Yuto Katsuragawa

Continued a remarkable run of Japanese success on the DP World Tour with victory at April’s ISPS Handa Championship, an event co-sanctioned with the Japan Tour.

Having lifted the same title two years ago, he shot a course record-equalling closing 63 this time to beat Swede Sebastian Soderberg by three.

Following Keita Nakajima’s Indian Open triumph, it was the first time Japanese players had won back-to-back on the circuit – and that after victories by Ryo Hisatsune at last year’s French Open and Rikuya Hoshino at February’s Qatar Masters.

What gave Katsuragawa his spot at Royal Troon, however, was his joint-third place finish at the Gateway to The Open Mizuno Open in May. As part of The Open Qualifying Series, it offered three spots in Scotland and he took the last of them by virtue of having a higher world ranking – 177th – than Mikumu Horikawa and Shugo Imahira, who also ended up nine-under-par.

It was also the Qualifying Series which enabled him to make his debut at St Andrews in 2022, finishing joint second in the SMBC Singapore Open earlier that season. Made the halfway cut at the Home of Golf and did so again on his US Open debut last year.