Jordan Spieth

Winner of The 146th Open at Royal Birkdale after an astonishing finish in which he almost aced the 14th, eagled the 15th and birdied the next two, all this coming after he had conceded the lead to Matt Kuchar with a hugely dramatic bogey on the 13th.

Spieth was strongly fancied for a successful defence of the Claret Jug when he went into the final round at Carnoustie as joint leader, but he ultimately slipped to joint ninth, while he almost won again in 2021 but was denied by Collin Morikawa.

He became world No.1 during a remarkable 2015 in which he won The Masters and U.S. Open before finishing fourth and second in the following two majors. With a hole to play in The Open at St Andrews that season Spieth still had the chance of an unprecedented Grand Slam of all four majors in a calendar year, but a closing par ended that dream.

His 18 under par total in triumphing at Augusta matched Tiger Woods’s record and he has also had two runner-up finishes there, plus third places in 2018 and 2021.

Spieth led the amateur world rankings and at 19 was the youngest PGA Tour winner for 82 years. Other victories include the 2015 Tour Championship, which earned him the $10million FedEx Cup bonus, and two Australian Opens.

His ranking dropped to 92nd at the start of last year, but after three top-four finishes in four starts he won the Texas Open, was joint third at The Masters and earned a fourth Ryder Cup cap.