Alfred Dunhill Links Championship: Five things to know

The DP World Tour returns to Scotland this week for the 22nd staging of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship as a host of European Ryder Cup winners tee up alongside famous celebrities and amateurs. Here are your five things to know.

Ryan Fox defends

Ryan Fox returns to defend this week after completing an emotional victory last year at the home of golf.

The New Zealander began the day four shots behind but needed just seven holes of Sunday's fourth round to take the outright lead before a combination of magnificent approach play and brilliance on the greens helped the 35-year-old extend his advantage to three strokes with three to play.

He suffered a late scare at the 17th but managed to limit the damage to just one dropped shot before safely parring the last to claim his second DP World Tour title of the 2022 campaign and third in all.

In the immediate aftermath, his thoughts to his former amateur team-mate and Australian cricket great Shane Warne, who had died that march.

Fox, who alongside Warne had finished second at this event in the team contest in 2022 said: "It means a lot. To be honest the only person I can really think of at the moment is Warne. He meant a lot to me and this event and was a great mate. It's a terrible shame he's not here. I'm going to enjoy celebrating this one with the family."

He now arrives in Scotland a Rolex Series winner, having claimed another big victory at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth last month.

Ryder Cup Team Europe winners in action

Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Fitzpatrick and home favourite Robert MacIntyre will all tee up in Scotland fresh from their European Ryder Cup victory against the USA at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, which helped ensure Europe they would extend their unbeaten run on home soil to 34 years during a history making week in Rome.

The latest European heroes will all star in the three-venue Pro-Am tournament, which Fleetwood won alongside Ogden Phipps in 2019. The Englishman, who secured the winning point for Team Europe on Sunday with a 3&1 victory over Rickie Fowler, has played in every edition of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship since 2011, and will make his 12th appearance in Scotland. In that time he's had six top tens, including two runner-up finishes, in addition to his Team victory five years ago.

Matt Fitzpatrick played with his mum Susan for the first time in 2022, and the pair will make their second appearance together this year. Meanwhile, MacIntyre will make his fourth consecutive appearance in front of home fans, with a personal best of tied 20th last year.

They are also joined by Team Europe Vice Captain's Nicolas Colsaerts and Thomas Bjørn.

David Howell makes appearance history

David Howell will overtake Miguel Ángel Jiménez and make DP World Tour history this week with his 722nd event, overtaking the Spaniard and setting the new appearance record.

His fitting record comes on the ten year anniversary of his most recent victory at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in 2013, which marked the fifth win of his career.

Both Howell and Jiménez, who memorably overtook Sam Torrance's long-standing record of 706 events at the 2020 Hero Open, are still playing, meaning we will likely see this record trade hands for some time to come.

Thomas Bjorn makes his 600th appearance

Thomas Bjorn will make his record 600th appearance in St Andrews, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie this week, becoming just the 15th man to hit the milestone in DP World Tour history. The 2018 winning Ryder Cup Captain, who also played his part in Italy as a Vice Captain, first played on the DP World Tour in xx, and has since won 15 times on Tour.

Sam Torrance was the first man to achieve the feat in 1998, and has since been followed by Eamon Darcy (2001), Roger Chapman (2005), Barry Lane (2007), Malcolm Mackenzie (2008), Colin Montgomerie (2012), Miguel Ángel Jiménez (2012), Peter Baker (2015), Paul Lawrie (2017), David Howell (2018), Robert Karlsson (2018), Raphaël Jaquelin (2019), Søren Kjeldsen (2020) and Stephen Gallacher (2021).

Star power and family ties in Unique format

As ever, the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship incorporates two separate competitions - an individual professional tournament for the world's leading golfers and the Team Championship in which the professionals are paired with amateur golfers. The format lends itself to forging a strong sense of camaraderie between the professionals and amateurs in the field. The setting for the tournament is steeped in history, with play held in rotation over the first three days at the Old Course at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns. The final round is then played over the Old Course, which staged The 150th Open Championship last year. The cut is made after three rounds, with the 60 leading professionals and ties playing in the final round, along with the 20 lowest scoring pro-am teams, regardless of the professional’s individual score.

Along with family ties for players like Matt Fitzpatrick, who is playing with his mum and Billy Horschel, who is playing with his wife, a whole host of celebrities from the world of sport and TV. Also making their way from Rome to the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is actress Kathryn Newton and former footballer Gareth Bale, who competed in the All-Star match. Other stars include Stuart Broad, Ronan Keating, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Billy Murray, Rud Gullit, Mathew Goode, Huey Lewis, Andy Garcia and A.P. McCoy.