A-listers from the world of sport and showbiz teed off in Tayside and Fife on Thursday to start four star-studded days of links golf.
The celebrities joined some of the world’s leading players at Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and St Andrews for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Pop superstar Justin Timberlake was at Carnoustie alongside world number four Justin Rose. The 10-time Grammy Award-winning musician said he was enjoying being back in Scotland.
“I’m just happy to be here,” said Timberlake.
The pair previously played together at the AT&T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach in California and it was there that they came up with the idea of teaming up again in Courier Country.
Timberlake spent Wednesday night in the Jigger Inn in St Andrews with football pundit Jamie Redknapp after his practice round on the Old Course which he described as “the greatest in the world”.
Redknapp, who was playing Carnoustie alongside former world number one Luke Donald, said he was “very excited” to be playing again at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
“If you like your golf then you’re playing with some of the best players,” he said.
“Rory McIlroy is here and Justin Timberlake from the entertainment world so it’s a really good week.”
Downton Abbey actor Matthew Goode was also on the course at Carnoustie on Thursday and said he had been itching to come back and play again.
Goode started playing golf at the age of 14 and was taking a break from promoting the new Downton Abbey movie where he returns to play Lady Mary’s husband Henry Talbot.
Other amateurs playing at Carnoustie, Kingsbarns and the Old Course this week include Wladimir Klitschko, Shane Warne, Ruud Gullit, Vinnie Jones, Peter Jones from Dragons Den, and Ghostbusters star Bill Murray.
Murray was involved in a four-vehicle crash on Tuesday in St Andrews but he didn’t let that stop him from taking his place on the first tee at the Old Course on Thursday.
Australian cricket legend Shane Warne was also playing at St Andrews. He described the tournament as the best week of the year for amateur golfers.
“I don’t think there’s any sport quite like golf in the way it allows amateur players like us to tee it up alongside the professionals,” he said.
“No-one can just play at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of 90,000 people on a Boxing Day Test.”
The St Andrews night sky will come alive with a spectacular fireworks display on the eve of the final day of this year’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
An annual favourite with golfers, spectators and St Andrews residents, the display will begin at 8.25pm on Saturday on the West Sands, next to the Old Course.
