01세인트앤드루스에서 꿈꾸는 '풀 서클'의 순간
매튜 조던이 이번 주 DP 월드 투어의 주요 대회 중 하나인 알프레드 던힐 링크스 챔피언십에 출전하며 자신의 커리어에서 가장 상징적인 순간을 만들고자 한다. 조던은 '골프의 고향'이라 불리는 세인트앤드루스 올드 코스에서 우승컵을 들어 올리며 자신의 성장을 증명하는 '풀 서클(Full Circle)'의 순간을 완성하겠다는 포부다.
이번 대회는 세인트앤드루스 올드 코스, 카누스티, 킹스반스 등 세계 최고의 링크스 코스들을 순회하며 치러진다. 아마추어 시절부터 링크스 코스에서 강점을 보여온 조던은 그동안 쌓아온 경험과 데이터들을 바탕으로 이번 주 최상의 컨디션을 유지하며 순위권 도약을 노리고 있다.
조던에게 세인트앤드루스는 단순한 경쟁의 장소 이상의 의미를 지닌다. 그는 과거 이곳에서 겪었던 수많은 추억을 회상하며, 이번 대회가 자신의 골프 인생에서 하나의 큰 원을 완성하는 특별한 이정표가 될 것이라고 강조하며 강한 우승 의지를 내비쳤다.
02Original (English) — DP World Tour
Matthew Jordan is hoping for a full circle moment at the 2026 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship as he looks to realise his dream of a first DP World Tour title at the site of his 2017 St Andrews Links Trophy victory as an amateur.
The Englishman, who has finished as the runner-up twice this season already, carded a bogey-free 66 during his third round at Kingsbarns to finish at 16-under-par, to sit two behind leader Casey Jarvis heading into the final round.
Jordan, whose most recent runner-up finish came at the Nexo Championship in Scotland in August, said he was excited to be in contention at a place where he has enjoyed amateur success.
"I want to be in the last few groups and I want to give myself a really good chance, certainly, on Sunday, and yeah, that's what I've done today," he said.
"So let's see what tomorrow brings.
"I have a few memories, my dad was an R&A member before I was a pro. I have a few memories of him and my dad playing the Old Course, which was brilliant. So of course the St Andrews Links, I managed to win that one as well, my first big amateur title. It's a place I'm quite fond of."
Starting with four straight pars, Jordan made four birdies in his next six holes to catch Casey Jarvis at the top of the leaderboard each time the South African extended his advantage.
A final birdie at the 12th moved Jordan to 16-under, parring his way in to set the target, before Jarvis pulled ahead by two with two more birdies over his back nine.
Jordan's third round 66 at Kingsbarns came after an opening 69 at St Andrews and an impressive seven-under 65 at Carnousties, beating his previous best score on the Angus Links by five strokes.
With two top tens in this event (2021 and 2024), The Open (2023 and 2024), and amateur victories at both the 2017 Links Trophy in St Andrews and the 2018 Lytham Trophy, Jordan has a proven track record around Links Courses.
Having grown up playing Hoylake, Jordan admits he feels this style of course feels natural to him.
"I think it's quite natural. I've been brought up on a links and people say, oh, you seem to do quite well on it. It's just the fact as a kid, I played with my friends, nine years old, kind of thing. It's all I ever knew, really, for a long period of time. It feels like home, the way you read greens, the start lines everything like that, everything is just more normal for me."
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Heading into the final round, he's now hoping to combine his love for links golf with recent confidence gained from putting himself in a position to win, both at Nexo and in Denmark, which came in back-to-back weeks.
"What I wanted to do and felt like I hadn't done over the last 12, 18 months was put myself in a position to win, certainly. I kind of always felt that maybe I was a bit too far back and needed an amazing round to make it happen.
"Played really well in Denmark but haven't putted that well the last few months, not as well as my long game was, and so that was kind of carrying me through but then this week has been brilliant with it. You know, he put in a lot of work. Kept speaking about it. I kept going on. I haven't really sulked. So that was the pleasing aspect prior to this week.
"So for those two events, and obviously for this one now, yeah, just pleasing to get up there. And then from then on, just try and win a golf tournament, and that's the best pressure and that's where you really see yourself at.
"Of course, yeah, confidence, I've done well in the last couple events. But golf's a difficult game, and it's tricky. So yeah, we'll see what tomorrow brings."