Hatton wins Turkish Open, joins Race to Dubai battle
- Last updated: November 11, 2019 | 23:04
Tyrrell Hatton soared up the European Tour’s Race to Dubai rankings after securing a second Rolex Series title following a thrilling climax to the Turkish Airlines Open which ended in a six-man play-off at The Montgomerie Maxx Royal.
The 2016 DP World Tour Championship runner-up, who won his first Rolex Series title at the Italian Open in 2017, needed four trips back up the 18th to secure the victory after finishing on 20 under par alongside Kurt Kitayama, Victor Perez, Benjamin Hebert, Matthias Schwab and Erik Van Rooyen.
In only the third six-man play-off in European Tour history, Hebert, Perez and Van Rooyen fell at the first hurdle while Kitayama missed out on a third European Tour title of the season on the third play-off hole after only making par.
Hatton had victory wrapped up at the next time of asking, as floodlights were deployed for the first time in European Tour history, after Schwab’s missed par putt handed the Englishman his first win since 2017.
“I feel incredible,” said the 28 year old, who pockets S$2 million and 1,500 Race to Dubai points to surge up to sixth from 36th in the Rankings. “I’m really excited for my week off next week, and obviously I’ll spend time with family and friends and enjoy it, and then I’m going to head out to Dubai a little early and get comfortable out there, and hopefully have another good week to end the season.”
The quintet of players who narrowly missed out on victory in Antalya each picked up 542.2 Race to Dubai points which saw some significant movement in the Race to Dubai. Van Rooyen continued his strong season after moving up two places to eighth, Perez jumped into the top ten after climbing up four places to ninth, Kitayama made his way up to 11th while Schwab moved up to 14th.
Shubhankar Sharma continued his fine end to the season with a tied seventh finish.
The Indian star still has the opportunity to secure a spot in the DP World Tour Championship after picking up 247.5 Race to Dubai points which moved him up to 61st in the Rankings and booked his place in the Nedbank Golf Challenge, which is open to the leading available 60 players in the Race to Dubai.
The top 50 players in the Race to Dubai Rankings will contest the season-ending US$8 million DP World Tour Championship at the Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai from Nov.21-24 where $3 million will be up for grabs for the winner, making it the richest first prize in the world tournament golf.
The top five ranked players in the Race to Dubai will also share $5 million with the winner pocketing a cool S$2 million.
The Race to Dubai, spanning 47 tournaments in 31 countries across five continents, is a season-long competition to crown the European Tour’s No 1 player.
Celebrating the global connectivity of Dubai and the European Tour, the list of champions since 2009 reads like a Who’s Who of modern-era greats, including three-time winner Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson with two titles, as well as Francesco Molinari, Tommy Fleetwood, Martin Kaymer, Luke Donald and Lee Westwood.
Formerly known as the Order of Merit, points are accumulated based on a tournament points system, with the five top-ranked players at the end of the season sharing a $5 million Race to Dubai bonus pool which includes S$2 million for the winner.