Curtis Luck

Curtis Luck’s Open debut comes eight years after he missed out on the chance to play at Royal Birkdale.

He had become only the second Australian to win the US Amateur title the previous season, but after making the halfway cut at The Masters in April 2017 decided to turn professional.

Finishing runner-up at December’s ISPS Handa Australian Open earned him his Royal Portrush spot, with three places being up for grabs in the first leg of The Open Qualifying Series.

Victory was still a distinct possibility entering the closing stretch at Kingston Heath, but while he bogeyed the last two holes American Ryggs Johnston played the final five in two under to take the crown by three.

In 2016, just after his US Amateur triumph and in the same year that he captured the Western Australian Open on the PGA Tour Australasia, he and Cameron Davis were second and first leading individuals respectively as Australia recorded an astonishing 19-stroke victory over England at the Eisenhower Trophy world amateur team championship in Mexico, Viktor Hovland coming joint seventh and Scottie Scheffler further down the field.

He then had four weeks as the world’s top-ranked amateur before making his professional debut on the PGA Tour, but his only victory since was on the Korn Ferry Tour at the 2020 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship.