Sergio Garcia

Second to Padraig Harrington after a play-off in 2007 and joint runner-up behind Rory McIlroy 11 years ago, Sergio Garcia had played 24 successive Opens prior to missing out at Final Qualifying in the last two years.

The 2017 Masters winner is back now as the leading non-exempt player on the LIV Golf rankings as of June 29.

Garcia became the Ryder Cup’s record points-scorer when he won three of his four games in Europe’s triumph in Paris in 2018 and three years later added three more points alongside compatriot Jon Rahm to take his total to 28 ½ from 10 matches, the first of which in 1999 saw him become the only teenager to be capped.

After 73 majors without a win, starting as a 16-year-old amateur in the 1996 Open, Garcia finally achieved his dream with a play-off victory over Justin Rose at Augusta on what would have been the 60th birthday of Seve Ballesteros. It followed 22 major top 10 finishes, four of them second places.

Winner of the 1998 Amateur Championship, Garcia was runner-up to Tiger Woods at the following season’s PGA Championship and was denied by Harrington again at the 2008 PGA. He reached second in the world rankings behind Woods that season.