What is the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship
Golf is one of the oldest outdoor sports. Golf is played worldwide and due to it’s fame, it has a large number of tournaments and tours each season. One such golf competition is the Dunhill Cup, St Andrews. It is part of the European tour and is one of the richest golf tournaments to exist. The Dunhill Cup St Andrews is also called the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. It is usually played in September on 3 different links courses.
Links: The word links comes from a Scottish word “hlinc” which meansrising ground or a ridge.Links is treated as singular even though it has an ‘s’ at the end. A links is the oldest style of golf which originated in Scotland. It refers to coastal areas with sand dunes and ridges or an open parkland. The surface of the links-style courses is hard and typically allow the golf balls to move much further in comparison to the soft turf courses.
The origins of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship
The Alfred Dunhill Cup was a golfing tournament that ran from 1985 till 2000. This event was sponsored by Alfred Dunhill Ltd. It was a team competition. It consisted of three man teams, and the teams represented their countries. It was promoted as the “World Team Championship” and was a specially approved event on the European tour. Players from all around the world were attracted to this competition as it was played on the “Home of golf”, the Old Course at St. Andrews, in Scotland. It gave tough competition to the World Cup which was a similar event consisting of a 2 man team. However in 2001, it was replaced by the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship as the World Cup surpassed this event because of it’s inclusion in the World Golf Championships (WGC).
Prestige of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship
The Dunhill Cup, St Andrews or the Dunhill Links Championship started in 2001 and is based on theformat of the United States PGA Tour's AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. It is an annual tournament, which means it is held every year. It is a unique celebration of Links golf. This golf-style has a special allure for people from all over the world, golfers and fans alike. There is a rotation between 3 coursesduring this tournament: The Old Course at St Andrews, Carnoustie Golf Links and Kingsbarns Golf Links.
Old Course at St Andrews: This course is also known as the Old Lady or the Grand Old Lady. It is considered to be the oldest golf course in the world. It is a public course over common land in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland and is held by a trust. The beginnings of golf on this course date back to the 15th Century hence, this course is known as the “Home of Golf.” The sport became very popular in Scotland back in the day which led it to become banned by the rulers of that time as they believed it was distracting young men from archery. The Old Course has played a very significant role in the development of the game of golf into what it is today.
Carnoustie Golf Links: This course is situated in Carnoustie, Angus, Scotland. It has 4 courses – the historic Championship Course, the Burnside Course, the Buddon Links Course and The Nestie. The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is played on the Championship Course. This course is extremely significant too as it has been used to play golf since the 16th Century. In 1890, the Links was sold to the local authorities with the help of the locals as they collected funds and donated them to the council to acquire the land. The Championship Course underwent significant modifications in 1999.
Kingsbarns Golf Links: This is a sea-side Scottish Links golf course. It is very close to St Andrews. It is ranked amongst the top 10 golf courses in the world. Golf has been played on and off on this course since 1793. The course was reconstructed in 1997 and reopened in 2000.
How the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is played
The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is a unique, one of a kind tournament where professional golfers are pitted against and with amateur golfers. It is played on 3 magnificent courses, with a rich history. It is one of the best and most lucrative golfing events in the world. It provides a special kind of attraction for spectators and golfers.
This championship has a very distinct format. It includes 2 separate competitions – an individual professional tournament for the world’s leading golfers with a prize fund of US$5 million, and a team competition which features some of the world’s most celebrated amateur golfers. To increase the allure and interest of the competition, the amateurs often consist of celebrities and known personalities such as, Tom Phelps, Bill Murray, Michael Douglas, Samuel L Jackson, Hugh Grant and Jamie Dornan.
The individual professional tournament takes place between 168 of the world’s leading golfers. In the team competition, each one of the 168 professional golfers are paired with one of the 168 amatuer golfers. Play is rotated over the 3 courses in the first 3 days. The final round is played at The Old Course, St Andrews. After 3 rounds, only the leading 60 professionals (and those tying for 60th place) and the leading 20 teams are allowed to play the field. Amateurs receive a stroke allowance equal to two thirds of their official handicap to a maximum of 18 for men and 24 for women. The team score is the lower of the professional's and his amateur partner's net score at each hole.
Prize money
Individual professional competition has a total prize money of $4.8 million.
