No 1 Scottish golfer Bob MacIntyre returning to Fife to defend Alfred Dunhill Links Championship title
Scotland’s top-ranked golfer, Bob MacIntyre, is returning to Fife the month after next to vie for back-to-back Alfred Dunhill Links Championship titles.
The Oban 30-year-old – currently ranked 17th in the world and the only Scot to make the top 100 – has thrown his hat into the ring to defend the title he won by four shots from Buckinghamshire’s Tyrell Hatton at the Old Course at St Andrews last October with an 18-under-par total of 198.
He’s the first Scot to have won the championship since Glasgow-born Colin Montgomerie in 2005.
Last year’s win, securing a £597,000 payday, was left-hander MacIntyre’s second success on home turf after coming out on top at 2024’s Scottish Open, becoming the only native player other than Montgomerie, 63, back in 1999, to claim victory at the East Lothian event.
Confirming he’ll be contesting the championship again come Thursday, October 1, he said: “It was a very special time for me.
“I had won a Scottish Open the previous year, then the Dunhill Links and a Ryder Cup in between. That was very exciting.
“As a Scotsman, there is no better place to win than St Andrews. I can’t wait to go back as defending champion later this year to see if I can do it again.
“I’ve always loved to come to St Andrews. I’ve been coming here with the family for years, sometimes just to walk on the beach and to be in the town.
“The whole place is golf heaven and it makes it even more fun during the championship that so many of my family and friends are able to come to St Andrews to support me.”
MacIntyre and Montgomerie are among only four Scots to have kept the championship trophy in its homeland, the others being West Lothian’s Stephen Gallacher in 2004 and Aberdeenshire’s Paul Lawrie in 2001’s inaugural edition.
Other Scots taking part last year included Fifers Calum Hill and Connor Syme, respectively tying for 32nd place on 208 and 99th on 215.
As ever, 2026’s £3.7m championship will be made up of two separate competitions, an individual tournament for professionals and a team pro-am pairing some of the world’s top golfers with amateurs.
Over the years, the former has been contested by major championship winners including Rory McIlroy, Padraig Harrington, Matt Fitzpatrick, John Rahm, Ernie Els, Shane Lowry, Nick Faldo and Louis Oosthuizen, as well as three-time winner Hatton, 34.
The pro-am also has a history of attracting big names, with the likes of actors Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Hugh Grant, Bill Murray, Jamie Dornan, Samuel L Jackson and Andy Garcia; singers Ronan Keating, Justin Timberlake and Huey Lewis; tennis star Andy Murray; former cricketers Ian Botham, Shane Warne and Kevin Pietersen; and ex-footballers Ruud Gullit and Gary Lineker taking part.
Admission for spectators is free for the first three days of the championship – also contested at nearby Kingsbarns and at Carnoustie in Angus – but tickets are required for the final day – Sunday, October 4, costing £21.20 for adults. For details, go to https://www.alfreddunhilllinks.com/tickets/