Golf Events / Paul Krishnamurty / 02 October 2007 /

Irishman isn't at the pro-am up in Scotland just to rub shoulders with the celebs

The Dunhill Links Championship may be a relatively light-hearted pro-am, but its unrecognisable from the type of pro-ams we're used to seeing on the PGA Tour. Whereas the US equivalents are usually played on easy resort courses and produce putting contests that are prone to producing shock winners, this is played on three classic golf courses at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarn.

While the courses are not set up at their hardest so as not to embarrass the celebrities, they always seem to separate the men from the boys - or more specifically those players who are experienced and skilled in the refined art of links golf.

A handful of players in the three-figure category fit this description, with the pick being Graeme McDowell. Having grown up playing links golf in Northern Ireland, McDowell is a natural for this type of golf and will surely win this event at some stage in the future. When he won the Scandinavian Masters almost immediately after turning professional in 2002, this former Walker Cup star was widely tipped for the top. Though he has shown again that he knows how to win in Italy and impressed amongst the highest company in the States, McDowell has been frustratingly inconsistent since.

Its a testimony to that inconsistency that he has missed four out of five cuts in this event, but proved he has what it takes to win it when going down in a play-off to Stephen Gallacher three years ago. Two of the four rounds in this event are played at St Andrews, and that was not the only occasion McDowell has proved he has the game to conquer the Old Course. In the last Open played there in 2005, Graeme finished a respectable 11th, and would surely have made the frame were it not for a couple of disasters on the infamous 17th 'Road Hole'.

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