LOWRY CAN GET JOB DUN’
TEN of the world’s top 50 golfers make their way to Scotland this week for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
This is a unique pro-am team event played over three iconic Scottish links courses — St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.
Each of the three courses are played in rotation over three days, with the top 60 plus ties going forward to play the final round on Sunday at St Andrews.
With a €5million prize fund, the Dunhill Links has attracted a strong field, with Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick, Shane Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton and defending champion Danny Willett all taking part.
Champion
Willett won this title last year on 18 under par by two shots from Tyrrell Hatton and Joakim Lagergren with Shane Lowry and Richard Bland completing the top five. Victor Perez was the champion on its previous renewal in 2019 on a 22 under par total, one shot ahead of Matthew Southgate.
Lucas Bjerregaard won the Dunhill Links title in 2018 on a 15 under par total, one shot ahead of Tommy Fleetwood and
Tyrrell Hatton, who narrowly failed in his bid to win this tournament for a third consecutive year.
Hatton had become the first player to successfully defend his Dunhill Links crown when in 2017 on a 24 under par total.
It was the also the second year in a row that Hatton and Fisher had finished 1-2 in the event.
Hatton has had six top 10’s this year and is a player who tends to play well on certain courses.
Best
His T-2 nd at the Arnold Palmer Invitational was his best result of the year so far and he had won that title back in 2022. He is likely to go close to winning the Dunhill for a third time this week.
Willett is another player who enjoys certain courses more than others, like Wentworth and the Jumeirah course in Dubai.
He will fancy his chances of a successful defence as he is coming off the back of a very unlucky second place finish in the Fortinet Championship and that was his third top 10 in his previous six starts.
Lowry is a proven links performer who will arrive in Scotland hoping to improve on his top-six finishes at the Dunhill Links in 2013, 2014 and last year.
He showed his class in winning the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in some style on his most recent start and will be well motivated to follow u p with another victory at one of his favourite events.
Lowry spent last week preparing for the Dunhill Links on several links courses around Ireland and will be raring to go.
Defend
On the PGA Tour, the Sanderson Farms Championship takes place this week at the
Country Club of Jackson and Sam Burns will defend the title he won last year on a 22 under par total by a single shot from Nick Watney.
Sebastian Munõz had won in 2019 in a play-off over Sungjae Im after the pair had finished on 18 under par, while in 2018, Cameron Champ (-21) won this title by four shots from Corey Conners.
My three against the field for this year’s renewal are Sam Burns, Ben An and Sahith Theegala.
Burns has risen on to the fringes of the world’s top 10 as a result of his two victories this year and will be hard to beat.
Ben An regained his playing privileges on the Kraft Tour and was T-4 th at the Fortinet Championship on his return to the PGA Tour and he can build on that this week.
Sahith Theegala has five top 10’s this year to date in high quality events and this tournament is a definite step down in class. He was T-6th on his last start at the Fortinet and has a great chance to land his maiden PGA Tour title in Jackson.