Tom Hoge

A tie for third place in the Travelers Championship on June 23 lifted Hoge into the top 20 of the FedEx Cup standings on the very day they all became exempt for Royal Troon.

His only victory on the PGA Tour remains the 2022 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am.

His 203rd attempt to win, coming as it did at the age of 32, saw him hold off Jordan Spieth by two, having started the week with a 63 that included six successive birdies.

It came only two weeks after he was runner-up to Hudson Swafford at the American Express tournament and as a result of both results he leapt from 115th to 39th on the world rankings.

With the top 50 earning places at St Andrews come late May he could make plans for his Open Championship debut.

Also placed second – behind Joaquin Niemann that time - at the 2019 Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, while the previous season he became the 54-hole leader at the Sony Open in Hawaii on a day when local authorities mistakenly issued an alert warning of an incoming ballistic missile attack.

“To get that threat on your phone you don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said.

Played his first Masters in 2022 seven years after his maiden major appearance at the US Open. Played college golf at Texas Christian University and was the joint third leading individual at the 2009 NCAA Championship.