After the drama of the Ryder Cup, the DP World Tour resumes its Race to Dubai with a celebration of links golf at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship
Record-setter Hatton defends
Just two days on from helping Team Europe to victory in the Ryder Cup at Bethpage, going unbeaten across four matches, Tyrrell Hatton is in Scotland for the defence of his Alfred Dunhill Links Championship title.
A year ago, the Englishman became the first three-time winner of the tournament. A birdie on the final hole on the Old Course at St Andrews saw him pip Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts to victory, adding to his back-to-back successes in 2016 and 2017. Pivotal to automatically qualifying for Luke Donald’s team, Hatton went on to win the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January and arrives chasing a ninth DP World Tour title.
“I don’t think you ever go into events thinking you could actually win four times, but there is definitely something that suits me about the Dunhill,” said Hatton. “Last year was even more special because it was the first time I've actually won the tournament with my dad there, so it meant a lot.”
Ryder Cuppers in action
Joining him are countrymen Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick, the latter a fellow past champion, along with Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre. Fleetwood, a two-time runner-up in 2014 and 2018, holds the course record at Carnoustie with a 63 from the 2017 championship and arrives on the back of finishing as the top European points scorer in New York.
Fitzpatrick won the Dunhill Links individual professional title, as well as the Team Championship with his mother Susan in 2023, and this year he will be playing with his dad Russell hoping to match that achievement.
MacIntyre leads the home challenge, hoping to become the first Scot since Colin Montgomerie in 2005 to win the title.
A world-class field
The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is played over St Andrews’ Old Course, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns, three world-renowned links courses, culminating in the final day on the Old Course.
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 championship in which the professionals are paired with amateur golfers which creates a unique atmosphere.
Fitzpatrick is among the Major Champions from six countries teeing it up this week as a strong international field assembles.
The 2022 U.S. Open winner is joined by fellow Englishman Danny Willett, Ireland’s Pádraig Harrington, who is trying to equal Hatton’s record as a three-time winner.
edit>>> Also invited from LIV, Germany’s Martin Kaymer, Australia’s Cameron Smith, South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen and American quartet Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson as players to have won Majors.
PGA TOUR winners Tony Finau, Aldrich Potgieter and Harry Hall are also among those in action, while a host of winners on this season’s Race to Dubai are targeting more silverware, including Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan and France’s Adrien Saddier.
Colsaerts and Warren join DP World Tour’s 500 Club
After announcing this would be his final season on the DP World Tour at the FedEx Open de France, Colsaerts will make his 500th start on Golf's Global Tour. The 2012 Ryder Cup winner had planned to call time on his professional career last season but his runner-up finish at The Home of Golf convinced him to continue as he regained his card for another year.
Joining him in reaching the milestone this week is Scotland’s Marc Warren, who made his DP World Tour debut in 2001 and has since won four times. Between the pair, they have seven DP World Tour titles and will become the 48th and 49th players to rack up a half century of appearances.
While Colsaerts is shortly bidding farewell to the game as a player, Warren continues to combine playing opportunities across both the DP World Tour and HotelPlanner Tour having lost his full playing rights on the former in 2023.
Sports, music and entertainment stars hit the links
Part of the charm of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is seeing a wealth of stars from a variety of industries share the stage with the leading professionals. Just like the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the PGA TOUR, the Dunhill Links serves up a celebrity field in a pro-am format.
Among those taking on three of the greatest links courses in the world are US rock legends Huey Lewis and Bon Jovi's Tico Torres, with Keane's Tom Chaplin and Linkin Park's Dave Farrell also taking part from the world of music.
Joining them are Hollywood legend Michael Douglas, along with fellow actors Matthew Goode, who appeared in Downton Abbey, and Hollywood star Kathryn Newton.
From the world of sport, Andy Murray, who swapped his racket for his golf clubs after retiring from tennis in August 2024 after the Paris Olympics, will make his debut in the Team Championship, in which each amateur partners one of the professionals, as is Canada’s Wayne Gretzky, widely regarded as the greatest ice hockey player of all time having won four Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers and set over 60 NHL records.
Each team will play St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns over the first three days, with teams and individuals that make the cut playing the Old Course on Sunday.
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
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