Many of the leading golfers on The European Tour join forces with a strong international cast and some of the most enthusiastic amateurs in the world at St Andrews, the Home of Golf, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns this week for the 2003 dunhill links championship.
World Number Two Ernie Els, winner of six tournaments around the globe this year and top of the Volvo Order of Merit, is joined by US PGA Tour money leader, Vijay Singh of Fiji, and Darren Clarke, winner of the World Golf Championships - NEC Invitational last month, along with many keen amateurs in a unique celebration of links golf.
The amateurs will be sharing centre stage with one of the strongest professional line-ups in a European Tour event this year, including the first appearance in Europe by Shaun Micheel, dramatic winner of the US PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club last month, who will also be playing links golf in Scotland for the first time.
Also in the line-up will be Jyoti Randhawa who made golfing history last week by becoming the first Indian to win on the Japanese Tour when he won the Suntory Open.
The tournament, conceived as a celebration of links golf, is played over three of the world’’s best known and respected links courses - The Old Course at St Andrews, the Championship Course at Carnoustie and the highly regarded Kingsbarns Golf Links - from September 25-28.
The professionals who will be playing for $5 million prize money include Irish Ryder Cup star Padraig Harrington, who is returning to Scotland to defend his 2002 dunhill links championship title; Colin Montgomerie, star of The 2002 Ryder Cup and seven-times winner of the Volvo Order of Merit; three-time Major Championship winner Nick Price; England’’s greatest golfer of the modern era, Nick Faldo, currently enjoying a golfing resurgence; Paul Lawrie, Open champion at Carnoustie in 1999 and winner of the dunhill links championship in 2001, and Spanish maestro, José Maria Olazábal, the 1994 and 1999 US Masters Champion.
The enthusiastic amateurs are typified by Jodie Kidd, who as well as playing polo for England, is an avid golfer. She spent much of her childhood playing golf after being encouraged to take up the sport by her father. She finished fourth in the Barbados Charity Pro-Am earlier in the year.
Dan Quayle, former United States Vice President, is an enthusiastic golfer who has a single figure handicap. He says: "I started when I was eight years old. We were living in Phoenix next door to Paradise Valley Country Club and I just got interested in golfing."
At DePauw University in Indiana he served as captain of the golf team and was later named in the college’’s sports hall of fame. As a young man, he even briefly considered a professional career in golf, but instead chose politics.
Among the amateurs in the field are: Sir Michael Bonallack, Ruud Gullit, Buck Micheel, Ian Botham, Alan Hansen, Mark Nicholas, Zinzan Brooke, Gavin Hastings, Dan Quayle, Sir Bobby Charlton, Samuel L Jackson, Sir Steve Redgrave, Johan Cruyf, Jodie Kidd, Barry Richards, Kenny Dalglish, Franz Klammer, Peter Schmeichel, Kapil Dev, Gary LinekerTico Torres, Gareth Edwards, Michael Lynagh, Gianluca Vialli, Neels Els, Nigel Mansell, Shane Warne, Duke of Marlborough, Ian Wright, Andy Gray and J P McManus.
Thanks to the unique format of the dunhill links championship, Micheel will have the opportunity to play in the same tournament as his father Buck, a retired airline pilot who plays off a six handicap, as will Ernie Els whose father Neels is also in the starting line-up.
A total of 168 teams of one professional and one amateur are to contest the first three rounds, with one round being played at each of the three links courses in rotation. Two competitions are played concurrently – Professional Individual and Team.
The team score will be the best net score of the two players at each hole. After 54 holes the field reduces to the leading 60 professionals and ties plus the 20 leading teams, all of whom play the final round over the Old Course at St. Andrews.
Play will be in four-ball groups and in order to accommodate as many players as practical, all four rounds will start from both the first and tenth tees at all courses.
Entrance to the dunhill links championship is complimentary on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the tournament. A ticket price of £15 (concessionary £8) will be charged for Sunday. Under 16’’s and students are free. Parking is free. A free bus service will operate between courses.
Tickets are available through the ticket hotline on 0870 010 9021.
