NEWS RELEASE - Tuesday 23 September

World of Golf comes together in St Andrews for the 2003 Dunhill Links Championship

ST ANDREWS, September 22, 2003 - The leading golfers on the European Tour join a field with a strong international flavour and some of the most enthusiastic amateurs in the world at St Andrews, the home of golf, this week for the 2003 dunhill links championship.

Great golfers like World No 2 Ernie Els, winner of six tournaments this year, Vijay Singh, leading money-winner on the US Tour, and Darren Clarke, winner of the $1million NEC Invitational last month, are joined by high class amateurs in a unique celebration of links golf.

The amateurs will be sharing centre stage with one of the strongest professional line-ups in a European Tour event this year, including the first ever appearance in Europe by Shaun Micheel, dramatic winner of the US PGA Championship at Oak Hill last month, who will also be playing links golf in Scotland for the first time.

Also in the line-up will be Jyoti Randhawa who made golfing history last week by becoming the first Indian to win on the Japanese Tour when he won the Suntory Open.

The tournament, conceived as a celebration of links golf, is played over three of the world's best known and respected links courses - The Old Course at St Andrews, the Championship Course at Carnoustie and the highly regarded Kingsbarns Golf Links - from Thursday September 25 - Sunday, September 28,

The professionals who will be playing for $5 million prize money include Irish Ryder Cup star Padraig Harrington who is returning to Scotland to defend his 2002 dunhill links championship title, Colin Montgomerie, star of the 2002 Ryder Cup and seven-times winner of the European Order of Merit, three-time major championship winner Nick Price, England's greatest golfer of the modern age Nick Faldo, currently enjoying a golfing resurgence, Paul Lawrie, Open champion at Carnoustie in 1999 and winner of the dunhill links championship in 2001, and Spanish ace Jose Maria Olazabal, the 1994 and 1999 US Masters champion.

The enthusiastic amateurs are typified by Jodie Kidd, who as well as playing polo for England, is an avid golfer. She spent much of her childhood playing golf after being encouraged to take up the sport by her father. She finished fourth in the Barbados Charity Pro-Am earlier in the year.
Dan Quayle, former United States Vice President, is an enthusiastic golfer who has a single figure handicap. He says: "I started when I was 8 years old. We were living in Phoenix next door to Paradise Valley Country Club and I just got interested in golfing."
At DePauw University in Indiana he served as captain of the golf team and was later named in the college's sports hall of fame. As a young man, he even briefly considered a professional career in golf, but instead chose politics.
Among the amateurs in the field are:

Sir Michael Bonallack Ruud Gullit Buck Micheel
Ian Botham Alan Hansen Mark Nicholas
Zinzan Brooke Gavin Hastings Dan Quayle
Sir Bobby Charlton Samuel L Jackson Sir Steve Redgrave
Johan Cruyff Jodie Kidd Barry Richards
Kenny Dalglish Franz Klammer Peter Schmeichel
Kapil Dev Gary Lineker Tico Torres
Gareth Edwards Michael Lynagh Gianluca Vialli
Neels Els Nigel Mansell Shane Warne
Duke of Marlborough Ian Wright
Andy Gray J P McManus

Thanks to the unique format of the dunhill links championship, Shaun Micheel will have the opportunity to play in the same tournament as his father Buck Micheel, a retired airline pilot who plays off six handicap, as will Ernie Els whose father Neels is also in the starting line-up.

168 teams of one professional and one amateur are to contest the first three rounds, with one round being played at each of the three links courses in rotation. Two competitions are played concurrently - Professional Individual and Team.

The team score will be the best net score of the two players at each hole. After 54 holes the field reduces to the leading 60 professionals and ties plus the 20 leading teams, all of whom play the final round over the Old Course at St. Andrews. A list of entries in this year's championship will be released in September.

Prize money will be US$5million (approx. €4,336,192 / £3,022,000) with US$4,800,000 (approx. €4,162,745 / £2,901,100) rewarding the leading 70 pros based on their individual scores, and a further US$200,000 (approx. €173,440 / £120,890) for the professionals on the leading 20 teams. First place in the individual competition will be an end of season bonanza of US$800,000 (approx. €693,765 / £483,550).

Play will be in four-ball groups and in order to accommodate as many players as practical, all four rounds will start from both the first and tenth tees at all courses.

Eligibility for the 168 professional field is as follows:

" The top 50 from the Official World Rankings at August 25, 2003
" The leading 12 players from within the top 20 of each of the final 2002 Asian PGA Tour Order of Merit, the final 2002 Australasian Tour Order of Merit, and the 2002/2003 Sunshine Tour Order of Merit, who are not otherwise qualified from the Official World Golf Ranking
" 20 sponsor invitations
" Balance of the field will be completed in accordance with the 2002 European Tour Exemption Category List

The dunhill links championship will be televised live on SKY SPORTS TV, the Golf Channel in the USA and Japan, on M-Net in South Africa and in another 120 countries.

Entrance to the dunhill links championship is complimentary on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of the tournament. A ticket price of £15 (concessionary £8) will be charged for Sunday. Under 16's and students are free. Parking is free. A free bus service will operate between courses.

Tickets are available through the ticket hotline on 0870 010 9021.

For further media information, please contact:

Nina Fiddian-Green
dunhill links championship Media Office
Tel: +44 (0)1334-471030
Fax: +44 (0)1334-471094/718
Email: golfpr@richemont.com
http://www.dunhilllinks.com