Lee Westwood

Became the European Tour’s No. 1 for the third time at the age of 47 by finishing runner-up to Matt Fitzpatrick at December’s DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

His year had also begun in the Middle East and victory at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship made him the Tour’s first player to win in four different decades.

Westwood was joint-fourth at Royal Portrush in what was his 82nd major. Nineteen of those have yielded top-10 finishes and his nine top-threes are a record for someone who has never won one.

He has, though, been world No. 1, ending Tiger Woods' five-year reign at the top of the rankings in 2010, the season in which he was runner-up to both Phil Mickelson at The Masters and Louis Oosthuizen in The Open at St Andrews.

Westwood also finished second to fellow Englishman Danny Willett at Augusta National in 2016 and was only a shot away from play-offs in the 2008 U.S. Open and 2009 Open.

He has been a member of a record seven winning Ryder Cup sides, was an assistant captain in 2018, and moved closer to a return to the team with successive runner-up finishes in March at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship.