Final Dunhill Links Championship leaderboard:
What happened at the Dunhill Links Championship?
It was a day of true links conditions on the final day of the Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews, where Lucas Bjerregaard triumphed for the second time in his career as Tyrrell Hatton saw his chances of a second successful title defence blown away.
It was a tightly packed leaderboard through 54 holes in Scotland and, with poor weather forecast for the afternoon, the final round began with a shotgun start at 8.30am.
Hatton, a winner here in 2016 and ’17, held a one-shot lead overnight and that lead was stretched to five by the turn thanks to four straight birdies from the 3rd.
But back-to-back bogeys at 10 and 11 then 15 and 16 meant he signed for a level-par 72 and finished the week on 14-under-par, level with Ryder Cup team-mate Tommy Fleetwood.
It wasn’t enough to catch Bjerregaard, who had sealed the clubhouse lead thanks to a low-round-of-the-day 67 which included six birdies and a solitary bogey over the Old Course.
Fleetwood only dropped one shot in his final round and had the chance to force a play-off with eagle at 18. However, the elements were too much for the Englishman and, having found the green with his drive, then three-putted the final hole for the second day in a row.
For Bjerregard, though, a second European Tour win having made his breakthrough almost exactly a year ago at the Portugal Masters.
Talking Point
What a couple of weeks it’s been for Danish golf. In Paris seven days ago Thorbjorn Olesen thrashed Jordan Spieth in the Ryder Cup singles to earn his first ever point for Team Europe, led by mentor Thomas Bjorn.
“I was so delighted for Thomas and I was definitely inspired,” Bjerregaard said after his win. “I definitely want to make that team some day.”
This season has been a series of close calls for Bjerregaard, who has finished in the top 10 in three of his four last events, including losing out in a play-off with Matthew Fitzpatrick at the Omega European Masters.
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