Aaron Rai

Aaron Rai's rise from 130th to 21st in the world rankings in a mere 14 months was a brilliant achievement - and victory at the PGA Tour’s Wyndham Championship in August was a highlight of that period.

Rai began the week with back-to-back 65s and closed with a 64 to beat Max Greyserman by two.

With four other top 10 finishes, including tied second at the Rocket Mortgage Classic just a stroke behind Cameron Davis, he became part of the elite 30-man field for the season-ending Tour Championship and with that earned an exemption for Royal Portrush.

His Open debut was in 2021 after coming eighth on the previous season’s DP World Tour. He followed second place at the Irish Open with victory at the Scottish Open after a play-off against Tommy Fleetwood.

It needed the late withdrawal of Erik Van Rooyen for him to play at St Andrews in The 150th Open the following July, and he again left it late last summer by claiming one of the three spots available at the Scottish Open, part of The Open Qualifying Series.

Rai's first DP World Tour victory was the 2018 Hong Kong Open a year after three titles on the Challenge circuit. They included the Kenya Open with his mother watching on her first visit to the country of her birth in 47 years.