Angel Hidalgo

Of the 16 players to come through the four 36-hole Final Qualifying competitions on July 2, none produced a more dramatic finish than the Marbella golfer.  

A birdie on his last hole at Dundonald Links would have put Hidalgo into a four-man play-off for the final two of four Royal Troon places, but instead he sank a 120-yard approach for an eagle two which meant he shared second place with amateur Liam Nolan.

“I’m still shaking,” he said after signing his card. “It was the first time all day I had a full club in and at that type of moment with nerves I prefer to have a full club. Obviously I didn’t see the ball go in, but I don’t care. I just jumped and cried with my caddie and we deserve it – all this year we’ve not really had luck.”

Hidalgo twice won the Spanish Amateur and was part of their victorious side at the 2017 European Team Championship. He then helped them to third place in the following year’s Eisenhower Trophy World Championship before turning professional.

A winner on the Challenge Tour in 2021, he was fourth in the 2022 Andalucia Masters at Valderrama after opening with a 63 – one outside Bernhard Langer’s course record.