Scene set for Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews

Top golfers and celebrity amateurs are gathering at the home of golf, St Andrews, for the 2011 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Three of this year’s major champions - Darren Clarke, Rory McIlroy and Charl Schwartzel – are among the world class field of professionals competing.

Clarke, who won an emotional Open Championship at the age of 42 at Royal St George’s in July, and his fellow Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy, runaway winner of the US Open at Congressional a month earlier, will both be trying to win their first ever Alfred Dunhill Links title. While US Masters champion Charl Schwartzel is the latest in a long line of South African major winners to take part in the event.

In one of the strongest line-ups in the history of the Championship, also playing will be current world No 1 and No 2, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, and major championship winners Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Padraig Harrington, Trevor Immelman, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell and Louis Oosthuizen.

Defending champion Martin Kaymer, who last year also won the US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits and headed the European Tour money list, will be bidding to become the first golfer to win back-to-back Alfred Dunhill Links titles.

The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, which celebrates links golf at its finest, is played over three of the world’s best known and respected links courses – the Old Course at St Andrews, the Championship Course at Carnoustie and the highly regarded Kingsbarns Golf Links. The Championship this year takes place from September 29 to 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 a team event in which the professionals are paired with some of the most celebrated amateur golfers which creates a unique atmosphere.

Celebrity amateurs include Hugh Grant, Chris Evans, Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, and a quartet of Britain’s sporting knights, Sir Ian Botham, Sir Bobby Charlton, Sir Matthew Pinsent, and Sir Steve Redgrave, among many others.