Alex Cejka

Plays his first Open since 2008 thanks to a play-off victory over Padraig Harrington at last season’s Senior Open at Royal Porthcawl. 

The weather was so brutal for the final round that a five-over-par 76 was good enough to take him into a shoot-out with the two-time Champion Golfer, which Cejka won on the second extra hole.

Nobody broke par – that had not happened in the event since 2005 – while Colin Montgomerie scored 88 and that was not even the highest of the day.

Four times a winner on the European Tour, three of them in 1995 including the season-ending Volvo Masters taking him to sixth on the Order of Merit, Cejka added a PGA Tour title at the 287th attempt in Puerto Rico in 2015 at the age of 44 – six years after losing a five-stroke lead on the final day of the Players Championship and 12 years after his best major finish of fourth at the PGA Championship.

After fleeing Czechoslovakia as a refugee with his parents when he was nine, he represented Germany 12 times in the World Cup and at the 2016 Olympic Games.

On turning 50 he joined the Champions Tour and all his three victories have been majors, the Tradition and Senior PGA back-to-back in 2021.