Not much reason to follow the elite

Dredge maintains his lead in event that is still hard to love

Alasdair Reid, The Sunday Herald, 8 October 2006

In his recently published golf memoir Preferred Lies, the Scottish novelist Andrew Greig recalls a teenage friend who could not decide whether his future lay in professional golf or revolutionary Marxism. “Only in Scotland,” Greig writes, “could such a career choice present itself.”

Sharp as that observation is, you still suspect it must go right over the heads of those responsible for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

An event whose foundations were laid in the ruins of the almost universally loathed Dunhill Cup, the tournament has struggled to win friends in its six years of ill-starred existence. In a country where tradition has shaped golf as a social leveller, the conspicuous elitism of it all looks decidedly out of place.

In fairness, the organisers have tried to broaden its appeal, with free admission to the first three days. That ruse did much to obliterate the image of empty grandstands that was once the motif of the tournament (it ought to be said that the removal of the grandstands themselves also helped a tad) but it is still difficult to think of the Dunhill Links as anything other than a corporate junket for purveyors of upmarket bling to the financially overloaded.

Its place on the calendar is never likely to help either, as the celebrities whose presence is meant to add a touch of glamour to the occasion are typically so swaddled in woolies and waterproofs that their identities are almost impossible to discern, far less their sparkling personalities.

Given a weather forecast that suggested Sir Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent might have been asked along to help propel the lifeboats rather than exhibit their well-grooved swings, it was a blessed relief that yesterday was mostly dry, but it was still decidedly parky on the chill linkslands of Angus and Fife.

At least one player found yesterday a warming experience, however. Under the bizarre rules of the pro-am competition, a professional can play like a drain, miss the cut by a mile, yet still be obliged to turn up on the final day to help his amateur partner in the team event.

For much of the day, that delicious scenario seemed to be Colin Motgomerie’s likely torment, for just as his form was going through the floor, his film star partner Michael Douglas’ began to soar and looked an increasingly safe bet to earn his partnership with the Scot one of the 20 places available in the team contest.

For an hour or two, the likelihood was that Montgomerie would indeed be dragged back into action on Douglas’ behalf, a prospect he viewed with the sort of relish he might also have mustered for taking the part of Glenn Close to remake some of the steamier scenes from Fatal Attraction in the same company.

But Douglas placed himself on the amateur cut line with net bogeys at Carnoustie’s 16th and 17th and Montgomerie tipped them over it (the professional’s score being the deciding factor in event of a tie) with a bogey, bogey, double-bogey finish.

Rarely can a player have toppled out of a tournament as gleefully as Montgomerie did yesterday afternoon. “It goes on the pro’s score and that takes us to 27th place,” he beamed as he stood near the scorer’s hut after signing for his round of 80.

A relief to miss the final day? “Yes,” he agreed. “It was a tough day out there. I got caught and was tired. The season’s winding down, and it wound down today.”

For Padraig Harrington, on the other hand, the season could just be sparking into life. The Irishman was in nondescript form earlier in the year, but things have looked a lot brighter since his fifth place at the US Open at Winged Foot in June. He preceded Montgomerie round Carnoustie yesterday with a score of 68 that was all the more admirable given the gusty conditions. As a result, he briefly seized the lead and even gave himself a chance of making a late run for the Order of Merit title over the next three weeks.

That possibility was opened up by Paul Casey taking another step backwards yesterday, while David Howell missed the cut by a mile. As a result, Harrington can now entertain thoughts of closing the half-million pound lead Casey currently has over him on the money list, and may alter his schedule to take in the Mallorca Classic in two weeks. As he indicated last night, though, it will all be conjecture until he gets through today’s play, which he will start in second place behind Bradley Dredge.

Goodness knows how Dredge would be perceived had he not been saddled with a name that sounds like a character in Last of the Summer Wine. His golf certainly demands more attention than it has received and the Welshman carved out an assured round of 71 at Kingsbarns to keep himself in pole position.

Dredge turned a disappointing season around when he won the Omega European Masters at the altitudes of Switzerland’s Crans sur Sierre course recently, but he would take it into another dimension if he could repeat that feat at sea level today.

The least likely scenario of all for the Old Course today is that a Scotsman will be able to add to the proud record of home achievement that has been established in recent years, three of the five titles contested having been won by Scots. The best of the bunch is Paul Lawrie, the 2001 victor, whose 72 at St Andrews was good enough for a tie for sixth, but is still six shots back from Dredge.

Not an impossible task, but devilishly difficult when the convoy of front-runners includes the formidable figures of Ernie Els and Vijay Singh in a tie for fourth place. This event, you suspect, could yet have a winner better than it really deserves.