The biggest pro-am on the European Tour takes place once again this week when the stars of golf mingle with the best of sport, screen and the business world in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
The mix of cultures is one of the things that makes this event stand out in the calendar with the other being the three wonderful courses that the tournament is played on. As ever Kingsbarns, Carnoustie and St Andrews will stage this popular competition.
Recent Winners
2016 – Tyrrell Hatton
2015 – Thorbjorn Olesen
2014 – Oliver Wilson
2013 – David Howell
2012 – Branden Grace
2011 – Michael Hoey
2010 – Martin Kaymer
2009 – Simon Dyson
2008 – Robert Karlsson
2007 – Nick Dougherty
The Format
Each professional is given an amateur partner and the duo plays a different one of the three courses over the course of the first three days. The pro score contributes to the main tournament and then the best pro or amateur score go to the team event. The leading players play St Andrews for a second time to determine the winner of each tournament on Sunday.
The Courses
Three of the best links courses there are will stage this competition. Kingsbarns, St Andrews and Carnoustie are the three in question. Kingsbarns is notoriously the easiest of the three not least because it is the only one with four par 5s while Carnoustie is the toughest track of them all.
Under normal circumstances these courses play tough but with the amateurs on them throughout they get set up much easier this week to allow the celebrities the chance to play them. That means scoring in the professional event is usually on the low side.
This is links golf so even allowing for the fact the courses are set up friendly you have to hit greens in regulation and be able to play in what is being forecast as a freshening wind. Generally you don’t win this without making a stack of birdies so good putters are favoured.
The Field
There is always a good field assembled for this tournament and with major winners such as Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Padraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell teeing it up here the quality is going to be good.
In fact quality is everywhere you look this week. Race to Dubai leader Tommy Fleetwood is here as is the new British Masters winner Paul Dunne while stacks of big names from Luke Donald to Lee Westwood and from Shane Lowry to Ross Fisher the field is stacked this week.
Market Leaders
Rory McIlroy is the 11/2 market leader this week. He didn’t have his best stuff with him last week and still nearly waltzed off with the title. This is his last chance to win a title this year before he takes the rest of it off and having done everything but win this in the past you’ve got to mark him down as a very worthy favourite. That said, the weather can make this a lottery and he’s far too short to back.
Shane Lowry has only played three regular tournaments in the UK and Ireland this year and he’s been on the top 20 in each of them. He has been in the top 20 in his last four visits here too so he is justified as an 18/1 second favourite. The question mark may be whether he can go the distance when in contention having not truly been there for a while.
The defending champion Tyrrell Hatton bounced back to form over the last couple of weeks and he’s 20/1 to keep hold of the title. He’s never too far away from flipping his lid on the golf course which would be a concern but there is nothing in his game that suggests he can’t win this.
Tommy Fleetwood skipped the British Masters for the birth of his child and if nappy factor is such a thing he could be a big price at 22/1 come Sunday afternoon. Branden Grace is a former winner around here too and he is 25/1 although he had a pretty heavy workload last week. It is 28/1 bar.
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Main Bets
This is one tournament where I rarely look at the head of the betting. If you look through the list of winners very few of them come from the head of the market and in truth there is nobody I particularly like among the fancied runners who have a price that is acceptable. I will have two main bets but at bigger prices.
Lucas Bjerregaard won in Portugal a couple of weeks ago and followed that up with a more than credible effort in the British Masters last week and I expect him to go well here too. He showed in those two events that he can play when the wind blows and he also showed that he is firing his irons and putting well. His GolfSixes compatriot Thorbjorn Olesen won this a couple of years ago and I see no reason why he can’t follow suit.
Marc Warren has also come back to form in recent times and that has got him back inside the top 100 on the Race to Dubai so barring something extraordinary in the final two tournaments his tour card is guaranteed for next year. With that in mind he can relax and let his golf come out. The Scot was fifth here last year in nothing like the form he is in at the minute. He sits second on the tour in putts per GIR and we know the wind is not going to affect him. If his iron play can be pinpoint he’s a big runner.
Outsiders
I always think this is a tournament to chuck some darts at in the hope of nailing the big priced runners who are always on the leaderboard in this event. With that in mind I’m taking four at the bigger prices.
The first of those is a Joakim Lagergren who has finished fourth here in each of the last two seasons. Since then he has lost a playoff in Qatar where the wind is known to blow and been right there in Germany without getting it done. He was in the top 10 in the KLM Open on an exposed track a few weeks ago so windy conditions bring out the best in him. I expect him to be right there again this week.
Callum Shinkwin should have won in Scotland earlier in the year but inexplicably missed a short putt to win. To his credit he has since followed that up with a top 10 in the Czech Masters and should have the ideal game for this tournament in that he makes a stack of birdies. We know from that run in Scotland, which was a second straight top 10 in that tournament, that links golf agrees with him so if his putter gets hot he should be there or thereabouts.
We don’t hear too much about him but one of the best putters on the European Tour is Austin Connelly and having almost landed the reddies with him in the KLM Open I’m prepared to give him a go again. We saw in The Open that he can handle the wind and links golf and as someone looking to establish himself he can focus away from the amateur and fun side of this event which is never a bad thing. He’s a big price with the quality of his dancefloor game.
As ever when a links tournament comes along I can’t resist a cheeky punt on Anthony Wall. Wall landed me a place pay out in Scotland earlier in the season and won the Paul Lawrie Matchplay on a links course. He has plenty of other form snippets on the links too including a runner up finish in this in the past. I think the windier it is the better he’ll be suited so I have to pay to see what he gets up to this week.
Tips
Back L.Bjerregaard to win Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
PLACED – Back M.Warren to win Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 67.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back J.Lagergren to win Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back C.Shinkwin to win Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Coral (1/5 1-7)
Back them here:
Back A.Connelly to win Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 126.00 with Betbright (1/4 1-5)
Back him here:
Back A.Wall to win Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 201.00 with Ladbrokes (1/4 1-5)
Back him here:
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