Fleetwood: “this is my favourite tournament”
ST ANDREWS, September 7, 2017 – Brilliant young prospect Tommy Fleetwood has confirmed he will play in this year’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, which will be in full swing in one month’s time.
Fleetwood, 26, is currently ranked 16th in the world and on a high after two wins this year, plus an impressive fourth-placed finish in the US Open.
Even more significantly he has posted three top five finishes in the Alfred Dunhill Links over the last six years, including being runner-up in 2014, and has shot a record equalling 62 on the Old Course and a 63 at Kingsbarns, two of the three courses played.
Fleetwood said: “I’d love to win The Alfred Dunhill Links. It’s my favourite course and tournament on the schedule so why not? St Andrews would be a dream course to win on. I really enjoy the schedule of the week and also playing with our amateur partners makes it very different, very hard work but really challenging and a few laughs thrown in.
“St Andrews is one of my special places, it’s got an atmosphere like no other and that also adds to the great environment.”
The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, which takes place from October 5-8, celebrates links golf at its finest and is played over three of the world’s greatest links courses – the Old Course St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.
Fleetwood is up against a classic line-up of Major Championship winners, including Darren Clarke, Ernie Els, Martin Kaymer, Paul Lawrie, Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy and Danny Willett, plus current Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn and vice-captain Robert Karlsson, who won the tournament in 2008. Also in the field are former World No.1 Luke Donald, Ross Fisher, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Branden Grace, Chris Wood and Lee Westwood. Defending champion Tyrrell Hatton returns to St Andrews attempting to become the first to win back-to-back Alfred Dunhill Links titles.
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 a team championship in which the professionals are paired with amateur golfers which creates a unique atmosphere.
Sir Ian Botham and Sir Steve Redgrave rewrote the record books in their own worlds and now they are still proving unstoppable in their hunger for top level sport. The two British knights will be teeing up at St Andrews for the 17th straight time. They have never missed a year since the Championship was inaugurated in 2001.
Botham and Redgrave head an impressive line-up of sports stars, including rugby’s Brian O’Driscoll, former England footballer Jamie Redknapp, cricketers Shane Warne, Kevin Pietersen, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis and Mark Nicholas and horse racing’s Sir Anthony McCoy.
