Last week was a big week for golf; once again, the Ryder Cup delivered excitement, tension and exceptional skill levels. It brought back many memories of our time working at Gleneagles during the matches in 2014. Congratulations to the European team; it was a fantastic and well-earned result. It’s not the end of the golf season for some Ryder Cup players or the Spectrum events team; this week, we’re at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, a regular on our calendar that our staff look forward to each year.
The event is played over three iconic courses in rotation over the first three days – the Old Course St Andrews, the Championship Course Carnoustie and Kingsbarns Golf Links – with the final round being played over the Old Course.
The Events Team will provide cleaning, litter picking and waste management at all three venues. They will look after all public, hospitality, players, officials, technical and Press areas at St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns. Our team will be working hard, but the upside is they are part of what has proven to be one of the most popular golfing events on the calendar. It is also the longest-standing event on the European Tour.
The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship incorporates two competitions – a European Tour-sanctioned individual professional tournament for some of the world’s leading golfers and a Team Championship in which each professional is paired with an amateur, many of whom are global celebrities.
This year, we look forward to seeing some of the world’s leading golfers compete for the individual title: Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Robert MacIntyre, Billy Horschel, Padraig Harrington, Thomas Bjorn and many more. From the world of sport and entertainment, we will hopefully catch glimpses of people like Gareth Bale, Andy Garcia, Huey Lewis, Kathryn Newton, Ronan Keating, Sir Steve Redgrave, AP McCoy, Catherine Zeta Jones and many more.
While it is a serious event with sizeable prize money and great prestige for the winners, it often provides light-hearted moments that entertain the large crowds at each venue daily; hopefully, we can post some images from the courses throughout the week.
Spectrum’s Operations Director, Rebecca Bell, spoke about the event: “This event is always a favourite with the team at Spectrum; it’s very hard work across all three venues at a serious, globally recognised golf competition. However, the format of the week and the presence of so many celebrities brings an element of fun. Everyone from the professional golfers to the celebrities and the public galleries to our team has a great time throughout the week.
“We’ve been doing this event for several years, and we always have ample staff volunteering to work at golf events; many have been rewarded in the past when they get to meet their favourite entertainer, sports star or screen idol.”
If you want to go to any venue, entry is free for everyone on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. If you do go to any of the courses, make sure you say hello to any of our team who will work hard to keep the venues clean and safe for everyone involved.
