Ben Crenshaw

Nicknamed ‘Gentle Ben’, the genial Texan is widely regarded as one of the finest putters the game has seen.

His touch on the Augusta greens helped him triumph twice at the Masters, in 1984 and 1995, the latter being won without a single three-putt across the four days.

Those successes came after five second-place finishes at majors, two of which came at The Open in consecutive years.

In 1978, Crenshaw held a share of the lead at the halfway stage, sitting on -5 at St Andrews, but ended in a share for second two shots adrift of Jack Nicklaus.

Twelve months later, the American didn’t break par across the Championship but kept himself in contention as a string of challengers faded.

A level-par 71 in the last Open to finish on a Saturday wasn’t quite enough, however, and he finished three shots behind Seve Ballesteros as the Spaniard lifted the Claret Jug for the first time.

A fortnight later, Crenshaw recorded another runner-up finish in a major after missing out to David Graham in a play-off for the PGA Championship.

Crenshaw captained the USA Ryder Cup team as they came from behind to defeat Europe in ‘The Battle of Brookline’ in 1999.