Alejandro Canizares

Back at the age of 40 for his first Open Championship since 2012 courtesy of a joint fourth place finish at December’s ISPS Handa Australian Open.

Three Royal Liverpool spots were up for grabs in the second leg of The Open Qualifying Series, but top two Adrian Meronk and Adam Scott were already exempt and Canizares’s brilliant closing 64 was rewarded.

Son of former Ryder Cup player Jose Maria Canizares – it was his last-hole victory over Ken Green in 1989 which kept the trophy in Europe’s hands with a tie – he first hit the headlines by capturing the NCAA individual title in 2003 while studying at Arizona State University. Champion Golfers of the Year Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Justin Leonard are all former winners of that.

He turned professional three years later and on only his third start as an affiliate member of the European Tour took the Imperial Collection Russian Open by four strokes. It would be eight seasons, however, before he tasted more success, this time by five shots at the Hassan Trophy in Morocco.

He reached a career-high 89th in the world that year, but was ranked only 467th when he teed off in the Australian Open.