The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, with its unique blend of fiercely competitive European Tour golf and celebrity-spotting, returns this week to three celebrated links courses - St Andrews Old Course, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns. Here is the lowdown…
Rewind
Tyrrell Hatton stormed to his maiden European Tour title last year with a four-shot victory following a stunning weekend performance over the famous St Andrews Old Course.
The Englishman had carded a course record-equalling 62, courtesy of ten birdies, at the ‘Home of Golf’ on moving day to storm three clear of the field heading into day four.
Any doubts over Hatton’s ability to convert the chance of a first title were buried early on with a run of three successive birdies from the fourth hole. The nerveless Hatton continued in that form throughout the final round as he racked up four more gains to build an unsurmountable lead, meaning a bogey at the difficult 17thhole made no material difference.
His countryman Ross Fisher and South Africa’s Richard Sterne were the closest challengers, four shots back from Hatton’s winning total of 23 under par.
The Field
Rory McIlroy returns to the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship for the first time in three years as the Northern Irishman, who has finished second here three times including in his most recent appearance in 2014, takes to three of Scotland’s most famous links courses alongside his father Gerry.
After a second place finish at the British Masters supported by Sky Sports behind Paul Dunne - also in the field this week - the four-time Major champion headlines a strong field, which includes the Race to Dubai leader Tommy Fleetwood, who is returning to the fairways for the first time since the birth of his son Franklin. Defending champion Hatton enters the week in strong form after an impressive performance at last week’s British Masters.
McIlroy is also joined by four fellow former World Number Ones in Luke Donald, Ernie Els, Martin Kaymer and Lee Westwood, while three more Major champions join those luminaries of the game in the shape of Padraig Harrington, Paul Lawrie and Graeme McDowell.
The Courses
The great and good of the European Tour, as well as the Scottish fans, are treated to a real festival of golf this week as they take on three of the country’s finest links golf courses in the vicinity of golf’s founding town of St Andrews.
The centrepiece is the much-lauded Old Course, founded in the 15thcentury and commonly regarded as the birthplace of the game. Set on the most idyllic of locations overlooking St Andrews Bay, the layout features many of golf’s most famous holes especially the storied 17th, known as The Road Hole.
The first tee shot, under the shadow of the magnificent clubhouse of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, plays to a wide open fairway which is shared with the 18thhole, where many memorable moments in the history of the game have unfolded.
Shaped by nature on a spit of land which juts into the estuary of the River Eden, the course can be friendly on a calm day, but turn into a monster when the wind blows.
Carnoustie, meanwhile, is situated on the same coastline but on the other side of the River Tay estuary and the city of Dundee.
Host of seven Open Championships and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship since 2001, it is known the world over as one of the toughest and most merciless links courses – which has earned it the nickname ‘Car-nasty’.
Its most famous feature is the Barry Burn, a river which traverses across the course and lays claim to many victims. Famously, on the 18thhole of the 1999 Open Championship, Frenchman Jean Van de Velde ended up in the Barry Burn on the 18thhole before relinquishing a three-shot lead and missing out in the resulting play-off, to Scotland’s Lawrie.
Kingsbarns Golf Links, located just south of St Andrews, opened in 2000 and designed by Kyle Philips, features large undulating greens and presents a number of scoring opportunities for all types of players.
A mixture of flat and undulating surfaces across the 18 holes, it is an exposed links course with very few water hazards, yet a number of bunkers, with those who maintain accuracy from the tee rewarded. There are spectacular coastal views on a number of holes, including the third, 12th, 15th and 16th.
Kingsbarns has often produced very low scoring at this tournament and has on occasion come close to witnessing the magic number of 59. Branden Grace set the course record of 60 here in 2012 before being followed into the history books by Peter Uihlein who equalled the score a year later.
Did You Know?
· Hatton is aiming to become the first player to successfully defend the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
· The Englishman equaled the course record at St Andrews Old Course on the third day last year with a ten under par 62, opening up a three-stroke advantage heading into the final day en route to his maiden European Tour victory.
· The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is the only tournament on the European Tour schedule with a Pro-Am format, with players teeing off alongside amateurs – including celebrities – for the opening three days. They alternate between St Andrews Old Course, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie, before playing alongside their fellow professionals on the famous Old Course on the final day.
· McIlroy will play the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship for the first time since 2014, when he finished in a share of second place. It was the third time the current World Number Six finished runner up at the event, and made it a fifth top ten finish in six appearances. McIlroy’s third place finish on his Alfred Dunhill Links Championship debut in 2007 went a long way in securing his European Tour status for the 2008 campaign.
· The albatrosses made by Lee Westwood and Steen Tinning in 2003 at Kingsbarns, at the ninth and third holes respectively - both in round three - marked the first time in European Tour history that two albatrosses were made in the same round of the same tournament.
· In 2004 and 2005 the Alfred Dunhill Links Championships marked the last time that two different Scottish players won the same European Tour event in consecutive seasons, with Stephen Gallacher winning the former and Colin Montgomerie the latter.
· Two-time winner Harrington has played in all 16 previous Alfred Dunhill Links Championships. He is the only multiple winner, back in 2002 and 2007. Overall he has amassed six top eight finishes in the tournament. The only other player to have recorded six top ten finishes in the event is Westwood, the winner in 2003.
· The 2014 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship marked the 30thconsecutive year of Alfred Dunhill sponsorship of European Tour events at St Andrews. It began with the Alfred Dunhill Cup between 1985 and 2000 and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship from 2001 onwards.
· In 2012, on the way to victory, Branden Grace carded a course record 60 (-12) at Kingsbarns, which at the time was the best round in the tournament’s history – it was equaled by Peter Uihlein in 2013. Grace continued his knack for record scoring at famous venues earlier this year when he fired the lowest round in Major Championship history - a 62 in the third round of The Open Championship in Royal Birkdale.
