Golf
October 2015Alfred Dunhill Links Championship
Four days of pro-am golf are played on three different links courses, all centred on St Andrews, the "home of golf".
The Dunhill links championship, which mixes 168 professionals and 168 amateurs into teams of two (one professional, one amateur) is played over 72 holes of stroke play with one 18-hole round each day. Amateur men must have a recognised handicap of 18 or better; amateur ladies must have a handicap of 24 or better.
Two competitions run concurrently, an individual tournament for professionals and a team competition. Following the first three rounds, the leading 60 professionals continue on to play the final round. They are joined by the leading 20 teams.
Many of the amateurs are well know personalities and golf enthusiasts from the world of sports and entertainment - Ian Botham, Samuel L. Jackson, Hugh Grant, Boris Becker, Michael Douglas and Gary Lineker have all participated.
Each of the three courses (St Andrews, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie) is played in rotation over the three days. The final round of the championship is played on the world-famous St Andrews Old Course - an iconic terrain of shrubs, dunes and heather - which is revered around the golfing world.
Kingsbarns Golf Links lies just six miles south of St Andrews on the North Fife cost. With magnificent ocean views from almost every hole, this is being hailed as one of the great Scottish links courses.
Twenty miles to the north of St Andrews is Carnoustie. Played since the Middle Ages, it is one of the oldest golf courses in the world - its demanding terrain has been played by all the golfing greats.
