3rd June 2026

144 golfers will tee off on Friday 5th June in the 37th St. Andrews Links Trophy competition.

This three day event has become one of the ‘majors’ in men’s amateur golf helped by its venue and timing.

I will be updating this article with daily reports once play gets underway.

Competition Format

The Links Trophy is a 72 hole scratch stroke play competition played annually over the St. Andrews Links in early June.

The field is primarily determined by reference to the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and finished off with various National Golf Union and St. Andrews Links Trust nominations.

The Old Course (Photo: St. Andrews Links – The Home of Golf)

This year Round 1 will be played on the New Course and Round 2 on the Old Course. The Jubilee Course is sometimes used for Round 1 as it was last year.

The New Course plays 6,681 yards to a par of 71. The front nine is 3,302 yards (par 36) long whilst the tougher back nine is 3,379 yards (par 35). It has a Course Rating of 73.3 and a Slope of 132.

The Old Course has been set up at 7,190 yards for the event and has a par of 72. Both nines have a par of 36 and have similar yardages – the front is 3,554 yards long whilst the back is longer at 3,636 yards. It has a Course Rating of 75.7 and a Slope of 143.

Following a top 40 and ties cut on Saturday the leading players will play a final 36 holes on the Old Course on Sunday.

The winner will be the player who returns the lowest 72 hole aggregate score.

In the event of a tie a sudden death play-off will be held over holes 1 and 18 on the Old Course.

Ties for all other places will be decided by count back – the lowest score for the last 18 holes or the last 9 or 6 or 3 or 1 hole if necessary.

The Field

As the NCAA Division I National Championship ends a week later this year (on 3rd June 2026) the field will be missing a number of Great Britain & Ireland’s leading players.

28 different countries will be represented in Fife in 2026.

The highest ranked players in the field are Eliot BAKER (ENG) #35, Connor GRAHAM (SCO) #37, Stuart GREHAN (IRL) #47,  Segundo OLIVA PINTO (ARG) #59, Milan POTGIETER (RSA) #64, Hugo LE GOFF (FRA) #66, Alfons BONDESSON (SWE) #69, Lev GRINBERG (FRA) #83, Freddie TURNELL (ENG) #92, Wolfgang GLAWE (GER) #95, Emil RIEGGER (GER) #102, Harley SMITH (ENG) #103, Zach LITTLE (ENG) #104, Mateo PULCINI (ITA) #108, Filippo PONZANO (ITA) #110, Tom OSBORNE (ENG) #113, Jack BUCHANAN (RSA) 129, TAISEI NAGASAKI (JAP) #134, Seb CAVE (ENG) #149 and Kayan MUDADANA (AUS) #151.

Tee Times

Click here to view the – 2026 St. Andrews Links Trophy Tee Times

Weather Forecast (as at Wednesday 3rd June)

The current weather forecast looks poor; cool with rain and strong winds expected every day.

Friday 5th June – Light Rain. Wind 19 mph SW. Temp. Min. 9°C / Max. 16°C.
Saturday 6th June – Light Rain. Wind 19 mph SE. Temp. Min. 10°C / Max. 15°C.
Sunday 7th June – Light Rain Showers. Wind 21 mph SW. Temp. Min. 9°C / Max. 16°C.

Tee times in Rounds 1 and 2 will start at 7.00am and end at 3.10pm so as with any links course the draw could play a part in proceedings.

Prizes

The winner receives The St Andrews Links Trophy and a commemorative medal.

The runner-up and third place finisher also receive medals.

Reducing cash prizes from £700 to £125 are also awarded to the top 10 finishers.

In addition to the main prizes The Ian Forbes Memorial Cup is awarded for the best aggregate score on the first two days of the Championship, together with £150 cash.

The Open Championship

Introduced in 2023 The Open Amateur Series, which offers an exemption into The Open Championship, is again being run by The R&A.

The player who gains the most WAGR points in the 2025 St. Andrews Links Trophy, Amateur Championship and European Amateur Championship will earn a spot at Royal Birkdale in July.

Competition Website

For more information click here to view the – 2026 St. Andrews Links Trophy Tournament Website

Click here to view the – 2026 St. Andrews Links Trophy Leaderboard

2025 St. Andrews Links Trophy

Cameron ADAM (SCO) won the 2025 St. Andrews Links Trophy after a sudden death play-off with John DOYLE (IRL). Adam won on the first play-off hole – the 1st on the Old Course – with a two putt par 4 after the young Irishman three putt bogeyed the hole.

Adam and Doyle both finished the 72 hole tournament on 271 (-17).

Cameron Adam (Photo: Adam Family)

Mark STOCKDALE (ENG) -14 finished 3rd, Harley SMITH (ENG) -12 4th, Niall SHIELS DONEGAN (SCO) -12 5th, Christiaan MAAS (RSA) -11 6th, Ugo MALCOR (FRA) -11 7th and Thomas HIGGINS -11 8th.

2025 St. Andrews Links Trophy – Top 20 Results (Graphic: St. Andrews Links Trust / Golf Genius)

Click here to view the – 2025 St. Andrews Links Trophy Results

Past Winners

Click here to view a full list of the – St Andrews Links Trophy Past Winners

Only Craig WATSON (1992 and 1998), the former GB&I Walker Cup captain, and Barclay HOWARD (1994 and 1996) have won the title twice.

The most famous winner is Justin ROSE who won in 1997.

Interestingly given the normally cosmopolitan nature of the fields the Links Trophy has only been won by players from outside GB&I on four occasions – Australia’s Stuart BOVIER (1990), Daan HUIZING from The Netherlands (2012), Federico ZUCCHETTI from Italy (2015) and Connor MCKINNEY (AUS) from Australia (2022).

Huizing, who had won the 2012 Lytham Trophy by 11 shots just a few weeks earlier, set a scoring record of -23 in 2012 (65 New, 64, 68 and 67 all Old) and won by an astonishing 14 shots.

ME.

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