Don can’t claim not to know his way around the St. Andrews, Kingsbarns or Carnoustie courses since he’s been playing in the event semi-regularly for about ten years. He missed last year’s tournament due to scheduling conflicts. This year he made sure nothing got in the way of what he calls, “Christmas and New Year’s all rolled into one.”

Fans can watch the event live on television (check local listings ) and stream the scoring online at EuropeanTour.com.

The Dunhill has published a brand-spanking new website loaded with information and a lot less jumpy java script. Check it out.

The Carnoustie group offers a slew of big professional golf names, including last year’s championship winner Robert Karlsson, as well as many well-known celebrity amateurs from showbiz and sport. This means chances are good the Golf Channel will have it’s cameras there.

Don’s foursome is sandwiched between fellow Dunhill jam band regulars Tico Torres and Huey Lewis, who is playing along with country music’s Clay Walker. Actors Hugh Grant, George Lopez, Kyle MacLachlan and Greg Kinnear will also be breathing down Don’s neck at fifteen-minute intervals, and athletes Marcus Allen, Ruud Gullitt, Kelly Slater and Tim Henman could bean him with a shank if they’re not careful.

Live Leaderboard via The Golf Channel. Our “expert” coverage over on the golf page.

Gaining a coveted amateur spot in the prestigious tournament is virtually impossible for the average duffer. According to Don, playing in it is “like my birthday and Christmas all rolled in to one.”

Who will play with Don this year? Can his team make the final? Check back for our updates or follow the tournament live via The European Tour.

Don with #1 piece of equipment

Don admitted he didn’t think he would play that well this year since he’s been busy doing other things besides working on his golf game, like promoting his book and, get this, playing guitar.

Rex Usa has several pictures taken at this year’s event, including some of Don during the practice rounds, chit-chatting at the pairings dinner and performing at the Saturday night shindig along with Huey Lewis and Tico Torres.

David and Don

David has a reason to be smiling: despite the gusty conditions he managed to pick up several strokes and finds himself among the top amateur players at -12. Don forfeited his -1 from yesterday, ending at 3 above par, even though he did manage a Ben Hogan moment by sinking a 40-foot putt on the 18th. Pros Jean-Francois and Gregory struggled a bit and have their work cut out for them in order to break even by the end of tomorrow’s last pro-am round at Kingsbarns.

Ok there Don, now just act natural....

After his hands thawed out around the fifth hole, Don managed to stay consistently at or under par. We think St. Andrews has the nastiest bunkers this side of a war zone, and Don managed to stay out of ‘em, shooting a -1 under for the day.

There’s much more to come. Mary will post her usual incompetent, erratic, off-the-page and biased analysis direct from the venues and we’ll be adding each day’s images to the slideshow.

Complete (professional) coverage at the European Tour Site

Don played with Marc Warren in 2006

The tournament starts next week on Thursday, October 2 and runs through Sunday, October 5. Incidentally, there’ll be a few professional golfers hanging around St. Andrews then, too. They’ll be competing for a measly $5,000,000 total purse in the pro-am, rotating around three different courses over the first three days, with those making the cut playing to win on Sunday. With that kind of loose change available the organizers don’t even bother charging admission for the first three days.

A fans-eye-view of the goings-on can be seen in our own slideshow from last year’s competition. We’ll share information from this year’s event as it unfolds.

The tournament is televised in Europe and in the U.S. More information at the Dunhill Championship official site, including a summary of the celebrity amateurs. The pro entry list can be found at the European Tour site.