Haydn Barron

Few if any of the players at The 151st Open will have secured their place more dramatically than Haydn Barron, who finished birdie-eagle at December’s ISPS Handa Australian Open to leap into joint fourth place.

Three spots at Royal Liverpool were on offer, but top two Adrian Meronk and Adam Scott were already exempt and so the first-year professional could join Min Woo Lee and Alejandro Canizares and celebrate a dream come true.

"I'm absolutely stoked," he said. "It’s always been the one I’ve said to everyone that I’d want to win if I had the option. I love the history of it, I love playing golf in the UK and that’s always been where I’ve wanted to kind of set my craft. I won a regional, the first (local) qualifier, at Little Aston I think in 2018, but I was unsuccessful in final. I just can’t wait."

A member of the Western Australia club in Yokine near Perth, he was runner-up as an amateur in the 2020 WA Open, then the following season went one better at the Spalding Park Open, also part of the PGA Tour of Australasia, and finished second to last year’s Amateur champion Aldrich Potgieter in the WA Amateur.