Rory McIlroy (left) of Northern Ireland and Billy Horschel of the US who contested the BMW PGA Championship playoff at Wentworth last week. Image courtesy alfreddunhilllinks.com.
By Rahul Banerji
Fifteen global sports stars will join a full-strength professional field for the Alfred Dunhill Links Team Championship which tees off at St Andrews on October 3.
The event, which sees amateurs team up with top professionals, has a good number of LIV Golf stars in the fray alongside PGA Tour and DP World Tour members.
It concludes on Sunday, October 6 at the home of golf, event organisers said.
Defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick will line up with the likes of Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Billy Horschel, Brooks Koepka, Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy, Bob MacIntyre and Jon Rahm on the Old Course.
Among invited sports stars are former Real Madrid and Wales star Gareth Bale, playing for a second year running, cricketers Jimmy Anderson, Allan Lamb, Mark Nicholas, Kevin Pietersen, Michael and Vaughan, and Bale’s fellow footballers Ruud Gullit, and Jamie Redknapp.
Also in is John Elway of the NFL. Rowing legend Sir Steve Redgrave and rugby stars Schalk Burger Jnr, Morné du Plessis, and Rob Louw besides 11-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater.
Popular choice
Slater is the amateur all the professionals want to play with as he has twice partnered winners – Simon Dyson in 2009 and Thorbjorn Olesen in 2015.
The hugely popular American, recognised as the greatest ever surfer, finished third in the Team Championship in 2009 and described it as “the best week of golf of my life.”
With a prize fund of $5 million, the event has two competitions – an individual professional tournament, and the Team Championship in which the professionals are paired with amateur golfers.
Besides defending champion Fitzpatrick who won both events, the team championship with his mother Sue, are Paris Olympics silver medallist Fleetwood, besides Harrington and Hatton who will both be trying to become the first ever three-time winner.
Also competing will be major champions Koepka, Lowry, McIlroy, Louis Oosthuizen, Rahm, Patrick Reed and Danny Willett.
The most attention, however, is likely to be on McIlroy and Billy Horschel, to whom the Northern Ireland golfer lost to narrowly at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth last week.
Also playing will be South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence, the third Wentworth play-off member.
File photo of former Real Madrid and Wales footballer Gareth Bale. Image courtesy alfreddunhilllinks.com.
Local challenge
This year there is an immensely strong local challenge led by Bob MacIntyre, winner of the Genesis Scottish Open and the Canadian Open earlier in the summer.
For the St Andrews galleries there is also the prospect of celebrating a historic Scottish double if MacIntyre can add the Alfred Dunhill title to the Scottish Open he won in July.
Said world no. 17 Horschel, “I would love to win the event obviously. To be able to win any event at the Home of Golf would be special.
“To have that iconic photo on the Swilken Bridge would be something I would cherish. So hopefully I can put four good rounds together and be able to say I was victorious at the Dunhill.
“My game’s been really good in 2024. It’s been consistent throughout the year. I’ve played really well the last two months, which started at The Open, so I’m excited about my game and want to continue the momentum.
“I think coming over here the last four or five years and playing on the DP World Tour in a handful of events means the fans over here have sort of taken me under their wing, which I’m very appreciative of.
“I know a lot of Americans don’t travel a lot, but I wanted to play around the world and play on the European Tour which I grew up watching,” he added.
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