Alfred Dunhill Links Championship - Norgaard to tame St. Andrews?

Matt Fitz took down a shortened event last year

The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is a tournament that can throw up some surprise and big odds winners. There's a different dynamic to proam events and some players are more suited to them than others who might get a little impatient. The Alfred Dunhill Links is played over a three-course rotation with St. Andrews, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie hosting rounds 1,2 and 3 and St. Andrews hosting the final day. 36 holes will be played at the home of golf in what is an easy proam set up where pin positions are accessible and rough is down so expect some fireworks and low scoring.

Rory Mcilroy, Jon Rahm, Tyrell Hatton, and Tommy Fleetwood are taking up a good chunk of the market (circa 43%) which is good for us as like I said we often see surprise winners of this event as players lower down the pecking order look to push themselves into the Final Series and or secure their DP World Tour card for 2025. Remember the top 10 players in the Race to Dubai rankings (not otherwise exempt) this year will also earn PGA Tour Cards.

Course and Player Profiling

With the easy Kingsbarns, Carnoustie and St. Andrews course set-up for the amateurs we are looking to the power players to go low here. St. Andrews has some of the widest landing areas and largest greens on tour so tee-to-green play is key. Carnoustie as always can be the card wrecker if the wind is up, and it often is. Let's look at some of the premiums and key metric weightings for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship: 

• Driving distance (3)
• Irons (3)
• Proximity on approach (2)
• Lag Putting (2)
• Wind play (3)
• Holing out (1)

Nic's Picks for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship

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Niklas Norgaard 50/1 or 4/1 top 10 is one of the form men on tour right now. After winning the Betfred British Masters he continued his form with a chance to win at Wentworth. He capitulated in the third round but those with an Eagle eye will see he bounced back with an impressive low round 64 on Sunday for a tied 7th finish. The Dane had a taster of the Alfred Dunhill Links last year and again he shot a low round 63 at Kingsbarns so this man knows how to go low. He was also 7th in the event the year previous. Norgaard is third in driving distance and 13th in birdies this year. He's 18th in GIR %.

Antoine Rozner 90/1 or 7/1 top 10 has been creeping onto my radar in recent weeks. I noted he was 2nd in strokes gained approach ahead of the BMW Championship at Wentworth and he's gaining 1 stroke on the field in this department. Top iron players generally do well at Wentworth and Rozner hit a 2nd round 65 to propel himself to the top of the board. He eventually finished t7. Rozner has two recent finishes of fourth and 10th in the Alfred Dunhill Links. He also had a great chance to win the Italian Open a few weeks back before a poor final round. The Frenchman with three DP World Tour wins under his belt is simmering......

Note: Join my 2024 Nicspicks Mailing List  to receive all my PGA Tour and DP World Tour picks by email every week. This week we have the Dunhill and the Sanderson Farms.