Why Dunhill Links specialist Tyrrell Hatton might be next in line for a St Andrews statue

At this rate, they’ll be erecting a statue of Tyrrell Hatton in St Andrews beside the one of Old Tom Morris unveiled last Wednesday. The Englishman, after all, has now recorded three title triumphs at the home of golf, creating history in the process in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Hatton’s latest St Andrews success came at the expense of Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts, who currently doesn’t hold any DP World Tour status and only found out at the start of last week that he’d secured an invitation to tee up in an event that is also held at Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.

The pair were locked together after the opening seven holes in the closing circuit on the Old Course before Hatton, the winner in both 2016 and 2017, spurted three shots ahead. Colsaerts three-putted the par-3 eighth from long range before Hatton then birdied both the tenth and 11th holes.

Though Spaniard David Puig, helped by making six birdies in a row from the second, had muscled his way into the fight before finding gorse trouble at the 12th, it was really a two-horse race for most of the day.

Out of nowhere, Hatton took a double-bogey 6 at the 13th then made another 6, this time dropping one shot, at the 14th. Colsaerts, who’d bogeyed the 13th, drew level after a birdie at the 15th before they made matching pars at both the 16th and 17th.

Both were just short of the green with their tee shots at the 18th. A little bit further away from a front pin position, Hatton dinked one up to three feet. With a putter his only real option from close to the Valley of Sin, Colsaerts left his effort ten feet short and then missed on the left side.

Hatton, who’d earned a share of the Old Course record with his 11-under-par 61 on Saturday, wasn’t going to blot his copybook here and in went the winning putt, claiming his triumph on this occasion as a LIV Golf player after joining the breakaway circuit earlier this year.

“It feels pretty surreal, to be honest,” said the 32-year-old, who pocketed a winner’s cheque worth £620,000 and lots of valuable Ryder Cup points, of creating history in this tournament, having signed off with a 70 to finish with a 24-under-par total, matching his own record set in 2017.

“This is the first time I've actually won the tournament with my dad (Jeff, who partnered him in the team event) here. So it means a lot. And, yeah, to do it at the home of golf is really special. Hard to describe, to be honest. I'm at a loss for words.”

Hatton, who is part of Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII team, said he’d “enjoyed” being a LIV Golf player this year but admitted this was the highlight. “It means a lot,” he added. “I think any time that you win a tournament, it's very special. You know, winning here at the home of golf with my dad, that probably will take it over the edge for this year. There's not really many better places in the world to win a tournament.”

Hatton, who met the minimum tournament requirement to retain his DP World Tour membership and, therefore, be eligible for next year’s Ryder Cup pending an appeal against fines and suspension imposed on him by the circuit, has now qualified for the new end-of-season Play-Off events in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in November.

“I'm so happy that I've got my place booked in Dubai and,” he said with a smile of the DP World Tour Championship. “I was prepared to play in Sotogrande (in the upcoming Andalucia Masters) and maybe even South Korea (in the Genesis Championship, which is the final regular event of the season) if I needed to to try and make it to Abu Dhabi.

“It's a Ryder Cup year. I want to earn as many points as I possibly can and I'm committed to try my best to earn the points that I need to be on that team. If it means playing events that you wouldn't normally play, and not to make that sound as a negative. It's more of if I need to play, I'm going to play.”

Given his situation - this was just his 17th event of the season and he came into the week sitting 695th in the Official World Golf Ranking - Colsaerts walked away with his head held high despite ending up trophyless.

“It’s bitter sweet,” said the 41-year-old. “If you’d told me earlier in the week that I'd finish second, then I would’ve taken it. But when you go head-to-head like that? Well. I struggled with long putts today, and things with cambers and I left them short.

“But I made a great save on the 17th to keep myself in with a chance. I’m pretty proud of the way I handled the back nine. Eight, nine, ten, 11. That’s where everything happened. If I’d made a few of those, I would have looked a lot better.”

Colsaerts, who was one of Luke Donald’s vice-captains in last year’s Ryder Cup in Rome, picked up just over £400,000. “The last couple of events I’ve played in, I’ve just showed up and played with no expectations,” he added. “I’ll still be torn. Do I keep playing or go in the TV booth more regularly? After this week, playing the way I’ve played, I’ll probably play a bit more next year and beyond that.

“I’m happy and proud of what I’ve done. I came close in this last year (finishing joint-sixth). I usually play good on links so maybe it's not a big surprise. I’ll play France this week. It’s almost a home Open, it’s special. My parents are there, my kids, my wife.”

Pipping Team Hatton by two shots, the team event was won by Celtic majority shareholder Dermot Desmond and Thorbjorn Olesen with a 48-under total. “It's fantastic,” said Desmond of his second success, having won with Robert Karlsson in 2010. I really enjoy playing with Thorbjørn and they are wonderful golf courses, great sponsor, and with my sons here, what can be better?”