Victorian Cameron John gets his first chance in the event courtesy of his great Australasian Tour efforts last season

This week’s 25^th edition of the $5 million Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, played over three layouts in the Fife and Angus Council areas to the north and east of Edinburgh, provides a great opportunity for several Australasian golfers to gain exposure to a high-class event on outstanding layouts and for a prize fund to which they are seldom, if ever, exposed.

Played in a pro-am format, similar to that of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and more recently the New Zealand Open, players are teamed with one amateur for the opening three rounds played at each of St Andrews Old Course, Kingsbarns Golf Links and Carnoustie Golf Links before leading professionals and teams, making the 54-hole cut, return to St Andrews for the final round.

That the purse of US$ million is no greater than that offered in 2010 tells the story of an event for which its popularity is built on the format in which many of the game’s leading players enjoy the opportunity to not only play for a reasonable purse on fine golfing facilities, but the opportunity to reward many of the friends and families the opportunity to join them as golfing partners for the week.

Many of the game’s modern-day greats have played the event, and several have won, although the only one to have done so from our part of the world is New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, who also teamed with Shane Warne to finish runner-up in the 2021 team’s section of the championship.

Ryan Fox is not in the field for this year’s event, which is understandable given his involvement in Chicago last week, but there is a long list of twenty-two Australians who have entered the event, many of them gaining a start in the event courtesy of their performances on the PGA Tour of Australasia last season.

Cameron John, James Marchesani, Will Florimo, Jay McKenzie, Marc Leishman, Austin Bautista, Jack Thompson, Matias Sanchez, Nick Voke, and Decland Donovan are in the field as a result of the Australasian Tour Order of Merit standings, but there are several others who also get a chance.

Wade Ormsby and Kevin Yuan compete based on their Asian Tour efforts, while Ryan Peake gets another chance to improve his standing in his rookie year in Europe.

New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier, who surprisingly did not play in France last week, is entered, hopefully over a recent injury, to allow him to improve on his already impressive 13^th position in the Race to Dubai rankings and to consolidate his current 9^th place in the list of 10 who earn PGA Tour cards at the end of this DP World Tour season.

LIV golfers Elvis Smylie, Cam Smith and Lucas Herbert are in the field, while Jason Scrivener, David Michelussi, Anthony Quayle, Jack Buchanan and Conner McKinney round out a large ‘down under’ brigade.

 

 

Captains Geoff Ogilvy and Brandt Snedeker  – image courtesy of Getty Images 

The 16^th edition of the Presidents Cup gets underway on Thursday at the Medinah Golf Club in Illinois, the International side still in the process of making the event a bona fide contest, having won only one of the previous encounters (Royal Melbourne in 1998) and forced a tie (in South Africa in 2003) on one other.

The Americans have therefore won 13 of the 15 times the two sides have met, including the last eleven in succession. Those stats suggest this week’s event will be a one-sided procession, although not all of the American victories have been as dominant as the records suggest.

The Internationals came close to victory when they lost by just one point in Incheon, Korea in 2015, a last-round battle between Sang Moon Bae and Jay Haas having the Internationals in with a real chance of sharing honours for the second occasion before Bae made an agonising mess of the final hole at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in front of his home fans.

In 2019, the event was played at Royal Melbourne, and the Internationals took a 10-8 lead into Sunday’s singles before being run down 8-4 and losing 16 -14.

The closest of encounters, therefore, including the win and the tie, have come at International venues, suggesting the Medinah Golf Club gives the Americans an even greater advantage than their ranking strength alone.

As is the case with the Ryder and Solheim Cups, the USA side enters the event as the heavy favourite as a result of their superiority in terms of world rankings. The USA side can boast that nine of their 12-man side are currently inside the top 20 in the world rankings, while the Internationals have only Si Woo Kim (14^th) in that category.

Not that world rankings are the only barometer for success. Both the Solheim and Ryder Cups have been won more regularly in recent years by the less credentialed side mathematically, but the numbers in this week’s encounter are so heavily weighted in the favour of the Americans it is hard to see the Internationals mounting a serious contest.

