‘If I Need To Play I’m Going To Play’ – Tyrrell Hatton Targets Automatic Ryder Cup Qualification After Dunhill Links Win

Tyrrell Hatton claimed a record third Alfred Dunhill Links Championship title, beating Nicolas Colaerts by one shot at the Old Course, St Andrews.

As well as a prize-money payout of €739,482 (around $812,000), there were other advantages for Hatton, including the guarantee of a top-70 finish in the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai standings, booking him spots in the two season-closing events, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

Meanwhile, Hatton's appearance in Scotland this week was his fourth on the DP World Tour this season, meeting the minimum requirement to remain eligible for next year's Ryder Cup.

Luke Donald's 12-man team will feature six automatic qualifiers and six wildcards for the Bethpage Black match. The win also moves Hatton from 33rd on the European Ryder Cup points list to fifth, and he admitted earning as many points as possible is his target despite limited opportunities due to his LIV Golf commitments.

“It's a Ryder Cup year," he said. "I want to earn as many points as I possibly can, and you know, 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. So I'm happy that I have been able to win this week and I can have four weeks off, and then I'll be fresh, hopefully ready to play some good golf in Abu Dhabi.”

Despite now earning the luxury of some time away to prepare for November's events in the United Arab Emirates, Hatton detailed the lengths he would have been prepared to go to to qualify for them had he still needed to.

“Winning here this week allows me to take some time off," he said. "This was my fourth week in a row. I really wanted to get into Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and at the start of last week, I was 94 in rankings. I was prepared to play in Sotogrande, and maybe even South Korea if I needed to, to try and make it to Abu Dhabi."

Another reason Hatton is relieved to have a clear diary for the next few weeks is so that he can attend fellow 2023 Ryder Cup star Matt Fitzpatrick’s wedding to Katherine Gaal, with the couple due to tie the knot at the same time as Spain's Andalucia Masters at Sotogrande in less than two weeks.

He added: “I was meant to be going to Fitzy's wedding the week in Spain, and I messaged him a few weeks ago and I was like, if I don't have enough points, I might not be able to go and I felt so bad about that. I guess having a little extra motivation to play well.”