Dornan, Garcia and Grant take centre stage
ST ANDREWS, September 27, 2016 – A dazzling cast from the world of entertainment will be performing on a different stage next month when they compete in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews, from October 6-9.
Hollywood stars Jamie Dornan, Andy Garcia, Matthew Goode, Hugh Grant, Greg Kinnear and Kyle MacLachlan will be sharing the fairways with a world-class field of golf professionals in the prestigious Championship, which raises substantial funds for charity each year.
Returning to St Andrews will be music giants Ronan Keating, Huey Lewis and Bon Jovi’s Tico Torres, while Singer-Songwriter, Niall Horan, Linkin Park’s David Farrell and former Westlife lead singer Brian McFadden are playing for the first time.
There are also many great sporting legends in the field, including footballers Michael Ballack, winner of the Team Championship last year, Luis Figo and Ruud Gullit, cricketers Sir Ian Botham, Michael Vaughan, Shane Warne, Kevin Pietersen, Mark Boucher and Jacques Kallis, Olympic rowing legend Sir Steve Redgrave and record-breaking jump jockey A.P.McCoy.
With a prize fund of US$5 million, the Alfred Dunhill Links incorporates an individual professional tournament for the world’s leading golfers and a team championship in which the professionals are paired with the amateur golfers which creates a unique atmosphere.
This year the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship includes a blue chip professional line-up of Major Championship winners, including current Masters champion Danny Willett, and members of the European Ryder Cup team. Willett will be flying straight from the Ryder Cup in Hazeltine with Rafa Cabrera Bello, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Martin Kaymer, Thomas Pieters and Lee Westwood, plus captain Darren Clarke.
Other Major Champions in the field include Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Louis Oosthuizen, Graeme McDowell, Paul Lawrie, Trevor Immelman, Angel Cabrera and Y.E.Yang. Also playing are former winner and world No.13 Branden Grace, leading Irish golfer Shane Lowry, Andrew Johnston, now universally known as ‘Beef’, and former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley.
The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, which takes place from October 6-9, celebrates links golf at its finest and is played over three of the world’s best known and respected links courses – the Old Course at St Andrews, Carnoustie and the highly regarded Kingsbarns Golf Links.
In June 2011 the Alfred Dunhill Links Foundation was established as the official Foundation of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. The Foundation is committed to developing young amateur golfers in Scotland and South Africa and also supports the University of St Andrews and the St Andrews Pilgrim Foundation, which refurbishes and preserves historical monuments in the town.