Sergio Garcia

After 73 majors without a win, starting as a 16-year-old amateur in The Open in 1996, Sergio Garcia finally achieved his dream with a play-off victory over Justin Rose at the 2017 Masters on what would have been the 60th birthday of Seve Ballesteros.

It followed 22 major top-ten finishes, with two of his four second places coming at The Open.

Garcia also became the record points-scorer in Ryder Cup history when he won three of his four games in Europe’s triumph in September 2018. 

Winner of The Amateur Championship of 1998, Garcia was still a teenager when he was runner-up to Tiger Woods at the 1999 PGA Championship and when he became the youngest-ever Ryder Cup player a month later. 

He lost a play-off to Padraig Harrington at Carnoustie in 2007, was denied by the Dubliner again at the 2008 PGA Championship and then by Rory McIlroy at Hoylake in 2014. 

His triumph at Augusta in 2017 was his tenth success on American soil, no fewer than six of them coming in play-offs. 

He won his 15th European Tour title in October 2018, after making his ninth Ryder Cup appearance the previous month. 

Garcia stood second in the world rankings behind Woods after his success at the HSBC Champions in 2008, the same season that he lifted the Players Championship.