World No 41

One of the United States’ most promising college players a few years ago, Mahan is still waiting to translate his promise into a challenge for a major title but there were hints, with three top 20 finishes in the majors this year, that he is getting there.

The Californian won the US Junior Amateur Championship in 1999 before enrolling at Oklahoma State University and was runner-up in the senior version three years later, demonstrating a gift for matchplay that may be seen again this week. The last player to win both was Tiger Woods.

Mahan was named the outstanding national college golfer in his final year, after coming 28th at the Masters as an amateur, and turned professional a few months later, but good results were hard to come by. Mahan had three top-five finishes to end his first year inside the top 100 but had dropped to No 131 the next season and attended the qualifying school to try to earn extra playing privileges for 2006.

Perhaps this year has marked a turning point. Mahan’s highlights of the season include an albatross two at the Players’ Championship, holing out with a five-iron at Sawgrass, and his first tour win in his 118th professional start, beating Jay Williamson in a play-off for the Travelers Championship in Connecticut in June after having a final round of 65.

He followed this with a tie for sixth place at the Open Championship at Carnoustie and has moved into the world’s top 50 for the first time with a string of top-ten finishes. It was enough to earn a wild-card pick from Jack Nicklaus, the United States captain, for the Presidents Cup last month. And Mahan was then given the honour of the first tee-shot in the competition.

Perhaps one reason for Mahan’s improvement this season was his decision to use his psychologist as his caddie at various low-key events. He spoke recently about his improved mental outlook, saying: “I was holding on to too many negative things and carrying them with me every week and I was getting beat down every week. You have to have a short memory out here because if you play a lot of the time and you start missing cut after cut, it wears on you, beats you down.”

With his new-found ability to leave bad shots behind, perhaps he is due an experience that will linger in both his memory and ours.

Factfile

Age: 25 Nationality: American Wins: 1 Major wins: 0 Major record in 2007: Masters: did not compete; US Open: tied-thirteenth; Open: tied-sixth; US PGA: tied-eighteenth How he qualified for World Match Play: Seventeenth on Major Championship ranking Previous WMP experience: None