Kurt Kitayama

Played at St Andrews in 2022 after finishing runner-up to Xander Schauffele in the Genesis Scottish Open the previous Sunday, thus earning himself the first of three spots on offer as part of The Open Qualifying Series.

Was back once again last year after achieving his maiden PGA Tour victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, another part of the Qualifying Series.

Kitayama beat Rory McIlroy and Harris English by one to move to a career-high 19th on the rankings, coming as it did five months after McIlroy had pipped him to the CJ Cup in South Carolina.

After coming through the 2018 DP World Tour qualifying school, he won only his third event on the circuit less than three weeks later.

That was the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open and a mere three months after that his second success on the circuit came at the Oman Open, making him the fastest player ever to win twice.

Was also part of a six-way play-off for the Turkish Airlines Open won by Tyrrell Hatton and just lost out to Robert MacIntyre in their duel to be Rookie of the Year.

Tied for fourth at the 2023 PGA Championship.