Christiaan Bezuidenhout is making headlines for his performance at The 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush — but his journey to the top of golf has been anything but ordinary. In fact, his story could have ended before it even began. At just two years old, while playing with friends in his native South Africa, Bezuidenhout stumbled upon what he thought was a bottle of Coca-Cola. He took a sip - and his life changed forever. The bottle, discarded and unlabelled, contained rat poison. He was rushed to the hospital, where doctors managed to save his life by pumping his stomach. However, the damage had already been done. The poison impacted his nervous system, leaving him with a severe stutter that would shape much of his early life. "This led to me becoming very introverted and depressed," he wrote in a DP World Tour blog in 2019. "I was basically just living in my own world because I was always scared of having to engage in conversation with my stutter. "When I talked to people, I knew I would struggle and it would take time for me to deliver my words, so I always had a fear of answering the phone, saying my name, or being asked a question." However, with the help of a psychologist, Bezuidenhout gradually rebuilt his confidence. But the stammer, he says, is something he’s had to learn to live with, not eliminate. Things came to a head in 2014 when, while competing in The Amateur at Royal Portrush, Bezuidenhout was selected for a routine drug test. At the time, he was taking prescribed beta blockers to manage his anxiety linked to the stutter. He disclosed the medication honestly on the test form. Two months later, just days before representing South Africa at the Eisenhower Trophy — a goal he had long worked toward — Bezuidenhout received the devastating news that he was suspended from competition for two years. "I just broke down," he recalled. "It felt like my life was over." Though he had declared the medication in good faith, he still faced criticism. Rumours swirled, and he became labelled as "the guy banned for drugs." For Bezuidenhout and his family, the fallout was painful. "The worst part was all the stories and accusations," he said. "People said I was using [beta blockers] to enhance my performance. That really hurt." Eventually, following a hearing, the ban was reduced to nine months. "It was reduced to nine months because I wasn't using the medication to better my golf ," Bezuidenhout told BBC Sport Northern Ireland. In his first event back — a mini-tour event in South Africa — he won by seven shots. His comeback gained serious momentum in 2019 when he claimed his first DP World Tour title at the Andalucia Masters in Spain, winning by six shots over five runners-up, including Spanish star Jon Rahm. A year later, during the disrupted COVID season, he went back-to-back with wins at the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the South African Open. Bezuidenhout has since established himself on the PGA Tour. While he has yet to capture a victory on American soil, he has consistently made cuts and earned over $11 million (over £8m) in prize money.