Justin Rose joins Major winners at St Andrews

More celebrated Major champions have signed up to play in next week’s historic 25th Alfred Dunhill Links.

• Justin Rose, the first Englishman to win the US Open in 40 years, in 2013 at Merion

• Danny Willett, 2016 Masters champion and 2021 Alfred Dunhill Links winner

• Francesco Molinari, the first Italian to win The Open, in 2018 at Carnoustie

They will be joining an elite group of Major winners including Padraig Harrington, Matt Fitzpatrick, Brooks Koepka, Cam Smith and Bubba Watson, competing at the Old Course St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns, from October 1-4, to celebrate a historic golfing milestone.

Last year’s champion Bob MacIntyre was the first Scot to win for 20 years, and he will be trying to make it back-to-back titles.

Many eyes will once again be on Tyrrell Hatton, who is chasing his fourth Dunhill Links title. If he wins it would match the feats of Sir Nick Faldo, who won the PGA Championship on the European Tour four times, Severiano Ballesteros, who won the French Open four times, and Bernhard Langer, who had four victories in the German Masters.

Koepka and Watson will each be attempting to become the first American Dunhill Links champion, while Cam Smith, winner of the 150th Open at St Andrews in 2022, is hoping to become the first Australian to win.

European Ryder Cup star and current FedEx champion Tommy Fleetwood will be back. He has twice been runner-up, once third and seven times in the top ten. His best moment came in 2019 when he won the Team Championship.

They are joined by three-time Major champion Padraig Harrington, twice Dunhill winner in 2002 and 2006, who has played in every Dunhill Links since its creation in 2001, former US Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick, champion in 2023, his brother Alex Fitzpatrick and Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald.

There will be a warm welcome for the return of England’s Lee Westwood, champion in 2003, playing for the first time since 2019, when he had a hole-in-one at the 8th at Carnoustie.

With a prize fund of US$5 million, the Alfred Dunhill Links incorporates two separate competitions - an Individual Professional tournament for the world's leading golfers and the Team Championship in which the professionals are paired with amateur golfers which creates a unique atmosphere.