Aaron Rai

Once again confirmed a late entry to The Open when he claimed one of the three spots available at the Genesis Scottish Open in the week before the Championship at Royal Troon.

Rai, who impressed on his Open debut at Royal St George's in 2021, received an even later call-up to The 150th Open when Erik Van Rooyen withdrew on the first morning.

He headed to Troon in superb form, having finished T2 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, T7 at the John Deere Classic and then T4 in the Scottish Open.

In the space of four weeks in 2020 Rai finished second at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, won the Scottish Open and then came third in the Scottish Championship presented by AXA. 

He turned professional in 2012 after first coming to many people’s attention at the age of 15 by holing 207 consecutive 10-foot putts to beat the Lee Westwood Puttmaster Record.

He joined the Challenge Tour in 2016 and was a three-time winner the following season, most memorably at the Barclays Kenya Open with his mother watching on her first visit to the country of her birth in 47 years.

He also won an international qualifier for the U.S. Open that summer and, having earned promotion to the main circuit, captured the 2018 Honma Hong Kong Open by a stroke from Matthew Fitzpatrick.

His second title at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick came at the first hole of a play-off with Tommy Fleetwood, after he had closed with a seven-under 64. It swept him into the world’s top 100 for the first time.