The decision by Ernie Els in 2019 to introduce a shield to assist the International side in unifying under a common theme has perhaps assisted the side in overcoming the wide range of countries it represents and providing a rallying cry and a clearer identity for a team which regularly faces a very partisan American side and their fans was noble. That will be further the case this week, given the event is played about an hour west of Chicago.

Australian Geoff Ogilvy gets his chance to join fellow Australians Peter Thomson, Greg Norman and David Graham as team captains for the Internationals, the 2006 US Open winner and eight-time PGA Tour titleholder adding further benefit to the side given his role in his design team’s redesign at Medinah although that is unlikely to play too great a part in the team’s chances.

Whether his appointment is a poison chalice remains to be seen, but Ogilvy’s record, forthright manner and ownership of his own decisions suggest he will not back off from making the many hard decisions that will come his way during Cup week.

If there is one nugget that the Internationals could hope to utilise this week, it is that the USA side have to face either the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup every year, and whether the typically one-sided nature of this particular contest creates apathy and complacency might just provide some hope of a contest at least, but, in all reality, it would seem the outcome of the 2026 Presidents Cup is a foregone conclusion.

A side that can leave out J.J. Spaun and Gary Woodland must be very good.

I would dearly like to see a different outcome, but it is hard to imagine it.

THE TEAMS AND SCORING

Steve Alker – file image courtesy of USGA

Steve Alker is just one shot off the lead at the PGA Tour Champions Pure Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach Golf Links as the 54-hole event heads into tomorrow’s final round.

Alker, who has won his last three events, two on the PGA Tour Champions and one on Europe’s Staysure Legends Tour, now has a chance to win four events in succession.

Alker is surrounded by major champions as he heads into tomorrow’s final round, with Y.E.Yang, Henrik Stenson and Ryan Moore leading at 8 under par, while tied with the New Zealander at 7 under par is two-time major winner, Zach Johnson.

Alker is playing the event for the sixth occasion, and although he has yet to win, he has been no worse than 6^th in those five previous events, so coupled with his current form he is well placed to complete an amazing run.

When asked why he is on such a roll at present, Alker suggested it was a combination of forces.

“I think it’s just everything, to be honest. Everything’s just getting much sharper when you’re playing a bit more, and now back into the routine of like, I know my schedule, I know where I’m going. I think that’s the big thing. Everything’s just getting a little bit better.

“I haven’t played for 10 days before this event. I literally put my clubs away. So the mind’s fresh, the putting feels good, I’m driving it good. So yeah, it’s just all clicking, just getting a little bit better for the Playoffs.”

Playing at one of American golf’s most iconic venues is providing even greater incentive for Alker to record his first win in the event.

“Oh, it’s super special. I mean, it’s iconic, right? Just think of the people who have played here, the greats of the game. Not just greats, but celebrities here. It’s a special place. You have a lot to choose from around here; it’s not just Pebble, but I think if I had my choice of courses in this area, Pebble’s right up there with the best of them.”

Australian Michael Wright is just two off the lead and in a share of 6^th place while Scott Hend and David Bransdon are  in a share of 18^th place at 3 under and five shots from the lead.

Leaderboard

Ryan Gerard – image Getty Images 

A brilliant mid-round surge by Adam Scott during his second round of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf and Country Club in Surrey to the west of London will see the Queenslander enter the weekend just two off the halfway lead held by American Ryan Gerard (pictured).

Beginning his second round at the 9^th hole (caused by the logistics of accessing the 10^th tee), Scott parred his first four holes before a bogey at his 5^th hole had him one over for the day, but he would then unleash a run of eight birdies over the next ten holes to take the lead at 11 under par before a bogey at his 17^th hole saw him finish with a second consecutive round of 67.

Scott played early on day two, and when he finished his round he was tied in the lead with Italian Filippo Celli, and it would not be until Gerard finished his round of 65 late in the day that the American would take a two-shot lead through 36 holes.

Understandably, Scott was delighted with his game and his position in the tournament.

