Celebrating the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, the greatest week of the year
22 years ago I came to the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship for the very first time, along with a group of 30 other golf students to volunteer as scoreboard carriers and TV assistants logging the GPS locations of golfers balls on the course. It was not my first visit to St Andrews, as I had visited here some 8 years previously as part of a family holiday to Scotland, but this was a memorable visit and one which would set me on a path to a life-changing decision.
That week I vividly remember the chill in the air and the smell of autumn, the spine-tingling sense of anticipation and excitement being able to walk on the Old Course, and inside the ropes in a significant European Tour event. I remember being in Ma Bells on the Wednesday night prior to the tournament whilst Paul Casey and Ian Poulter partied the night away, it was a different time.
We stayed in the St Andrews Tourist Hostel, 6 bunk beds in a room and in the centre of the student population of St Andrews. Trust me, if you think that sounds horrendous, wait until later!
That week I got to be inside the ropes with many great golfers, and nearly get wiped out by Matthew Pinsent's wayward ball on the 16th fairway. I also got to witness one of the greatest shots I have ever seen, as Fred Couples hit a towering fade over the Road Hole bunker to a few feet. He missed the putt for birdie but he came home in 34 to finish in a tie for 7th place, and was part of a truly incredible top 10 which included Champion Stephen Gallacher, runner-up Graeme McDowell, Luke Donald and Ian Poulter in a share of third place, Lee Westwood and David Howell in a share of fifth place, and Ernie Els was tied with Couples in seventh.
We didn't get to see the end, because once our last member of the group was finished we were in the mini buses and off down south back to Preston. It was a five-day visit which had a profound impact on me. Two years later I returned for a second volunteer stint, and within five years I would be living and working in St Andrews, as a caddie on the Old Course, and I got to caddie in the 2011 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
My golfer was a German furniture salesman, his name escapes me, but the memories of caddying for him will never leave. We had one practice round on the Wednesday, and then on the Thursday morning it was time for the real thing. I say morning, the round felt like it lasted all day with our group taking nearly 6 hours to complete the loop of the Old Course.
We teed off on the 10th hole, and he found the middle of the fairway, and we were off to a great start! It could only go down hill from there really!
He asked for a yardage and tip on how to play the hole, but I was confident he knew where he was going as we had played the course the day before. He lined up, and began his back swing, before I had the chance to tell him he was actually aiming for the 8th flag, some 100 feet right of the 10th flag. He nailed the shot, sadly to the wrong flag, and we had the kind of putt only JR Tolkien could read. He shot a round in the 80's and went on to play the rest of the week elsewhere without me.
After the season concluded I got a job working in the Chariots Bar at the now former Scores Hotel, but unfortunately two of us were made redundant within two months due to the bar closing over the winter. This left me in a difficult position, and after failing to find a job I had no option but to leave Scotland altogether and live at home with my parents again, thankfully they had room as their lodger, my younger brother, had moved out by this stage!
Then the 2012 Ryder Cup inspired me to start blogging about golf, and over the next few months my audience would grow, and I was receiving engagement from prominent golfers and members of the golf media, and it gave me an idea. I always wanted to return to St Andrews and this was the way to do it, by creating a golf magazine which drew on the different aspects of golf within St Andrews. We could cover golf at all levels from the club game up to the tour events, and tell the stories of golf in St Andrews and showcase aspects about the town which only the locals know.
St Andrews Golf Magazine was launched on 27 February 2013, and after our first accreditations to the Ricoh Women's British Open and Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, it was time to apply for accreditation to the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
We were successful, so myself and a local photographer covered the tournament from Wednesday to Sunday.
That year we attended the Media Dinner in the Alfred Dunhill Pavilion on the Wednesday night, and Hams Hame held a special media party on the Thursday to showcase Hamilton Grand to the assembled media. It was a truly memorable week, with absolutely stunning weather, and a tremendous championship unfolded. David Howell won the title after a 2-hole playoff with Peter Uihlein, which was another special element for me as Howell is from Swindon, and I grew up 20 miles from him in Wiltshire. I was also at his most recent European Tour victory at the 2006 BMW PGA Championship, as a volunteer with the college.
Within two years I decided that I had to learn photography to be able to reliably and consistently illustrate the magazine and our social channels, so I shadowed the other local photographer to learn on the job so to speak. After the 2015 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship I was off and running, and there was no looking back, I would now be applying as a photographer to the championship and other events on the DP World Tour, LET and Senior Tour.
In 2015 myself and the local photographer got to the course for sunrise on the Thursday, and we were greeted by conditions I have never seen since, a low mist and the sun rising to create an ethereal atmosphere. The greenkeepers were out in force, and I captured this remarkable shot at the 2nd green, it is one which I will cherish for the rest of my days, because nothing says 'The Dunhill' like this image.
