Rory McIlroy and other key stars of the Ryder Cup remain in Scotland this week, in none other than St. Andrews, for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, a tournament that takes place from today to Sunday on three legendary courses: the Old Course in St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns. It is a classic appointment for the European tour, it is in fact the 30th edition of this race that runs on a double track: on one side there is a proam that unites the fortunes of professionals with a large troop of amateurs, on the other the classic challenge between tour players. The firmament of golf shines on this occasion for the presence of many stars from parallel universes, but always armed with clubs and sticks, actors like Hugh Grant and Greg Kinnear or footballers like Ruud Gullit and Gianfranco Zola.
There are five Italians participating in the competition: Francesco Molinari, Matteo Manassero, Edoardo Molinari, Andrea Pavan and Marco Crespi. The Ryder big names who will meet on the Scottish fairways together with Rory are Martin Kaymer, Victor Dubuisson, Stephen Gallacher and the legendary captain Paul McGinley.
This morning Rory plays with his dad Jerry McIlroy: “I'd really like to win this match – says the world number one – since here, at the age of 18, I got my first card for the tour. My father also turns 55 on Sunday and winning this tournament would be something special for me”.
Actually Rory won a lot this year, even "too much" in his opinion. At the end of the Ryder, last Sunday, the Northern Irishman joked: "Winning too much hurts me, I'm drinking too much champagne." Thanks to the great successes achieved this season, including two majors, Rory also collected the PGA Tour player of the year award, thanks to the vote of his colleagues and ahead of rivals such as Bubba Watson, winner of the Masters.
In Scotland this morning there are 168 professionals taking to the field from 25 different countries, for a prize pool of 5 million dollars, 4,8 million for the match and 200 dollars for the proam.
