Few events mix Major champions, Ryder Cup veterans, celebrities and sports stars on the same fairways, but the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship does. The tournament spreads its field across three of Scotland’s best courses: the Old Course at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns. Play runs Thursday to Saturday across the layouts, and the Old Course hosts the final day.
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Robert MacIntyre returns to defend his title, while Brooks Koepka, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton and Justin Rose lead the headline names. Yet the biggest storyline sits further down the marquee, where LIV Golfers, led by Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter, are back on the DP World Tour at the Alfred Dunhill Links, according to Golf Monthly.
Westwood and Poulter are set to tee it up in a DP World Tour event for the first time since the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January 2023. Both Englishmen resigned their tour memberships that year, after fines built up from their first LIV appearances in June 2022. In June this year they paid their DP World Tour fines, the outstanding penalties on their records, which made them eligible to compete on the circuit again.
The sequence is simple: resignation removed access, payment removed the barrier, and this week’s start is the result. That return also carries history, because both men have performed well at this event before.
Westwood won the Alfred Dunhill Links in 2003. Poulter tied for third with Luke Donald the following year, one stroke behind Stephen Gallacher and Graeme McDowell, who finished level at the top. Gallacher then won the playoff, the extra holes used to separate tied leaders.
A Bigger LIV Presence Than Last Year
Their comeback arrives inside a larger LIV contingent. Last year, according to LIV, 17 players from the LIV Golf League appeared in an event reduced by weather. This year the number is over 20, made up of full-time members and reserve players. Reserves are players listed as alternates rather than on a team’s regular roster.
The group includes two Major champions, and both are returning after debuting in 2025. Cameron Smith won the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews in 2022, the same town that hosts this event’s final day, and he finished 71st here last year. Bubba Watson was 40th, and he played alongside his wife, Angie, in the team portion of the competition, where professionals partner with people from outside the tour. Hatton, meanwhile, is a three-time winner of the tournament, which gives the LIV group a proven record on these courses.
Smith also anchors a team storyline. Lucas Herbert, who is having a strong season, plays alongside his Ripper GC teammates Smith, Marc Leishman and Elvis Smylie. Because LIV is a team league, those four arrive as a unit, which makes their individual results comparable within one roster.
Beyond the established names, several players have kept a foot in the DP World Tour. David Puig, Adrian Meronk, Thomas Detry and Victor Perez have all played tour events in 2026. Michael La Sasso, who earned his first LIV win in the circuit’s final event of 2026, recently advanced to the next stage of DP World Tour Q-School, the qualifying process for tour cards. Branden Grace, who lifted the trophy in 2012, and Dean Burmester are regulars at this event. Younger LIV players, including Caleb Surratt and Jose Luis Ballester, add a newer generation to the list.
The remaining full-time names are Carlos Ortiz, Charles Howell III, Richard Bland, Peter Uihlein and Bjorn Hellgren. The four reserves are Ollie Schniederjans, Wade Ormsby, Ben Schmidt and Luis Carrera.
With the field set, the results will show how the return of Westwood and Poulter plays out on the course. Their finishes at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns are the first measurable output since their eligibility was restored, so they set the baseline for how each performs against a strong DP World Tour field after a break of more than three years.
The same logic applies to the wider group. If the LIV players in the field post competitive results, that supports the case for more of them, such as La Sasso through Q-School, holding cards and playing more DP World Tour events in 2027. If they struggle, the case weakens. Either way, Westwood and Poulter’s showing this week is the first data point on how a reopened door affects the tour’s leaderboards.