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1st Prize |
$782, 928 |
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2nd Prize |
$507, 024 |
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3rd Prize |
$290,899 |
The prize money for the Team championship is $200,000, which is only paid to the professionals.
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1st Prize |
$50,000 |
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2nd Prize |
$30,000 |
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3rd Prize |
$20,000 |
When and Where is the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship played
The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is part of the European tour played in Scotland on 3 different courses. It rotates between The Old Course at St Andrews, Carnoustie’s The Championship Golf Links and Kingsbarns Golf Links. It is played annually, every September. It is played over a course of 4 days. It will begin on 30th September 2021 and will be played till 3rd October 2021. The admissions for the first 3 days of the championship are free for spectators; however, tickets will still be required.Tickets will have to be purchased for the final day for the Old Course St Andrews on Sunday, October 3rd. Due to the pandemic, the spectator capacity will be limited to 4000 only, for all 4 days.
Who will play the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship
The Players for the 2021 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship will be announced in the weeks ahead of the event. Rest assured, it will be an event worth waiting for as the world's top player will compete for the title. In this competition, the players are not only playing for the prize money, but the distinct title of the victory in the Home of Golf and the world ranking status.
The world’s best golfers’ performance is reflected in the leaderboard below, as they battle for a place in the Championship.
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Victor Perez |
Tommy Fleetwood and Ogden Phipps |
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Matthew Southgate |
Rory McIlroy and Gerry McIlroy |
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Joakim Lagergren |
George Coetzee and Aidan Crawley |
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Paul Waring |
Rafa Cabrera Bello and Dermot Desmond |
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Matthew Jordan |
Shubhankar Sharma and Johan Van Zyl |
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Jeung-Hun Wang |
Andrea Pavan and Chris Goodwin |
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Jordan Smith |
Luke Donald and Jamie Redknapp |
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Tom Lewis |
Nicolai Højgaard and Andrii Shevchenko |
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Tommy Fleetwood |
Joakim Lagergren and Frank Vivier |
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Andrea Pavan |
Matthew Southgate and Peter Dawson |
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Tony Finau |
Zander Lombard and Dan Fireman |
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Luke Donald |
Scott Jamieson and Cian Foley |
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Richie Ramsay |
Jordan Smith and Moss Ngoasheng |
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Callum Shinkwin |
Haotong Li and Allen Zhang |
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Michael Lorenzo-Vera |
Jason Scrivener and Andrew White |
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Russell Knox |
Tony Finau and Ryan Smith |
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Harry Hall |
Paul Waring and Tony Bird |
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Tyrrell Hatton |
Robert MacIntyre and Ashton Curtis |
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Alex Noren |
Calum Hill and John Tyson |
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Eddie Pepperell |
Victor Perez and Norbert Dentressangle |
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Shane Lowry |
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Matt Wallace |
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Haotong Li |
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Lucas Bjerregaard |
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Thomas Detry |
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Zander Lombard |
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Victor Dubuisson |
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Calum Hill |
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Robert MacIntyre |
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Padraig Harrington |
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Matthew Fitzpatrick |
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Rory McIlroy |
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Danny Willett |
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Justin Rose |
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Sebastian Soderberg |
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Dean Burmester |
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Oliver Wilson |
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Robert Karlsson |
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Sam Horsfield |
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Tapio Pulkkanen |
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Joost Luiten |
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Oliver Fisher |
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Marcus Kinhult |
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Ricardo Gouveia |
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John Catlin |
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David Horsey |
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Benjamin Hebert |
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Fabrizio Zanotti |
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Wil Besseling |
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Matthieu Pavon |
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Scott Jamieson |
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Johannes Veerman |
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Lee Slattery |
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Aaron Rai |
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Ryan Fox |
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Julien Guerrier |
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Grant Forrest |
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Rikard Karlberg |
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Alvaro Quiros |
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Raphael Jacquelin |
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Rafa Cabrera Bello |
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George Coetzee |
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Nacho Elvira |
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Liam Johnston |
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David Law |
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Wilco Nienaber |
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Wade Ormsby |
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Renato Paratore |
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Neil Schietekat |
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Matthias Schwab |
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Jason Scrivener |
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Richard Sterne |
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Euan Walker |
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Justin Walters |