Sahith Theegala

At the start of 2021, Theegala was not even in the world’s top 1,200, but he earned an Open debut in 2022 after a remarkable surge up the rankings.

Competing mostly on the Korn Ferry Tour, the Californian climbed into the leading 450 and on graduating to the PGA Tour the ascent has continued and he entered July 66th.

As a result of that he became first reserve for St Andrews, the call telling him he was in the starting line-up coming on July 8 - less than a week before the Championship - when Daniel Berger withdrew through injury.

In 2020, while at Pepperdine University, he became just the fifth player to win the Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan and Haskins college awards, but it was at last season’s WM Phoenix Open, where he was playing on a sponsor exemption, that he really came to global attention, just missing out on the play-off between Scottie Scheffler and Patrick Cantlay after driving into water on the 71st hole.

He was then joint second behind Xander Schauffele at the Travelers Championship, double-bogeying the final hole when one ahead, and later in the year reached the game's top 50 with finishes of sixth, fifth and second again at the RSM Classic in November.