the first of the three places up for grabs in the final Open Qualifying Series event.

After initially attending Rutgers University in New Jersey he transferred to the University of Oklahoma for his final year and at the end of it was presented with the Haskins Award and Jack Nicklaus Award given annually to the outstanding Division 1 collegiate player. Ludvig Aberg won both the following season and previous recipients include Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

Gotterup earned promotion from the Korn Ferry Tour in 2023 and had to wait only until May last year for his maiden PGA Tour victory – by six strokes at the Myrtle Beach Classic. Now comes his first Open and just his fourth major.