Todd Hamilton

Todd Hamilton made his first Open appearance in six years when the Championship returned to Royal Troon in 2024 - the course where he beat Ernie Els in a play-off to be crowned Champion Golfer 20 years earlier.

After making a name for himself in Asia he was 38 when he finally won a place on the PGA Tour at his eighth attempt in 2003.

The following March, as a Tour rookie, he won the Honda Classic by one stroke thanks to birdies on the final two holes. And four months later he followed Ben Curtis as a surprise winner of the Claret Jug, finishing with three rounds in the 60s and edging out Els by one in their four-hole shoot-out.

The victory, which lifted him into the world's top 20, sparked celebrations in Oquawka, Illinois, previously best known for a circus elephant buried in the town square.

He had been an 11-time champion on the Japan Golf Tour and became their all-time leading overseas money-winner with earnings of more than 630 million yen, but Troon was his last worldwide success and remains his only top ten finish at a major.