Sahith Theegala

At the start of 2021 Theegala was not even in the world’s top 1,200, but he earned an Open debut in 2022 after a remarkable surge up the rankings.

Competing mostly on the Korn Ferry Tour last season the Californian climbed into the leading 450 and on graduating to the PGA Tour the ascent has continued and he entered July 66th.

As a result of that he became first reserve for St Andrews, the call telling him he was in the starting line-up coming on July 8 - less than a week before the Championship - when Daniel Berger withdrew through injury.

In 2020 while at Pepperdine University he became just the fifth player to win the Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan and Haskins college awards, but it was at this February’s WM Phoenix Open, where he was playing on a sponsor exemption, that he really came to global attention.

In the end it was Scottie Scheffler who grabbed his first PGA Tour title after a play-off with Patrick Cantlay, Theegala just missing out after driving into water on the 71st hole.

Two more top-10 finishes followed, then on June 26 he was joint second behind Xander Schauffele at the Travellers Championship, having double-bogeyed the final hole when one ahead