St. Andrews Links Trophy: Dream Finish for Dunbar

June 7, 2009 | by AmateurGolf.com Staff

Winner of the 2009 St. Andrews Links Trophy

Alan Dunbar of Northern Ireland birdies #18 at the Old Course to win the St. Andrews Links Trophy, beating the strongest field of the year

ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND (June 7, 2009)--The winner of the St Andrews Links Trophy 2009 is Alan Dunbar of Rathmore, Northern Ireland. A last round 70 left him on 285, two under par. A last green birdie put him a single shot ahead of Matt Haines of England and two ahead of Rhys Enoch of Wales.

The tournament was won and lost on the final nine. With nine holes to play, it was Enoch at 5-under, Paul O'Hara of Scotland at 4-under, and Luke Goddard of England at 3-under, with Dunbar four back at 1-under and Haines seemingly out of it at 2-over. But with the top 3 shooting 41, 41, and 40 coming in, the door was opened for Dunbar and Haines, who shot 35 and 33 respectively on the final nine.

With the win, Dunbar climbs to #40 in the Golfweek/amateurgolf.com Player Rankings. Luke Goddard's 4th place finish moves into the #1 spot, while fellow Englishman Sam Hutsby remains at #2 following a T20 finish.

Four Americans finished in the top 40, lead by Will Wilcox of Pell City, AL, tied for 14th at 8-over 295. Mike McCoy of W. Des Moines, IA finished tied for 25th and moved to #13 in the World and #5 in the U.S. Greg O'Mahony of Tequesta, FL also finished T25 at 10-over, while James Field of Pinecrest, FL finished 40th at 21-over.

The field for the Links Trophy was the strongest of the year to date, with 12 of the top 20 players in the world and 21 countries represented.

St. Andrews Links Trophy: Top Finishers

Click on each link to view that player's ranking and performance in Golfweek/amateurgolf.com Amateur Golf Rankings points events

Place	Player	Scores
1	Alan Dunbar, Northern Ireland	71-73-71-70--285
2	Matt Haines, England	71-72-73-70--286
3	Rhys Enoch, Wales	71-71-71-74--287
T4	Luke Goddard, England	71-75-69-73--288
T4	Daniel Nisbet, Australia	74-71-72-71--288
T4	Paul O'Hara, Scotland	68-72-73-75--288
7	David Coupland, England	71-74-74-70--289
T8	Tommy Fleetwood, England	71-77-71-71--290
T8	Nigel Edwards, Wales	69-78-73-70--290
T8	Matthew Nixon, England	73-70-73-74--290
T11	James Frazer, Wales	73-75-69-75--292
T11	Matteo Manassero, Italy	68-80-72-72--292
13	Miles Mackman, England	72-77-73-71--293
T14	James Robinson, England	76-73-75-71--295
T14	Steven McEwan, Scotland	76-72-71-76--295
T14	Will Wilcox, USA	73-75-76-71--295
T14	Pontus Gad, Sweden	73-75-74-73--295
T14	Alexander Levy, France	73-74-74-74--295
T14	Ross Kellett, Scotland	67-77-76-75--295
T20	Anders Kristiansen, Norway	74-75-72-75--296
T20	Wallace Booth, Scotland	72-76-69-79--296
T20	Sam Hutsby, England	71-76-74-75--296
T20	Ben Westgate, Wales	72-75-74-75--296
T20	Derik Ferreira, South Africa	72-75-75-74--296
T25	Jason Barnes, England	71-77-75-74--297
T25	Mike McCoy, USA	68-79-73-77--297
T25	Greg O'Mahony, USA	74-72-78-73--297
T25	Oliver Farr, Wales	74-72-73-78--297
T29	Michael Stewart, Scotland	73-76-73-76--298
T29	Adam Runcie, Wales	72-76-73-77--298
T29	Jurrian Van Der Vaart, Netherlands	74-74-72-78--298
T29	Joe Vickery, Wales	72-75-75-76--298
T33	Alexandre Kaleka, France	72-74-75-78--299
T33	James White, Scotland	74-75-76-75--300
T33	Joel Stalter, France	71-76-78-75--300
36	Tom Lewis, England	70-79-75-77--301
37	Jack Senior, England	75-74-73-80--302
38	Stuart Phillips, England	70-78-79-76--303
39	Jamie Howie, Wales	73-76-77-78--304
40	James Field, USA	70-79-81-78--308

For complete results of the 2009 St. Andrews Links Trophy, click here.

