Alfred Dunhill, the leading English luxury goods company, have announced the sixteen countries selected by the International Advisory Committee to play in the fifteenth Alfred Dunhill Cup at St. Andrews on October 7-10.
The full list of countries to be represented is as follows together with the number of their previous appearances at St. Andrews shown in parenthesis:-
AUSTRALIA (14)
CHINA (1)
ENGLAND (14)
FRANCE (9)
INDIA (1)
IRELAND (14)
ITALY (6)
JAPAN (13)
NEW ZEALAND (11)
PARAGUAY (3)
SCOTLAND (14)
SOUTH AFRICA (8)
SPAIN (14)
SWEDEN (13)
UNITED STATES (14)
ZIMBABWE (9)
South Africa, winners of the last two Alfred Dunhill Cup tournaments, will be going for the hat-trick to become the first country to win this unique international team championship for the third consecutive year. Australia, the only other team to have won in consecutive years, when they won the first two events in 1985 and 1986, will be at St. Andrews again this year. Other past winners playing in 1999 include the United States who have won three times in 1989, 1993 and 1996; two-time winners England 1987 and 1992 and Ireland 1988 and 1990; and Scotland and Sweden who won the title in 1995 and 1991 respectively. Paraguay will be playing for the first time since 1994 and India and Italy last played in the Alfred Dunhill Cup at St. Andrews in 1996.
The format remains unchanged with the teams, all comprising three professionals, being drawn into four groups playing in a “round-robin” league over the first three days, with the group winners playing in the semi-finals on Sunday morning, followed by the 18 hole final in the afternoon. Prize money totals 1,400,000 euro with 11,400 420,000 euro going to the winning team.
The players selected to represent the listed countries will be announced at the end of August.
The Alfred Dunhill Cup will be televised live on all four days by Sky Sports in the UK and will be seen in Germany, France, Spain, Scandinavia, throughout Asia, Australasia, Southern Africa, South America and the United States together with highlights coverage throughout Europe and in many other markets around the world. In all the Alfred Dunhill Cup will be seen in 214 countries around the world.
ALFRED DUNHILL CUP 1999 TEAMS
AUSTRALIA: Australia has played in all fourteen Alfred Dunhill Cup tournaments at St. Andrews. With victories in 1985 and 1986 - the first two years of the tournament - they were also finalists in 1998, losing 1-2 to Ireland, and reached the semi-final stage in 1987, 1992 and again last year.
CHINA: The Peoples Republic of China played at St. Andrews for the first time last year; although they did not win a match, there were notable individual wins for Zhang Lian-Wei against European No. 1 Colin Montogmerie and Wu Xiang-Bing against Masters Champion Jose Maria Olazabal.
ENGLAND: England has a very successful record at St. Andrews. They have played in all fourteen previous events, have won the Alfred Dunhill Cup in 1987 and 1992, were twice finalists in 1990 and 1993, and have also reached the semi-finals on three occasions -19988, 1989, and 1994.
FRANCE: France has played on nine previous occasions at St. Andrews and they will be remembered for their giant-killing acts of 1989 and 1990 when they knocked out Australia and the United States respectively in the first round. France also defeated Australia in the round-robin stages in 1997.
INDIA: India’s only previous appearance in the Alfred Dunhill Cup at
St. Andrews was in 1996 when they defeated the defending champions Scotland in one of their group matches 2-1 but failed to reach the semi-final stages after losing to Sweden and Zimbabwe in their other matches.
IRELAND: One of only four teams to have won the Alfred Dunhill Cup more than once, Ireland also reached the semi-final stages in 1989, 1993 and 1995. Their two victories came in 1988 and 1990 when they defeated Australia and England respectively. Ireland has played in all fourteen previous events at St. Andrews.
ITALY: Italy has played in the Alfred Dunhill Cup at St. Andrews on six previous occasions, the last of which was in 1996 when they finished third in their group after defeating England and taking a game off the champions, the United States. Italy also defeated Japan in a group match in 1992.
JAPAN: Japan has played in all but one of the fourteen previous Alfred Dunhill Cup tournaments at St. Andrews. They have never won the event, but have reached the final twice, losing 0-3 to Australia in 1986 and 2-3 to the United States in 1989. Japan also reached the semi-finals in 1990.
NEW ZEALAND: In eleven previous appearances at St. Andrews, New Zealand has won sixteen of their thirty matches. They reached the final for the first time in 1996 when they were narrowly defeated by the United States 1-2. In 1990 and 1997 New Zealand also reached the semi-finals.
PARAGUAY: This will be Paraguay’s fourth appearance in the Alfred Dunhill Cup at St. Andrews. In 1993 they defeated both Scotland and Wales but just failed to win their group going down 1-2 to the United States who then went on to win the Championship.
SCOTLAND: Scotland won the title for the first time in 1995, defeating Zimbabwe in the final. Previously, Scotland had reached the semi-finals five times and the final twice without lifting the Cup on their home territory. They have yet to defeat their arch rivals England, to whom they have lost on five occasions.
SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa made a dramatic entry into the competition - on their first visit to St. Andrews in 1991, they lost the final to Sweden in a play-off. They avenged that defeat in the 1997 final and successfully defended their title against Spain last year. South Africa also reached the semi-final stages in 1994 and 1996.
SPAIN: Spain has played in all fourteen Alfred Dunhill Cup tournaments at St. Andrews and reached the final for the first time last year when they lost to the defending champions South Africa. Spain have also reached the semi-final stage twice, first in 1988, losing to Australia 1-2, and again in 1995, going down 1-2 to Zimbabwe.
SWEDEN: Sweden has played thirteen times St. Andrews, only missing out in the inaugural year in 1985. Winners of the Alfred Dunhill Cup in 1991 when they defeated South Africa in a play-off, Sweden also reached the semi-finals in 1993 and 1996. In 1997 they again reached the final, losing 1-2 to South Africa.
UNITED STATES: One of only six nations to have played in all fourteen previous events, in 1996 the United States became the first team to win the Alfred Dunhill Cup three times. Their other victories were in 1989 and 1993. They were also finalists in 1985 and 1994, and semi-finalists on five occasions in 1986, 1987, 1992, 1997 and 1998.
ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe first played in the Alfred Dunhill Cup at St. Andrews in 1987, but it was not until 1993 that there were able to field their strongest team of Tony Johnstone, Mark McNulty and Nick Price. This trio reached the final in 1995, losing to Scotland, and were second in their group in 1994, 1996 and again in 1997.