I’m really pleased with it, actually,” said the 46-year-old, playing in his 11^th BMW PGA Championship. “Early start, a quick turnaround. Took me a couple holes to kind of find the rhythm, certainly on the greens, anyway. Then I got going. Made a bunch of birdies, a few bogeys and in great shape going into the weekend.”

Scott was asked how the energy levels were holding up given a big end to the PGA Tour season.

“I feel all right, but you have to really understand that it’s getting late in the year. We played a big month to finish the FedExCup in the States. You want to be ready for a big event like this, too. I’ve had a couple of easy weeks. I felt a little underdone, probably, golf-wise coming in here, but at least fresh mentally, and I think that’s been good for me the last couple of days.

“This is one of the special events in the world. We have these major championships, and of course everyone recognises them and rates them so highly, but this sits very close to that level. I think there are so many things going for it from the golf course, but the atmosphere they create, the fans, the amphitheatre around 18, I think it’s a special, special feeling coming up there later on a Sunday. It feels like a big championship, and I’d dearly love to be in with a chance on Sunday.”

New Zealand’s Ryan Fox followed up his good start yesterday with a second consecutive round of 68 to be just four from the lead and in a share of 6^th place alongside his playing partner Rory McIlory and three others. The other member of their trio, Aaron Rai, is at 9 under and just three from the lead.

Gerard has had a big year on the PGA Tour, improving from 44^th to 21^st in the world ranking, and although he has not won in 2026, there have been some very impressive results, including a 3^rd place at the Tour Championship in August and three runner-up finishes, including at the Memorial Tournament.

“I think the course looks very similar to courses that I’ve grown up on, and I feel very comfortable with a lot of the tee shots and angles and things like that,” said the 27-year-old.

“So you know, it’s a golf tournament that you have to be prepared to play. Our job is to be prepared for that week, and I feel like the first year is kind of difficult sometimes, but second year, you should be ready to go. So I did a lot of prep last year, did some more this year, had a really good understanding of the wind and where the pins are and how some of the greens like to shape and slope and where you don’t want to be.

I’ve done a really good job of just staying patient and executing good golf shots up until this point, and hopefully more this weekend.

New Zealander Daniel Hillier is in 49^th place at 3 under while Kazuma Kobori is in 64^th place and on the cut line.

Fellow Australasians, David Micheluzzi, Jason Scrivener and Elvis Smylie missed out on the weekend.

Leaderboard 

Ryan Fox holds his 2023 BMW PGA Championship trophy aloft

This week’s US$9 million BMW PGA Championship over the Burma Road (West Course layout) at the famed Wentworth Golf Club in Surrey, sees the return to European golf of the recently crowned Open Champion and a man who has had success previously in this flagship event of the DP World Tour.

Ryan Fox will join a field which includes Masters Champion, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, USPGA Champion Aaron Rai, world number four Matthew Fitzpatrick, last week’s runaway winner in Ireland, Shane Lowry, and current Race to Dubai leader Patrick Reed.

Fox won this event in 2023 when defeating Aaron Rai and Tyrrell Hatton by one shot, his most significant victory of the four standalone DP World Tour events he has won, and there will be a lot of interest as to how the 39-year-old will perform now that he is a major champion following his win at the Open Championship nearly two months ago.

Fox’s form since his win at Royal Birkdale has been below his best, but there has been a lot to adjust to, and he did make it to the Tour Championship in Atlanta, which is an achievement in itself. Interestingly, in eight other attempts at this week’s event, he has a best of 20^th, another factor worth considering when assessing his chances. Fox is, though, a significantly more experienced and credentialed player than was the case three years ago.

Fox will play with McIlroy and Rai in the opening two rounds, resulting in three of this year’s four major champions are paired over the first 36 holes.

Other Australians and New Zealanders in the field are Adam Scott, Daniel Hillier, Kazuma Kobori, Jason Scrivener, David Micheluzzi and Elvis Smylie, who returns from an injury break, having last played at the Italian Open in June.

TEE TIMES