Jediah Morgan

Morgan went into January’s Fortinet Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland ranked 1,522nd in the world and was playing only his fourth event as a professional. He left it with his ranking up to 210th – an incredible leap of 1,312 places in one week – and with a trophy previously held by former Open champions Seve Ballesteros, Peter Thomson, Gary Player, Greg Norman, Ian Baker-Finch and Kel Nagle.

Morgan went into January’s Fortinet Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland ranked 1,522nd in the world and was playing only his fourth event as a professional. He left it with his ranking up to 210th – an incredible leap of 1,312 places in one week – and with a trophy previously held by former Open champions Seve Ballesteros, Peter Thomson, Gary Player, Greg Norman, Ian Baker-Finch and Kel Nagle.

The 22-year-old from Brisbane did not just win the title, he won it by a record 11 strokes and with a record 22 under par total of 262. He also became the event’s youngest-ever champion, having won the Australian Amateur on the same course in 2020.

In May he was crowned winner of the Australian Tour Order of Merit, earning him a place at St Andrews as well as June’s U.S. Open.

“I’ll certainly be trying hard and I can’t wait to get to America and then to Scotland,” he said.

Last year he was awarded a scholarship into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, where his mentor is ex-Test cricket captain Ricky Ponting, who commented: “I was always fiercely determined and driven to succeed. I’m excited to impart this passion on Jed.”