Takumi Kanaya

Takumi Kanaya makes his fifth appearance at The Open thanks to the International Federation ranking list offering five spots based on performances on the Japan, Asia, Australasia and Sunshine circuits.

On his home tour he finished No 1 last season and ended the year by coming third at the PGA Tour qualifying school.

Kanaya was still an amateur when he won the Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters in 2019, finishing 63-65, and three weeks later his share of third in the Emirates Australian Open was good enough for one of the three Open places on offer as runner-up Louis Oosthuizen was already exempt.

He topped the amateur world rankings for 55 weeks, then on turning professional in 2020 had to wait a mere months before lifting the Dunlop Phoenix title.

The following April added the Token Homemate Cup and qualified for St Andrews by finishing second to Chan Kim on the money list.

He was only 20 when he made the halfway cut at the 2019 Masters and missed the cut by just one stroke on his Open debut at Royal Portrush three months later.