2025 Alfred Dunhill Links: Draw unveiled for Thursday to Saturday

St Andrews' John Paterson to play with R&A CEO Mark Darbon in Team Championship

St Andrews' John Paterson will make his DP World Tour debut this week in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, and he has been drawn to play with R&A CEO Mark Darbon in the pro-am team championship.

In the first round Paterson will play in the same group as Callum Shinkwin on the Old Course, teeing off at 11.12am on the 10th tee. In the second round the Tartan Tour winner will play in the same group as Lucas Carrera at Carnoustie, teeing off at 10.28am on the 10th tee, and in the third round on Saturday he will play in the same group as Thomas Pieters at Kingsbarns, teeing off at 9.55am on the 1st tee.

Darbon isn't exactly a celebrity, but being the CEO of the R&A he is one of the most important individuals in the sport, and playing alongside him for three days shouldn't carry the hoopla that a famous celebrity would. So it is probably a good draw for a young rookie making his debut in the tournament as a professional. John will, I am sure, be looking forward very much to playing with Thomas Pieters on Saturday at Kingsbarns, the 2016 Ryder Cup player, and LIV Golf star is one of the more high profile golfers in the professional field.

SHANK will cover John's final practice at the Old Course on Wednesday, and his opening round, also in St Andrews on Thursday, before heading to Carnoustie for his second round on Friday, and then returning to St Andrews for Super Saturday. If John is in contention to make the cut, or better then SHANK may head to Kingsbarns to cover part of his round. This is THE story of this championship from a local point of view, and it deserves to be covered as such.

Also playing St Andrews on Thursday and Carnoustie on Friday are a number of significant celebrities including Michael Bloomberg, Michael Vaughan, Jay Monahan, Kevin Pietersen, Tom Chaplin, Ronan Keating, Matthew Goode, Mike Rutherford, Dave Farrell, Huey Lewis, Sir Steve Redgrave, Peter Jones, AP McCoy, Piers Morgan and the co-owner of Everton FC, Ryan Friedkin.

'Super Saturday in St Andrews' will get underway with Aldrich Potgieter and Johann Rupert playing alongside FedEx Cup Champion Tommy Fleetwood and Ogden Phipps at 9am off the 1st tee. There is the delicious prospect of Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka in the same group, teeing off at 11.12am off the first tee, and the wonderful grouping of the entire Fitzpatrick family with Matt playing with father Russell, and Alex playing with mother Sue, at 10.39am.

Saturday will also see defending champion Tyrrell Hatton, Robert MacIntyre, Cam Smith, Patrick Reed, Tony Finau, Bubba Watson, Joakim Lagergren, Nicolas Colsaerts, Louis Oosthuizen, Marco Penge, and Kristoffer Reitan play at the Old Course. Celebrities include Sir Andy Murray, Bill Murray, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta Jones, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, Kelly Slater and Everton FC co-owner Dan Friedkin.

The full draw is available here.

Play on Saturday will be followed at 7.50pm by the the Traditional Saturday Night Fireworks in St Andrews. Best viewed from the Links Road.

SHANK, written by Matt Hooper