Fantasy Golf: Alfred Dunhill Links Championship
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The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship returns to it’s three incredible venue set-up, as Tyrrell Hatton defends and Rory McIlroy hopes to go one better than last week
Played over the three links courses of Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and The Old Course, St Andrews, the 2017 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is awash with famous faces and top European talent.
Last week saw Irishman Paul Dunne clinch his first European Tour title at the very well-attended British Masters at Close House in style, holding off a Sunday charge from Rory McIlroy – who relished getting back in to the hunt and is back this week to attempt to go one better.
Tyrrell Hatton took the early command but fell back to T8, and he’ll be hoping he defend his first ever European Tour title at St Andrews on Sunday.
The Dunhill is a very similar format to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am played on the PGA Tour in February this year, in that the players are teamed up throughout the week with an amateur – which includes celebrities such as Wladimir Klitschko, Jamie Dornan and Luis Figo.
The teams play each course once before the final round takes place on the Old Course on Sunday. But who should feature in your fantasy golf team this week? Remember to change your team by midnight on Wednesday!
The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship: How it works
After 54 holes the field will be cut to the Top 60 professionals and those tying 60th place and the leading 20 teams. Any ties for the 20th spot will be determined as follows:-
i) The TEAM with the lowest INDIVIDUAL PRO 54 hole score
ii) The lowest TEAM score over THE OLD COURSE
iii) The lowest TEAM score over holes 10-18 of the Old Course and thence holes 13-18, holes 16-18 and if still tied, the final hole
iv) If the tie or ties can still not be determined, there would be a match of the teams’ scores over The Old course starting on hole 1
Notable Pairings
Rory McIlroy and Gerry McIlroy, Graeme McDowell and Sir Anthony McCoy, Luke Donald and Jamie Redknapp, Maximilian Kieffer and Wladimir Klitschko, Tyrrell Hatton and Jamie Dornan
The full draw: https://alfreddunhilllinks.com/draw/
Fantasy Golf Picks: British Masters (Price descending)
Rory McIlroy: Fantasy Price £15m
McIlroy had a disappointing end to his PGA Tour season, failing to make it to the Tour Championships and losing his chance to defend the title he won last year – but with a 2nd place in last weeks British Masters, we wouldn’t be surprised if he commanded the field this week. Weeks off seemed to do him good, but he had played well up until the play-offs. His last seven results? 2nd-T58 – MC – T34 – T22 – T5 – T4
Tyrrell Hatton: Fantasy Price £13
Hatton led the way over the first two days of the British Masters at Close House, but despite a final round 69 he wasn’t able to catch Dunne – finishing T8. Hatton is the defending champion this week, and given that he was T3 in the European Masters prior to last week, he really seems like he’s coming in to this event in form.
Shane Lowry: Fantasy Price £12m
Lowry is another one who has had a very varied season, but a couple of solid performances in the past few weeks indicate his game is getting back to it’s best. A T7 at the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour was followed by a T29 at the Portugal Masters and another T7 at last week’s British Masters.
Matthew Fitzpatrick: Fantasy Price £11.5m
Fitzpatrick is having a strong end to what has otherwise been a very mixed season, but given that the World no.35 finished 11th last week, and won the European Masters a couple of weeks prior – we’re throwing him in the mix as a high finisher in St Andrews.
Chris Wood: Fantasy Price £11m
Motivated by a solid outing last week and a T9 finish at the KLM Open two weeks ago, Chris Wood is hoping to gain his first victory since the BMW PGA Championship in 2016. The Englishman has had a bit of a mixed bag of results this season, but it does include a top 10 and two top 5s, so it’s difficult to rule him out. His last five results? T26-T9- MC- T33- T73 – T14.
Lee Westwood: Fantasy Price £11m
If you need convincing that Westwood is a great pick this week, of the four top 10s he’s had in 2017 – two have come in his last four starts, including a T3 at the KLM Open a few weeks back. Westwood was really solid last week at the event he hosted, winning the Hero Challenge and finishing T15.
David Lingmerth: Fantasy Price £10.5m
Lingmerth is one to watch this week. He finished T4 last week and T20 at the Portugal Masters the week before, and he’s had a lot of consistent results this season – making it to the second stage of the FedEx Cup play-offs.
George Coetzee: Fantasy Price £9m
He’s knocked on the door a good few times in the past three tournaments, but is still searching for his first win since 2015. A T15 last week at the British Masters followed a T7 in Portugal and a T3 at the KLM Open, so he’s definitely got the form to be up there.
Ian Poulter: Fantasy Price £8m
From temporarily losing his Tour card to being in contention at The Open and finishing runner-up at The Players Championship, it’s been quite a year for Poulter. He didn’t quite make the Tour Championship, but he’s had two top 10s in his last eight starts – and in his last three appearances on British soil, he was T11 last week at the British Masters, T14 at the Open and T9 at the Scottish Open.
Graeme Storm: Fantasy Price £7m
Another one that seems to have found form in the past couple of weeks, Storm is looking for his second victory of 2017. His first came back in January againt Rory McIlroy, and given that he’s finished in the top 5 in both of his last two starts – we’d not bet against him this week.
Lucas Bjerregaard: Fantasy Price £6.5m
Bjerregard won his maiden European Tour event in Portugal a couple of weeks ago, cruising to a four-shot victory. He’s been on a run of good form and we wouldn’t be surprised if it continued. His last three starts? T8-1st-T9
Richie Ramsay: Fantasy Price £6m
The Scot was in the hunt last week and hasn’t finished worse than 35th in his last 7 outings, which includes three top 10s. Ramsay is back on home soil this week in Scotland and with a low fantasy value we think he’s an excellent bet this week.
Paul Dunne: Fantasy Price £6m
Dunne moved up almost 100 World Ranking spots from 187 to 88th after his win last week – and it’s not unfathomable that he could do the double. Back in 2015, Dunne led The Open at St Andrews after the third round – he faded on that occasion, but now that he has a win under his belt he’s more likely to get the job done. His last five results? 1st-T14-T70-T14-T9
