Reigning double US Open and US PGA champion Brooks Koepka returns to the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship next month.
Koepka, who won the US Open for the second straight year at Shinnecock Hills in June, has now won three of the last six Major Championships and says he is ‘delighted’ to be going back to St Andrews.
He will be joined by fellow American and world No.15 Tony Finau, another Major Championship specialist, who this year finished tied tenth in The Masters, fifth in the US Open and ninth in The Open at Carnoustie.
Both are members of the US Ryder Cup team which takes on Europe in Paris the week before the Alfred Dunhill Links.
Koepka said: "I’m so delighted to be coming back to the Alfred Dunhill Links, and of course to play once again at St Andrews. Last time I played in the Dunhill it was with my dad Bob, and it was a few days I will never forget.
Koepka and Finau will face some tough competition. Making his debut will be hugely popular American Matt Kuchar, seven-time winner on the US PGA Tour, who finished runner-up to Jordan Spieth in the 2017 Open Championship at Birkdale.
And Koepka will be renewing competition with England’s Tommy Fleetwood, who finished second to him at Shinnecock, after his final round 63 equalled the lowest round in US Open history.
Among the entries for the Championship, which takes place from October 4-7, are Major Champions Martin Kaymer, Alfred Dunhill Links winner in 2010, Ernie Els, two-time Dunhill champion Padraig Harrington, Louis Oosthuizen and Graeme McDowell, plus Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez, winner of the Senior British Open in July.
Tyrrell Hatton is aiming to become the first man to win the Alfred Dunhill Links trophy three straight times, and the field includes three other brilliant young English golfers - Matthew Fitzpatrick, recent winner of the European Masters, Eddie Pepperell and Matt Wallace, who finished tied 19th in the US PGA Championship, his first Major, which included a memorable hole-in-one. Wallace is another golfer in form after his sudden death victory in the Made in Denmark event.
Among the other Alfred Dunhill Links winners in the field are Branden Grace, Simon Dyson, David Howell, Robert Karlsson and Michael Hoey.
The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship celebrates links golf at its finest and is played over three of the world’s best known and respected links courses – the Old Course at St Andrews, Carnoustie, venue for July’s Open Championship, and the highly regarded Kingsbarns Golf Links.
With a prize fund of US$5 million, the Alfred Dunhill Links, which raises substantial funds for charity each year, incorporates two separate competitions - an individual professional tournament for the world's leading golfers and the Team Championship, in which the pros are paired with amateur players, creating a unique atmosphere.
A ‘super group’ of great music stars, past and present, will be playing, including current stars - Keane’s Tom Chaplin, Linkin Park’s David Farrell, music giant Ronan Keating and Brian McFadden, former lead singer of Westlife, Mike Rutherford from Genesis, and hugely popular legends Huey Lewis and Bon Jovi’s Tico Torres.
Sports stars taking part include Sir Steve Redgrave, making his 18th straight appearance, cricketers Michael Vaughan, Kevin Pietersen, Allan Lamb and Shane Warne, Irish rugby legend Brian O’Driscoll, 20-times National Hunt champion jockey Sir Tony (A.P.) McCoy and Dutch football legend Ruud Gullit.