Tyrrell Hatton clinched a historic third victory at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in St Andrews, despite a nerve-wracking finish.
Hatton, who had tied the course record with a stunning 61 on Saturday, secured his win with a birdie on the final hole to post a 70 and end up 24 under par, narrowly edging out Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts by one stroke.
Colsaerts’ hopes faded when he left an eagle putt short in the Valley of Sin and missed the subsequent birdie chance.
An emotional Hatton, who also claimed second place in the team event alongside his father Jeff, expressed his joy to Sky Sports: “It feels good.”
“It’s the first time I’ve actually won the tournament with my dad here so it means a lot and to do it at the Home of Golf is really special. I’m trying not to cry to be honest. I’m a bit lost for words.”
Hatton had looked set for a straightforward win after birdies on the second, fifth, 10th, and 11th holes gave him a three-shot cushion, but a double bogey on the 13th and a dropped shot on the 14th, both following wayward tee shots into bunkers, threw the competition wide open.
Colsaerts, who also slipped up with a bogey on the 13th, managed to pull level with Hatton after a birdie on the 15th, catching Hatton off-guard.
“To be honest I actually didn’t know what the scores were from when we left the halfway house,” Hatton revealed. “There’s a nice TV in there but the first leaderboard I saw was on the 17th green.”
“When I made double on 13 and then bogeyed 14 I didn’t realise I was still around the lead. I just tried my best on every shot coming in and then I see where we’re actually at on the 17th green. Then I’d by lying if I said I wasn’t nervous.”
“I actually stood over the ball on the 18th tee and was like ‘Please don’t hit it out of bounds’, which is not a good though process. Luckily managed to hit a good shot and that chip shot there was great.”
“I played that with a pitching wedge and it’s not normally a shot I would go to, but it felt right in the moment. To have a three-and-a-half-foot putt is quite nerve wracking and I was just so relieved when it went in.”
Hatton’s victory secures his place in the DP World Tour’s season-ending event in Dubai and ensures he can also attend the upcoming wedding of Ryder Cup team-mate Matt Fitzpatrick.
“I was meant to be going to Fitzy’s wedding the week of Spain (Andalucia Masters) and I had to message him a few weeks ago to say if I don’t earn enough points I might not be able to go and I felt so bad about that.”
“I guess having a little bit of extra motivation to play well and be able to be there for their special day (was good).”
Colsaerts, who was seeking his first victory since the 2019 French Open, was left to rue missed birdie chances around the turn as much as the one on the 18th.
“I’m pretty proud,” he declared. “I played well in this event before, but to be able to putt a couple good rounds together, get all the way to the end in a position that I haven’t really been in the last couple of years is quite good, of course.
“When you finish like that it’s a bit bittersweet. But if you look at what happened during the day, the way it all panned out, it was probably eight, nine, 10, 11 (which were key).
“People might look at the last but I could have maybe done a little bit better throughout the middle of the round.”
Celebrations are also in order for Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen and Irish entrepreneur Dermot Desmond as they clinched victory in the team event with a staggering 48 under par, just two strokes ahead of Tyrell Hatton and his father.
