Rikuya Hoshino

Hoshino was called into The 150th Open field on the opening morning of the Championship when Justin Rose was forced to withdraw through injury.

He had previously earned his Open debut in style in May 2021 with a four-stroke victory at the Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup.

The victory - his fifth on the Japan Tour and second in under a month – took him top of the circuit’s money list. It also came in the week of his 25th birthday and was instantly followed by his first appearance in the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island. He then impressed when tying for 26th at the US Open. 

Hoshino’s only previous major was the 2018 US Open, where he was called into the field late on as an alternate from the qualifying stage.

Three months after that came his first Japan Tour success at the Fujisankei Classic, where he finished five clear of the field. He lifted that title again in 2020 and in between won the Dunlop Srixon Fukushima Classic.

He had still to enter the world’s top 100 at that point, but soon did so and with two more wins in 2021 – the first came at the Kansai Open – his career hit new heights.

Added a sixth title on the circuit at the Heiwa PGM Championship, that time by five strokes, and became exempt for Royal Liverpool by finishing second on the Order of Merit behind Kazuki Higa.