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.

Alfred Dunhill Cup
Tournament information
LocationSt Andrews, Fife, Scotland
Established1985
Course(s)Old Course at St Andrews
Par72
Tour(s)European Tour
FormatTeam
Month playedSeptember/October
Final year2000
Final champion
Spain (Jiménez, Martín, Olazábal)

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.[1] 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

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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

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Year Country Team
Dunhill Cup
1985   Australia David Graham, Graham Marsh, Greg Norman
1986   Australia Rodger Davis, David Graham, Greg Norman
1987   England Gordon J. Brand, Howard Clark, Nick Faldo
1988   Ireland Eamonn Darcy, Ronan Rafferty, Des Smyth
1989   United States Mark Calcavecchia, Tom Kite, Curtis Strange
1990   Ireland David Feherty, Ronan Rafferty, Philip Walton
1991   Sweden Anders Forsbrand, Per-Ulrik Johansson, Mats Lanner
1992   England David Gilford, Steven Richardson, Jamie Spence
1993   United States Fred Couples, John Daly, Payne Stewart
1994   Canada Dave Barr, Rick Gibson, Ray Stewart
1995   Scotland Andrew Coltart, Colin Montgomerie, Sam Torrance
1996   United States Phil Mickelson, Mark O'Meara, Steve Stricker
1997   South Africa Ernie Els, David Frost, Retief Goosen
Alfred Dunhill Cup
1998   South Africa Ernie Els, David Frost, Retief Goosen
1999   Spain Sergio García, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, José María Olazábal
2000   Spain Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Miguel Ángel Martín, José María Olazábal

Results table

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Country Times
played
Best
finish
Players '85 '86 '87 '88 '89 '90 '91 '92 '93 '94 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99 '00
  United States 16 Win (x3) 24 2 4 3 T5 1 T9 T5 T3 1 2 T8 1 T3 T3 T9 T9
  Australia 16 Win (x2) 16 1 1 4 2 T9 T9 T9 T3 T14 T5 T5 T5 T9 T3 2 T5
  England 16 Win (x2) 21 T5 T9 1 4 4 2 T5 1 2 T3 T8 T8 T9 T9 T5 T13
  Ireland 16 Win (x2) 9 T9 T5 T5 1 3 1 T5 T5 T3 T5 T3 T5 T9 T9 T5 T5
  South Africa 10 Win (x2) 7 2 T11 T5 T3 T5 T3 1 1 T3 2
  Spain 16 Win (x2) 11 T5 T9 T5 3 T9 T5 T9 T5 T5 T15 T3 T8 T9 2 1 1
  Canada 11 Win 10 T9 T5 T5 T9 T9 T5 T5 T5 1 T8 T15
  Scotland 16 Win 9 3 3 2 T5 T5 T5 3 2 T10 T5 1 T15 T5 T5 T9 T9
  Sweden 15 Win 13 T9 T9 T9 T5 T9 1 T5 T3 T9 T8 T3 2 T5 T3 T5
  Japan 15 2nd (x2) 25 T5 2 T5 T5 2 4 T11 T10 T9 T15 T8 T13 T15 T5 T13
  New Zealand 13 2nd 10 T5 T9 T9 T9 3 T5 T9 T8 2 T3 T5 T5 T9
  Zimbabwe 10 2nd 7 T9 T9 T5 T5 2 T5 T5 T9 T9 T9
  Argentina 8 T3 8 T5 T5 T9 T14 T8 T5 T9 T3
  Wales 10 T3 8 4 T5 T5 T9 T5 4 T14 T5 T8 T3
  France 11 T5 (x3) 15 T9 T9 T9 T5 T5 T14 T9 T5 T9 T15 T13
  Germany 7 T5 (x3) 6 T5 T9 T8 T8 T13 T5 T5
  Paraguay 4 T5 4 T9 T5 T15 T9
  India 2 T8 5 T8 T9
  Italy 7 T8 8 T9 T9 T9 T9 T11 T8 T9
  South Korea 7 T9 (x5) 10 T9 T9 T9 T9 T14 T13 T9
  Taiwan 8 T9 (x5) 15 T9 T9 T9 T9 T10 T9 T15 T13
  Philippines 3 T9 (x3) 6 T9 T9 T9
  Thailand 4 T9 (x3) 6 T9 T9 T9 T14
  Brazil 2 T9 (x2) 5 T9 T9
  Mexico 3 T9 (x2) 6 T9 T9 T10
  Denmark 1 T9 3 T9
  Hong Kong 1 T9 3 T9
  Indonesia 1 T9 3 T9
  Malaysia 1 T9 3 T9
  Nigeria 1 T9 3 T9
  Switzerland 1 T9 3 T9
  Zambia 1 T9 3 T9
  China 3 T13 4 T15 T15 T13

References

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  1. ^ Platts, Mitchell; Ballantine, John (22 January 1985). "St Andrews to be host of first £1 million event". The Times. London, England. p. 25. Retrieved 8 June 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
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