Three of this year’s major champions – Darren Clarke, Rory McIlroy and Charl Schwartzel – are among the world class field of professionals competing in this month’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Clarke, who won an emotional Open Championship at the age of 42 at Royal St George’s in July, and his fellow Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy, runaway winner of the US Open at Congressional a month earlier, will both be trying to win their first ever Alfred Dunhill Links title. While US Masters champion Charl Schwartzel is the latest in a long line of South African major winners to take part in the event.
In one of the strongest line-ups in the history of the Championship, also playing will be current World Numbers One and Two Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, and Major Championship winners Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Padraig Harrington, Trevor Immelman, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell and Louis Oosthuizen.
Defending champion Kaymer, who last year also won the US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits before going on to life The 2010 Race to Dubai, will be bidding to become the first golfer to win back-to-back Alfred Dunhill Links titles.
Kaymer, 26, currently Number Six in the Official World Golf Ranking, said: “It was very emotional to win last year at St Andrews and I am already looking forward to returning and playing in front of the Scottish galleries again as defending champion. These are very special courses to play golf on and walking up the last hole on the Old Course is an unforgettable experience. I have loved playing in the Dunhill and it would be great if I could make it a double by winning again.”
The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, which celebrates links golf at its finest, is played over three of the world’s best known and respected links courses – the Old Course at St Andrews, the Cha mpionship Course at Carnoustie and the highly regarded Kingsbarns Golf Links. The Championship this year takes place from September 29 - October 2.
With a prize fund of US$5 million, the championship incorporates two separate competitions - an individual professional tournament for the world's leading golfers and a team event in which the professionals are paired with some of the most celebrated amateur golfers which creates a unique atmosphere.
Among the celebrities who have taken part in the past are film and TV stars Andy Garcia, Hugh Grant, Kyle MacLachlan and John O’Hurley, plus rock music legends Huey Lewis and Tico Torres.
Last year, three of Britain’s sporting knights – Sir Ian Botham, Sir Bobby Charlton and Sir Steve Redgrave – led a locker room full of sporting heroes, including Dutch football legends Johann Cruyff and Ruud Gullit, former England player Jamie R edknapp, All Blacks former captain Sean Fitzpatrick, Argentina rugby legend Hugo Porta, cricketers Allan Lamb, Michael Vaughan, Steve Waugh and Shane Warne, along with immensely popular former British No 1 tennis player Tim Henman and the Austrian former downhill skiing World Cup Champion and Olympic Gold Medallist Franz Klammer.
Entrance to the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship will be FREE at all three courses on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. A ticket price of £15 (concessionary £10) will be charged for the final day’s play over the Old Course on Sunday, October 2. Entry for under-16s and students is free. Tickets are available through the ticket hotline on 0870 010 9021 or at the entrance gates.