Update after 36 holes
ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND (June 6, 2009)--After 36 holes of play, Paul O'Hara of Scotland (-3) leads by two shots over Rhys Enoch of Wales after a difficult day on the Old Course that saw only three players break par. Englishmen Matt Haines and Matthew Nixon share third at even-par.

World #2 Sam Hutsby of England sits T14 at 4-over, with #3 Luke Goddard of England T9 at 3-over, and #9 Alexandre Kaleka of France T9 at 3-over. Top-10 players Matt Jager of Australia and Dale Whitnell of England missed the cut.

Mike McCoy of the USA opened with a 68 on the New Course but struggled to a 79 on the Old Course to sit T14 at 4-over-par.

Strongest Field of the Year for the St. Andrews Links Trophy

ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND (June 3, 2009)--The strongest field of the year-to-date is set to gather at St. Andrews for the St. Andrews Links Trophy Jun 5-7. The field, which required a +2.4 handicap for entry, includes 12 of the top 20 players in the Golfweek/amateurgolf.com Player Rankings.

When play begins on Friday, the #1 ranked players from England (Sam Hutsby), Australia (Matt Jager), France (Alexander Kaleka), Scotland (Gavin Dear), Wales (Ben Westgate), South Africa (Adrian Ford), Ireland (Niall Kearney), Norway (Are Friestad), and Switzerland (Arthur Gabella-Wenne) will tee it up among 144 players from 21 countries.

The highest American player in the field is World #15 and USA #5 Mike McCoy of West Des Moines, Iowa. The highest Canadian player is World #81 and Canada #4 David Markle of Shelburne, Ontario.

The defending champion is Keir McNicoll of Scotland who currently sits at #25 in the World and #3 in Scotland.

The format of the Links Trophy is 72 holes of stroke play over three days. One round each will be played on the Old and New Courses of St. Andrews, after which the field will be cut to the low 40 players and ties for the final 36 holes Sunday on the Old Course.

In this, a Walker Cup year, the Links Trophy and the upcoming British Amateur will go a long way toward determining who will make up the teams who will compete at Merion in September, especially on the Great Britian & Ireland side.

Top-100 Ranked Players competing in the St. Andrews Links Trophy

Rank	Player	Country	Points
2	Sam Hutsby	England	5725
3	Luke Goddard	England	5650
6	Matt Jager	Australia	4350
8	Dale Whitnell	England	3950
9	Alexandre Kaleka	France	3900
10	Tommy Fleetwood	England	3800
12	Gavin Dear	Scotland	3750
15	Mike McCoy	USA	3400
17	Charles Ford	England	3250
18	Ben Westgate	Wales	3200
19	Steven McEwan	Scotland	3100
20	Adrian Ford	South Africa	3075
22	Bryden Macpherson	Australia	2950
25	Keir McNicoll	Scotland	2850
26	Wallace Booth	Scotland	2825
33	Jason Scrivener	Australia	2675
34	Brendan Smith	Australia	2650
36	Niall Kearney	Ireland	2625
37	Matt Haines	England	2500
42	Thomas Sherreard	England	2250
48	Farren Keenan	England	2100
48	Ross Kellett	Scotland	2100
55	Steven Ferreira	South Africa	2000
57	Jake Redman	South Africa	1975
59	Todd Adcock	England	1925
60	Matthew Nixon	England	1900
69	Jurrian Van Der Vaart	Netherlands	1750
76	Joe Vickery	Wales	1675
77	Daniel Nisbet	Australia	1625
80	Derik Ferreira	South Africa	1550
81	David Markle	Canada	1500
91	James Robinson	England	1450
97	David Antonelli	France	1400

About the St. Andrews Links Trophy

St. Andrews Links Trophy: Dream Finish for Dunbar

72-hole stroke play that draws one of the top amateur fields in Europe. Field plays two rounds, one at the Old Course and one additional (sometimes the Jubilee, sometimes the New), then the field is cut to the low 40 and ties. The final two rounds ar...

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