Hatton wins Dunhill Links for record third time

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) — Tyrrell Hatton won the Dunhill Links Championship for a record third time Sunday after making birdie at the 18th hole on the Old Course at St. Andrews to finish a stroke clear of playing partner Nicolas Colsaerts.

Both players walked down the storied last hole at the home of golf tied for the lead and having hit their drives just short of the green.

Colsaerts, ranked No. 695 and seeking a first victory in five years as he battles back after being diagnosed with a rare kidney disease, putted to 8 feet and missed his birdie attempt, leaving Hatton a chance for victory after the Englishman had chipped to inside 4 feet. Hatton’s birdie putt went into the center of the cup.

Hatton, who plays on the Saudi-funded LIV Golf circuit, shot 2-under 70 and was 24-under par overall — tying the tournament record he held from 2017. He also won the Dunhill Links in 2016 and ’17.

“To do it at the home of golf is really special,” said Hatton, who is set to climb to 20th in the world ranking on the back of his seventh European tour win. “Hard to describe to be honest. I’m at a loss for words.”

It was Hatton’s first European tour win since 2021 in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

Colsaerts, who also shot 70, might have done enough with a runner-up finish to regain his card for next year on the tour.

The big-hitting Belgian played on Europe's winning Ryder Cup team at the “Miracle at Medinah” in 2012 and was a vice-captain in Rome last year, with his playing career in a downward spiral after what he described as “dark times” following his kidney diagnosis.

“It kind of proves I've still got it,” said Colsaerts, who was ranked as low as No. 1,349 in September last year. “I feel part of the furniture — this has been my life for over 20 years now — so it looks like we're going to go back on the merry-go-round.”

Tommy Fleetwood shot 67 and finished in third place, three strokes behind Hatton in an event that pairs professionals and amateurs from the celebrity and business world over three Scottish courses — St. Andrews, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie.

Hatton, however, played this week with his father.

Hatton started the final round leading by one and had a three-shot lead going to the par-4 13th, where he made double bogey after driving into a fairway bunker and later missing a 3-foot bogey putt.

After a second straight 6, at No. 14, and a birdie for Colsaerts at No. 15, Hatton had lost his three-stroke cushion in three holes.

He managed to recover, though, helped by a brilliant fairway wood into the Road Hole, No. 17, that allowed him to make par and stay level with Colsaerts.

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