Seamus Power

On the same day that Collin Morikawa became Open champion at Sandwich last July, Power claimed his first PGA Tour crown at the Barbasol Championship. beating JT Poston at the sixth hole of a sudden death play-off.

The County Waterford-born player, who went to college at East Tennessee State University and stayed on in the United States afterwards, moved from 210th to 113th on the world rankings as a result of his win and by continuing his rise into the top 50 this season – he was not even in the leading 400 little over a year ago - qualified for his Open debut.

He tied for fourth in the RSM Classic in November, was joint third at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January and then made it into his first major by reaching the quarter-finals of the WGC-Dell Match Play in March with fine wins over Patrick Cantlay, Sungjae Im and then in the last 16 Tyrrell Hatton before losing to eventual winner Scottie Scheffler.

That first major was, of course, The Masters and he finished joint 27th before adding a tie for ninth at May’s PGA Championship.

Competed for Ireland along with Padraig Harrington at the 2016 Olympics