I have been privileged to have been accredited to every Alfred Dunhill Links Championship since, and for me and the platform it is by far the biggest and most impactful week of the year, every year. From my perspective in the media the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is the best event I attend each year, and no event I have ever worked at across the last 12 years has even come close to usurping it. The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship set standards for the manner in which it treats and welcomes all members of the media, which still, 12 years on, I haven't seen any other tournament come close to. The communication between the Richemont and IMG staff and the media is respectful and concise, and all of us are treated as if we belong there, not like at some other events I could name.
The staff and the organisation set the standard of going above and beyond, which began with the Media Lunch from Wednesday to Sunday, with the option to have a sit-down meal each day, all compliments of Alfred Dunhill. This has evolved over the last dozen years to be more flexible for the working media.
The Media Lunch is just the starter though, as on Wednesday evening the assembled media were invited to the Alfred Dunhill Pavilion, behind the 17th green, for the Media Dinner and Quiz. Wednesday Night at the Dunhill is the social occasion of the year for myself, and it is elite hospitality and the creation of a close-knit community of golf writers, photographers and content creators under one roof, and not just any roof. It is the Alfred Dunhill Pavilion which hosts the Draw Party on Tuesday night, and the cut party on Saturday night. All of the players and celebrities from the championship are cared for here, and we in the media, for one night, get that experience.
Traditions are built over years and decades, and one such element to that is the Saturday Night Fireworks. This 9-minute spectacular brings thousands of locals from the area out into the town on a cold autumnal night, allowing the championship and the brand to engage with people who may never play or watch golf. The tradition is now so embedded within the culture in St Andrews, that the tournament is simply known as 'The Dunhill'.
Finally I must mention an individual who has helped to make this all possible over the last two decades. Rick Daniels was the Course Leader in Golf Studies at Myerscough College and was my lecturer at the college from 2003 to 2006. y enormous. Over his 25 years at the International Institute for Golf Education at Myerscough College he has led the golf studies programme and taken it to heights nobody could ever have imagined.
Graduates have gone on to work and live in every corner of this mad world, including roles with the PGA, DP World Tour, Ladies European Tour, R&A, JCB Golf and Country Club, The Grove, Trump Dubai, Emirates Golf Club, Frenchman's Creek, Royal Ascot Golf Club, Diageo, Preston Golf Club, TopGolf, Royal Golf Club Bahrain, Club Car, Future, LIVE-TEAM, Marriott Worsley Park, Fairmont Cheshire The Mere, Headingley Golf Club, Lancaster Golf Club, Golf Arena, Discovery Land Company, Sickleholme Golf Club, Nike, Faldo Series, Woodsome Hall, and several self-employed individuals like Rick Shiels, Peter Finch, and many, many others.
During my time at Myerscough we got opportunities to volunteer at several events including the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, BMW PGA Championship, and several others. The Collegiate and Prospects Tour, entirely created by Rick, saw us play this year's AIG Women's Open venue (Royal Lytham) for three consecutive years for £30 per person. We played several other great golf courses across the North West and east of England, and through his connections I got to spend two magnificent summers caddying at Royal County Down.
The opportunities were all created by Rick, and it says so much about him that 20 years since my generation left the college, so many of us still keep in touch with him. For me though the support he has provided during my time at the college, and even more so since I left has been invaluable.
It was so much fun and a privilege to be the photographer at the Alumni Golf Classic and Annual Tour Dinners and Awards, and to go back and see how the college has developed in the 20 years since I left was amazing. His support for me at various times in the last rollercoaster 20 years has been above and beyond, and far greater than some other people who I think are my friends. This week Rick will not be here for the first time in the 16 events I have worked at, as he no longer leads the programme at Myerscough and is moving on with the next phase of his career. His support, banter and advice will be missed.
Now I sit in the media centre writing this feature and looking forward to tomorrow's media dinner for a 13th time, in my 16th attendance at one of the greatest events in golf. I don't know for certain but I am fairly confident in saying that I am likely to be the only person to Volunteer at, Caddie in, Write about and Photograph the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. So, shy of playing the tournament I have seen it from every angle imaginable. There is nothing like the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
SHANK, by Matt Hooper
Matt Hooper is an Associate Member of the Sports Journalists Association
SHANK's coverage of the 2026 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is sponsored by Birdies St. Andrews - the best Pizza Takeaway in St Andrews, open 12pm-3am everyday
13 Bell Street, St Andrews KY16 9UR
01334 611709
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