More than 4000 entries have been received from all over the world for the competition to name the seventh course at the Home of Golf.
The competition run by St Andrews Links Trust, which manages and maintains the Old Course and the other five courses on the Links, closed at the end of last week. The massive field of entries, which came from as far away as Australia, Argentina, Thailand, Canada and Iceland, will now be carefully sifted to select a shortlist of possible names.
The Board of Trustees will have the final say in deciding the name of the new course. A decision will be made and announced in January.
All those entries which have suggested the chosen name will be entered into a random draw and the winner will be invited to the VIP opening ceremony and given the opportunity to play one of the first rounds on the new course when it opens for play in 2008.
A vast array of imaginative and colourful names have been suggested through the competition including Dragon’s Lair, Ruggedoon, No 7 Cliffs of Heaven, Fairway to Heaven, the Rocks of Alba, The Pilgrimage, The Back and Beyond and the Mither’s (Scots for mother) Course.
Some suggestions have invoked golf legends such as Old Tom Morris, Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, who all have strong associations with St Andrews Links. Many people have also focused on the location of the course on cliffs with spectacular views overlooking St Andrews, the rocky outcrops on the shore and out to the North Sea. The suggested names have included Sea Winds, Kinkell Point, The Castle, The Cliffs, The Braes, The Maiden Rock and The Rock and Spindle.
Alan McGregor, general manager of St Andrews Links Trust, said, “We will now face an extremely tough challenge in selecting the shortlist of possible names from the many wonderful suggestions we have received. This is an historic moment in the world of golf as it is the first time in 600 years of history that we have asked the public to help us find a name for a new course at St Andrews. It is very important that we select an appropriate name which stands the test of time and is worthy of St Andrews’ status as the cradle of the game. I would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to enter the competition and played their part in golf history.”
The seventh course is under construction on a 220 acre clifftop site to the south east of St Andrews centred on Kinkell Ness and near Brownhills Farm.
St Andrews Links Trust www.standrews.org.uk