The Alfred Dunhill Cup was a team golf tournament which ran from 1985 to 2000, sponsored by Alfred Dunhill Ltd. It was for three-man teams of professional golfers, one team representing each country, and was promoted as the "World Team Championship". It was a "special approved event" on the European Tour, which means that it was supported by the Tour, but the prize money did not count towards the Tour's Order of Merit. The host course was the Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland.
The stature of the members of the American team was variable as the Dunhill Cup clashed with a PGA Tour event, though the fact that it was played at "The Home of Golf" helped to attract some star names. The other countries were generally represented by their best three golfers, or nearly so.
The Dunhill Cup was in competition with the World Cup, a similar event for two-man teams. In 2000, the World Cup's status was enhanced by its inclusion in the World Golf Championships series, and in 2001 the promoters of the Alfred Dunhill Cup replaced it with the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, which is a celebrity pro-am tournament and an official European Tour event.
Format The field was always 16 teams of three players each. From 1985 to 1991, they compete in a single-elimination tournament that included a third place match. Beginning in 1992, the format switched to group play followed by a single-elimination tournament. The first three days were round-robin play amongst four groups of four teams to determine the semi-finalists. The semi-finals and the final were both played on the Sunday and the third place match was eliminated. The tournament was always played using medal match play.
Winners Year Country TeamDunhill Cup 1985 David Graham, Graham Marsh, Greg Norman 1986 Rodger Davis, David Graham, Greg Norman 1987 Gordon J. Brand, Howard Clark, Nick Faldo 1988 Eamonn Darcy, Ronan Rafferty, Des Smyth 1989 Mark Calcavecchia, Tom Kite, Curtis Strange 1990 David Feherty, Ronan Rafferty, Philip Walton 1991 Anders Forsbrand, Per-Ulrik Johansson, Mats Lanner 1992 David Gilford, Steven Richardson, Jamie Spence 1993 Fred Couples, John Daly, Payne Stewart 1994 Dave Barr, Rick Gibson, Ray Stewart 1995 Andrew Coltart, Colin Montgomerie, Sam Torrance 1996 Phil Mickelson, Mark O'Meara, Steve Stricker 1997 Ernie Els, David Frost, Retief GoosenAlfred Dunhill Cup 1998 Ernie Els, David Frost, Retief Goosen 1999 Sergio García, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, José María Olazábal 2000 Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Miguel Ángel Martín, José María Olazábal
Results table Country Timesplayed Bestfinish Players '85 '86 '87 '88 '89 '90 '91 '92 '93 '94 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99 '00 16 24 16 16 16 21 16 9 10 7 16 11 11 10 16 9 15 13 15 25 13 10 10 7 8 8 10 8 11 15 7 6 4 4 2 5 7 8 7 10 8 15 3 6 4 6 2 5 3 6 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 1 3 3 4
References
External links Coverage on the European Tour's official site