Christiaan Bezuidenhout

Earned a third consecutive start in The Open with a tie for second place at the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic on July 3, when three St Andrews spots were up for grabs as part of The Open Qualifying Series.

Three times a winner on the DP World Tour, breaking through with a six-stroke success in the 2019 Estrella Damm NA Andalucia Masters at Valderrama and then enjoying back-to-back commanding victories late in 2020, both in his home country.

After a four-stroke success at the Alfred Dunhill Championship he marched to a five-shot win in the South African Open.

Was ranked only 576th in the world when he was part of a nine-way tie for second place behind compatriot Justin Harding at the 2019 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and then came joint third in that season’s BMW International Open.

That finish was repeated a few months later in the BMW PGA Championship, while early in 2020 he lost a play-off to Lucas Herbert at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic and a month later won the Sunshine Tour’s Dimension Data Pro-Am.

At the age of two he mistakenly drank rat poison and then developed a stammer.