Rock Legends hoping to hit the high notes at St Andrews
September 22, 2022
A super group of celebrated rock stars, past and present, are among the amateur golfers confirmed for this year’s 21st Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
A super group of celebrated rock stars, past and present, are among the amateur golfers confirmed for this year’s 21st Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Keane’s Tom Chaplin, Linkin Park’s David Farrell, music giant Ronan Keating and Mike Rutherford from Genesis and Mike and the Mechanics, will be sharing the fairways with cult US rock legends Huey Lewis and Bon Jovi’s Tico Torres.
Mike Rutherford said: “If you love golf, the chance to play on three such amazing courses, where you can combine the history of St Andrews, the challenge of Carnoustie and the beauty of Kingsbarns is breath-taking. There’s always a little bit of competition between us singers to see who does best, but really we are just so pleased to be here and share each other’s company that it doesn’t matter if we finish first or last.”
Ronan Keating added: “Last year was really exciting for me, finishing 14th in the Team Championship with Eddie Pepperell gave me a big buzz. Once you have a good finish it makes you even more determined to do better next year. Trouble is, so is everyone else. The competition just seems to get tougher every year.”
The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is a celebration of Links golf, played over the Old Course St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns, from September 29 – October 2.
With a prize fund of US$5 million, the Championship 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.
The amateurs will be teaming up with the professionals in arguably the strongest field ever seen in the Alfred Dunhill Links, including world No.2 and triple FedEx winner Rory McIlroy, US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, who became the newest hero of British golf after his brilliant victory at Brookline in June, and 2019 Open champion Shane Lowry, winner of the BMW PGA event earlier this month.
Defending champion and former Masters champion Danny Willett faces a difficult challenge to retain his title. He will also be up against two-time winner Tyrrell Hatton, 2019 Alfred Dunhill Links Team Championship winner Tommy Fleetwood, as well as US star Billy Horschel, who is returning for a second year.
Two Open champions, Francesco Molinari and Louis Oosthuizen, will have the chance to return to the courses where they won the Claret Jug. Molinari is back at Carnoustie for the first time since his 2018 victory and Oosthuizen will revisit St Andrews, where he won in 2010.
Among other Major champions in the field are Padraig Harrington, also a two-time Alfred Dunhill Links winner, Charl Schwartzel and Geoff Ogilvy. Among the former winners returning to St Andrews is Branden Grace, who was the youngest champion, at 24, when he won in 2012.
