Tyrrell Hatton had a dramatic win at St. Andrews, birdieing the 18th hole to move one shot ahead of Nicolas Colsaerts.
But his historic win at the Old Course also gave him a Ryder Cup lifeline. He has now accumulated enough DP World Tour points to compete in the final two events of the season: the HSBC Championship in Abu Dhabi and the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. The top 70 players qualify for Abu Dhabi, while the top 50 players advance to Dubai. They are also Rolex Series events, with the DP World Tour awarding 2,000 Ryder Cup points to players in these fields. In regular DP World Tour events, such as this week's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, only 1,000 points are up for grabs.
“I'm delighted to have booked a place in Dubai,” Hatton said.
“When I teed off at the Spanish Open last week, I knew it was probably going to be at least a second before I had a chance. In fact, I was going to go to Fizzy's wedding this week [Andalucía Masters]I messaged him a few weeks ago and I thought, if I don’t have enough points, I might not be able to go, and I feel really bad about that. I wanted to have a little extra motivation to play well.
Since Hatton is affiliated with LIV Golf, he did not earn the necessary points to compete in the final two events of the season. But that all changed with his victory this week.
He started the season by competing in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January, but then jumped to LIV.
Hatton returned to the DP World Tour in August and participated in the Betfried British Masters, finishing tied for 18th. He then gained even more valuable points by finishing tied for tenth at last week's Spanish Open. Although Hatton now plays for the Saudi-backed tour, he has not canceled his DP World Tour membership and is therefore obliged to compete in at least four events each season. But his win at St Andrews marked his fourth start of the year and he jumped up to 16th in the rankings heading into the Battle of Dubai.
Now he can attend Matt Fitzpatrick's wedding without any pressure, knowing his position in the Middle East is secure. But he can rest easy as he also earned valuable Ryder Cup points. He is now fifth on Team Europe, behind Rasmus Hojgaard, Rory McIlroy, Matt Wallace and Niklas Norgaard. Hatton's hopes of making it to Bethpage Black are now slim.
Jack Milko is the golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Get more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jackmilko as well as.