Tyrrell Hatton’s love affair with the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship seems to be continuing, with the Englishman putting himself in the lead with one round to go after tying the course record at St Andrews on Saturday.
It always looked likely that Tyrrell Hatton would be in contention to win the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship with the 32-year-old winning the event twice before. He was also in brilliant form in the final weeks of the LIV Golf season, going on to win in Nashville back in June.
Hatton played well over the first two days at Carnoustie and Kingsbarns, but he really managed to put his foot down during the third round at the Old Course on Saturday.
At one stage, Hatton found himself four shots back of Nicolas Colsaerts after the Belgian made an albatross at Kingsbarns. However, the pair will indeed go off in the final group on Sunday, with Hatton leading by one heading into the last 18 holes.
Tyrrell Hatton shares what he was thinking before his putt for 61 at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship
The Legion XIII star made nine birdies and an eagle on his way to posting 61. That meant that Hatton tied the course record to move to 22 under par for the tournament. He birdied six of his final seven holes to come within one shot of becoming the first player to shoot 60 around the famous links.
Hatton holed his putt from just inside 10 feet on the last to write his name in the history books. And following his round, he explained how he was feeling as he got closer and closer to matching the course record.
“I was just taking each hole as it came and just trying to make as many birdies as I could. It was nice to – I knew when I holed that putt on 17, I had actually shot 10-under here before. I can’t remember if it was 2016, the year that I won,” he said.
“So yeah, I really wanted to birdie the last. That’s actually my lowest round on tour, as well. Felt like I was trying harder than I normally would for a putt on the last. Good putt and thankfully it went in. It was a cool day.”
A reminder of what the DP World Tour has lost
LIV Golf understandably gets a bad rap from many, and there is plenty to dislike about the breakaway league. They are certainly yet to prove – perhaps understandably given how long it has been going – that it can create superstars.
Bryson DeChambeau is surely LIV’s biggest success story, while players like Joaquin Niemann have certainly kicked on since jumping ship. And the same can probably be said for Hatton, who will be very disappointed if he does not secure his second win of the season on Sunday.
Should he win, it will arguably be the second best year of Hatton’s career behind 2020 when he won at Bay Hill and Wentworth in the same season – and it would certainly remind everyone just what a blow it was to the DP World Tour when he decided to join LIV.
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