Sahith Theegala

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

Competing mostly on the Korn Ferry Tour first, the Californian climbed into the leading 450 and on graduating to the PGA Tour the ascent has continued and he became first reserve for St Andrews before being called into the field a week before the event when Daniel Berger withdrew through injury.

His maiden tour success came last September at the Fortinet Championship and this year he has made it into the game’s top 12 after runner-up finishes at The Sentry in Hawaii and RBC Heritage, where he was the closest challenger to world No.1 Scottie Scheffler.

He was also joint second in 2022 at both the Travelers Championship and RSM Classic, double-bogeying the final hole when one ahead at the first of those.

Theegala was a teammate of Collin Morikawa at the 2018 Arnold Palmer Cup college match in France, where the European side included Viktor Hovland. His family moved to the United States from India in the late 1980s.

His best major finish is ninth at the 2023 Masters.