Tyrrell Hatton made a timely charge in the Race to Dubai as the countdown to the season-ending DP World Tour Championship, Dubai begins after becoming the first man to successfully defend the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
The 25 year old Englishman carded a flawless final round 66 to finish three shots ahead of fellow countryman Ross Fisher at the Old Course, St Andrews, to claim 676,132 points and take himself from 33rd to 11th place in the rankings.
The result sees Hatton’s season tally increase to 1,452,782 points, putting him in a commanding position ahead of the DP World Tour Championship, which takes place at Jumeirah Golf Estates from November 16-19.
Nick Tarratt, Director of the European Tour International Dubai office, said: “We congratulate Tyrrell on securing the second European Tour win of his career in historic fashion. He graduated from the Challenge Tour in 2013 and hasn’t looked back since. We look forward to seeing him next month at Jumeirah Golf Estates, where he is a regular visitor to the European Tour Performance Institute.”
Hatton came in to the final day of the tournament with a healthy five-shot lead, but experienced an early hiccup when he put his approach on the opening hole in to the Swilcan Burn. However, a superb chip-in for par after taking a drop saw him start a golden run on the front nine, as he went on to birdie the next four holes to open up a seven-shot lead over the field.
"It's an unbelievable feeling," said Hatton, who becomes just the fourth man after Curtis Strange, Trevor Immelman and Thongchai Jaidee to successfully defend a trophy for his first two wins.
"It felt so much harder than last year, maybe that's just a bit more pressure on myself but I'm so happy that I managed to defend it and what a great week again.
"I think the format is helping me, playing with Jamie (Dornan) we have good fun out there and it sort of keeps me relaxed which is what I need to do. We've just had good fun, I think that is what this tournament is about.”
Runner-up Fisher also wrote his name in to the history books on the final day at St Andrews as he broke the Old Course record with a blistering round of 11 under par 61. The result sees him move from ninth to sixth in the Race to Dubai rankings as he picks up 450,752 points to improve his season-tally to 1,936,014.
Meanwhile, Victor Dubuisson’s third place finish in Scotland means he’s now only one good finish from securing his place in next month’s season finale. The Frenchman picked up an invaluable 253,955 points to jump from 122nd to 63rd spot in the rankings.
His fellow countryman Grégory Bourdy also did his chances of securing a spot among the Race to Dubai’s top 60 on the Earth course at Jumeirah Golf Estates no harm by finishing in a tie for fourth. The result means he now moves from 90th to 62nd place with a season tally of 521,453 points.
However after an outing which included a course record 63 at Carnoustie, it’s still Englishman Tommy Fleetwood who remains at the head of the rankings with 3,807,265 points.
