Dunhill Links: A Game Changer for Golf?

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If you're looking to connect the dots and find out when things are happening in professional golf, many rabbit holes will lead you to the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

The explanation for how that happens is simple. It all comes down to the man in charge of the event, Johann Rupert. While Rupert's 9-5 might be spent hosting townhalls and reviewing financials, his passion is out on the course. He's the chairman of a both a luxury goods corporation and an investment holdings company.

But what matters most to Rupert is golf, and specifically the health of the game. The South African billionaire has invested over 100 million of his own money to preserve the wellbeing of the game in his home country. As the chairman of the Sunshine Tour Rupert was the primary architect behind the global partnership between the DP World Tour and the Sunshine Tour. This spurred the co-sanctioning of a handful of events between the Sunshine Tour, DP World Tour, and Challenge Tour and provided a pathway for South African players to play additional events on the DP World Tour. Rupert is undoubtedly one of the most influential and well respected behind the scenes figures in professional golf.

How does this lead back to the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship? One of the brands under Rupert's luxury goods corporation is Alfred Dunhill Limited, the title sponsor of this week's event on the DP World Tour. Johann Rupert believes that amateur golf is an integral part of the golfing landscape, and the health of amateur golf is essential to the health of the game as a whole. For this reason, the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is played both as a team AND an individual event. Each professional plays alongside an amateur for the first three rounds. This greatly increases the exposure of the event as we'll often see the worlds top players playing with celebrities, family members, or other influential figures.

Why is this important? As the title sponsor of the event, Alfred Dunhill Limited, and therefore Johann Rupert are awarded a number of special invitations. The format at this event increases that number dramatically, as he is also able to invite non-professionals.

When LIV Golf launched and players were banned from both the PGA Tour and the DP World tour, Rupert immediately acknowledged that this wasn't good for the health of the game.

"There needs to be a cessation of hostilities which are threatening the future of the game we all love. People need to talk to each other to find a solution" he said through a spokesperson ahead of the 2022 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Then, in 2023, again before the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, he was more direct.

"Sport is supposed to unite people, not divide. We need to get peace."

While this message might not sound like much, it carries weight coming from Rupert. Additionally, while doing this, he was sending another message through his sponsors invitations. In 2023 he invited 5 LIV Golf players. They were Peter Uihlein, Hudson Swafford, Talor Gooch, and Louis Oosthuizen. This year, that number has more than doubled as he's invited those four and added Brooks Koepka, Matt Jones, Branden Grace, Dean Burmester, and Caleb Surratt. Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, David Puig, and Eugenio Chacarra will also be in the event, though not as sponsors invitations.

The full sponsor invitation list is below.

In 2023 he invited PIF Chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan who played alongside Yasir Al-Rumayyan. This year he's invited both Jay Monahan and Yasir Al-Rumayyan. Guy Kinnings, the CEO of the DP World Tour will also be in attendance. Jay Monahan will be playing the event with PGA Tour player Billy Horschel. Though Yasir’s teammate isn’t announced, in past years he has played with Peter Uihlein.

Johan Rupert has repeatedly called for the re-unification of the professional game. LIV Golf and PIF recently offered to pay a bulk amount of the fines levied to LIV Golf players, coordinate on a schedule that made LIV's top players available for a number of the most historic DP World Tour events, and offer a pathway into LIV Golf events for top DP World Tour players. Additionally, LIV offered further investment in the DP World Tour to gaurantee purse increases in the coming years, a financial backing that the PGA Tour currently offers.

PIF and LIV Golf's offers were denied by the DP World Tour, presumably because they don't want to uspet their big brother in the United States.

This week will be an interesting one, and while we might not hear much, things will certainly be happening in the background. All of the game’s most influential figures have been pulled together to celebrate some of the greatest venues in the world.

If these parties are going to set aside their grudges, forget about their bank accounts, and work towards an agreement that’s beneficial to the players, fans, sponsors, and game as a whole, there’s no better venue for those conversations than The Old Course at St. Andrews.