ENGLAND’S TYRRELL HATTON became the first player to successfully defend the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship as he shot a final-round 66 at St Andrews to retain the title on Sunday, while Ireland’s Paul Dunne finished joint-seventh
Hatton, who turns 26 next Saturday, did not drop a shot over his last 54 holes, a blistering run that gave him a second career Tour title and will lift him to 22nd in the world rankings.
“It is an unbelievable feeling as this week was the first time I had ever defended a title, so it felt like it was a lot harder winning this year than it was last year,” he said.
“I’m so happy that I managed to get over the line.
“I know one thing also that this is one big, heavy trophy. My left arm is going to be sore tomorrow.”
Hatton finished 24 under par overall to win by three strokes from record-breaker Ross Fisher.
England’s Fisher produced a new Old Course record of an 11-under par 61 to finish in second place at 21-under par.
He was staring at the first-ever score of 59 on the European Tour when he sent his drive just short of the green at the last.
But, needing to hole his eagle putt for the 59, Fisher left his second a few feet short of the hole.
He birdied all but two of his outward nine holes and then managed four birdies in succession from the 12th over his inward half.
“I’m gutted I missed that one on the last but it’s just one of those days as I felt like I was playing alright but I’m not going to complain too much with a 61,” Fisher said.
Frenchman Victor Dubuisson stormed his way to third place in recording a 63 for 17-under par and his best finish in 11 months since tying for third at the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa.
The 27-year-old capped his round with seven outward-half birdies.
“It was very special because it was at the end of my season, and I played amazingly like the rest of the week but today it feels like all the putts went in,” he said.
England’s Tommy Fleetwood continues to lead the Race to Dubai, after recording a last-day 69 for a 10-under par tally and a share of 25th place.
And four-time major winner Rory McIlroy ended his first winless season since 2008 with a closing 72 for a distant share of 63rd place.
McIlroy will now take three months off before returning to competition in mid-January.
“My last round of 2017 sort of summed up all of 2017,” he said.
“Not much happening, good or bad. Just sort of stuck in neutral. Yeah, hasn’t been the year I wanted on the golf course.”
Final round leading scores at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, Par 72 St. Andrews (S) Old Course, Kingsbarns (KB) and Carnoustie (C), (GBR/IRE unless stated):
264 – Tyrrell Hatton – 68 (S), 65 (C), 65 (KB), 66 (S)
267 – Ross Fisher – 71 (S), 68 (C), 67 (KB), 61 (S)
271 – Victor Dubuisson (FRA) 74 (C), 66 (KB), 68 (S), 63 (S)
274 – Marc Warren – 70 (C), 71 (KB), 67 (S), 66 (S); Robert Rock 71 (C), 68 (KB), 69 (S), 66 (S); Gregory Bourdy (FRA) 70 (S), 67 (KB), 66 (C), 71 (S)
275 – Oliver Fisher – 68 (S), 71 (C), 71 (KB), 65 (S); Eddie Pepperell 72 (C), 69 (KB), 69 (S), 65 (S); Alexander Levy (FRA) 70 (C), 69 (KB), 68 (S), 68 (S); Paul Dunne 67 (S), 68 (C), 70 (KB), 70 (S)
276 – Ben Evans – 69 (C), 68 (KB), 72 (S), 67 (S); Matthew Fitzpatrick 73 (S), 68 (C), 68 (KB), 68 (S); Stephen Gallacher 72 (KB), 67 (S), 70 (C), 67 (S)
277 – Graeme McDowell 69 (S), 71 (C), 70 (KB), 67; Nino Bertasio (ITL) 70 (S), 69 (C), 71 (KB), 67 (S); Haydn Porteous (RSA) 74 (C), 71 (KB), 65 (S), 67 (S); Connor Syme 72 (C), 70 (KB), 69 (S), 66 (S); Brandon Stone (RSA) 71 (S), 67 (C), 71 (KB), 68; Marcel Siem (GER) – 69 (KB), 66 (S), 74 (C), 68 (S); Romain Wattel (FRA) 70 (C), 68 (KB), 70 (S), 69 (S); David Drysdale 69 (C), 67 (KB), 72 (S), 69 (S); Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA) – 70 (KB), 66 (S), 71 (C), 70 (S)
Additional reporting by Paul Fennessy
Subscribe to The42 podcasts here:
Well done Sir.
You are a credit to your parents and show people that though they can suffer depression that they can still manage it. Your laying it out straight. Great meas in you.
Nice one. Great to see someone like this talk about these problems
Who are the bottom feeding monkey shite who neg a comment like this?
I just gave my last comment the thumbs up….s’nice
Fair play to Alan coming out and talking about depression. A brave thing to do for such a high profile figure
@James – Regarding the thumbs down, i read a post recently where someone said they didn’t mean to ‘thumb down’ a comment, but the problem was that they were viewing the Journal on a smartphone and they would press the thumbs down by accident when they were scrolling through the comments.
At least i hope that’s the case for Emsy’s post :-)
Well done Quinny! For a player who’s nickname was cheeky and to to survive for so long in a career that’s perceived to be “macho” it’s an even bigger credit to you for speaking out. Hopefully it’ll make life easier for others to do the same.
Great stuff. Each day is an opportunity for “self help” or “self pity” the decision comes slowly to those with depression. Thankfully by talking about it people turn a huge corner and help others. Well done.
Another great sportsman hitting his depression head on, depression is of biblical proportions in this country and only now are we talking about it, the reasons why people hid it in the first place in actual fact was because they really did not know what they had…. Nothing to be ashamed of. I am 44 , ex soldier, hard as nails ( well not really) been suffering for 7 years , no meds at the moment as I have an underlying problem… But hey bad days are bad, good days are few but help is coming soon.
Well done Alan . I hope the media give it huge coverage especially in the sports pages as alot of the time they are the only pages young people read and they do need to understand more than anything else that depression is nothing to be ashamed of or fear . Sadly our graveyards are full of young men who were to afraid to seek help
Great post Jerry, well said
If Quinny saves one person from years of depression and missed positive experiences what a man he is and deserves all life can bring him keep it up lad : )
Great to see sufferers open up and talk so frankly about it. As someone who suffers from depression, I take great comfort in watching someone get it out in the open. Depression comes in many forms and at different levels of severity.
Stereotypically we think of sufferers locked away in a dark room, crying and drinking heavily, listening to Morrissey. In reality, it’s very different. Reason , logic and rational thinking are thrown out the window and instead you are bombarded with negative thoughts, that you believe. Men are much more likely to suffer as we think that looking for help is a weakness, and that we can do it by ourselves. We can’t.
The road to recovery isn’t as daunting as you may think. Pick up the phone and talk to someone.