Mito Pereira

Was a new name to many when he burst into contention with a second round 64 at May’s PGA Championship, then established a three-stroke lead with his Saturday 69.

The 27-year-old Chilean, playing only the second major of his life, was still out in front with a hole to play, but drove into water, double-bogeyed and finished one stroke out of the play-off in which Justin Thomas beat Will Zalatoris.

There was one compensation – joint third took him from 100th on the world rankings to 49th on the day that the top 50 earned exemptions for St Andrews.

It gave him a return to Scotland 12 years after he was runner-up to Japan’s Kenta Konishi in the Junior Open at Lundin Links.

Three years after that, when still only 17, he won a Chilean Tour event and after turning professional he captured three titles on the Korn Ferry circuit, two of them back-to-back last season, and won promotion to the PGA Tour.

He also just missed out on a bronze medal at last summer’s Olympic Games, being part of a seven-man play-off eventually won by CT Pan after Pereira horseshoed out of the cup on the third extra hole.