Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington to play at St Andrews

Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington, and two of the players from his European team at Whistling Straits next week, Tyrrell Hatton and Shane Lowry, are among the latest entries for the 20th Anniversary Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews later this month.

Harrington and Hatton are both two-time winners of the Alfred Dunhill Links and each will be hoping to become the first to win the Championship for the third time.

Another Ryder Cup team member, Tommy Fleetwood, twice runner-up and current holder of the Team Championship with Ogden Phipps, has already announced he will play.

Billy Horschel, No 18 in the world rankings, will also be playing at St Andrews, hoping to win his second straight European Tour event after his dramatic final hole victory in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. He, like Tony Finau, world No 10, is hoping to become the first American winner of the Alfred Dunhill Links.

As usual there will be a strong local challenge. Scottish golfers, Paul Lawrie, Stephen Gallacher and Colin Montgomerie, were popular champions in the first five years of the event, but no one has stepped up since then to join them.

This year Stephen Gallacher will be bidding for his second title, and the local galleries will be hoping Robert MacIntyre, the leading Scot in the world rankings, will make a strong challenge. They will be joined by Grant Forrest, winner of the Hero Open this year, and Calum Hill, winner of the Cazoo Classic.

The other Scots battling to bring the Alfred Dunhill Links trophy back to Scotland, are David Drysdale, Scott Jamieson, David Law, Richie Ramsay, Connor Syme and Marc Warren.

Frenchman Victor Perez, who has held the Alfred Dunhill Links trophy for two years after the 2020 Championship did not take place because of the covid pandemic, will be back to defend. Perez’ home is now in Dundee, which many feel makes him an honorary Scot.