The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is not for everyone and does not make for great viewing, unless, that is, you like the idea of seeing Piers Morgan shank a golf ball onto Old Station Road. Hang on a second...

Still, this celebrity love-in, a pro-am event with three courses in operation until the final 18 takes place at St Andrews, does slot in nicely as a post-Ryder Cup return to earth.

For those directly involved with last week's thumping win for Europe, this would be a week off but for the chance to do something a little different in an event which also happens to boast an enormous prize fund. For others, the serious business of earning enough money to continue on the European Tour next season can balance well with the slow, relaxed rounds in the company of famous or at the very least successful people.

Tyrrell Hatton belongs in the former category, of course, but credits playing partner Jamie Dornan for helping him turn a miserable record in the event into a career-changing one, his wins here in 2016 and 2017 key signposts on the road to Paris last week.

This year, there are also members of the vanquished American Ryder Cup side in the field, Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau, which adds a complication.

Koepka would look a knocking bet here at a similar price to that which he started the elite-field TOUR Championship under what you might call normal circumstances. Yet these are not normal circumstances: rumours swirl of a bust-up with Dustin Johnson last week, where he under-performed, while he's also under threat of a lawsuit having partially blinded a woman with an errant tee-shot. There's more baggage accompanying Koepka in Scotland than his suitcase and clubs.