The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship was first played in played in 2001. What makes this tournament so different from others? Firstly, it's played at three separate courses over the first three of four days of the event; Kingsbarn Golf Links, Carnoustie Golf Links, and the Old Course at St. Andrews, with all Sunday rounds being played at St. Andrews. Over the course of the tournament, players travel from course to course to play their round for the day. You'll also notice that these courses are all in links-style, which always makes for a much more interesting round of golf.
This tournament is also a pro-am (similar to the AT&T National Pro-Am) meaning that amateur golfers (usually celebrities or persons of note) get the chance to play on a team with professional golfers. Thus there are two parts to this tournament, the individual (professional) part, which is just like a normal professional tournament where the lowest combined 4-day score wins with a monetary reward (one of the largest on the European Tour). The last part is the pro-am portion where a single amateur is paired with a single pro, and the pro-am duo with the lowest score wins this portion of the tournament. Both parts are played consecutively and both the pro and the amateur travel from course to course.
Lastly, this tournament is special since half of it is played at the Old Course at St. Andrews, the physical home of golf. It's filled with so much history and the course itself is such an icon in the golfing world. We saw a bit of what the Old Course has to offer earlier this year at the British Open, but this time around conditions will be cooler. However, the weather and thus the course will probably still be unpredictable as per usual.
Some notables in the field this week are: John Daly, Erik Compton, Ryder Cup Captain Darren Clark, and TGR favourite Graeme McDowell. Will one of them win, who knows, but here are our picks this week:
1) Tommy Fleetwood
2) Graeme McDowell
3) Danny Willett
Play starts very early tomorrow morning on all courses. Be sure to check out our Weekend Update post Friday evening to see who's leading.
-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews
Graeme McDowell is winless in 2015 thus far, could that change this week?
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