Tyrrell Hatton’s hopes of qualifying automatically for the European Ryder Cup team were boosted as he edged out Daniel Hillier to win the Hero Dubai Desert Classic.
A Rolex Series specialist, the Englishman claimed his fifth gold star with a final round of 69 to win by the minimum on fifteen-under-par ahead of Hillier who shot final round of 71 with Laurie Canter, who shot a 68, third on 13-under.
New Zealand’s Hillier forced the issue with a closing birdie, but Hatton held his nerve to hole from five feet for a winning par and an eighth DP World Tour victory.
“It feels amazing, I said earlier in the week this is one of the events you would love to have on your CV such an iconic event on the DP World Tour so to add my name to the amazing champions before me is a dream come true,” beamed Hatton.
“I was pretty nervous on the back nine I guess I wanted it a bit too much and I knew the position I was in. Got scrappy down the last but to see the putt go in felt amazing and I’m just so happy.
Ryder Cup star Hatton went into the final round one behind Hillier but drew level with a birdie on the 2nd hole. He went two clear with a birdie at the 6th.
Back to back birdies for Hillier on 10 and 11 saw him halve the deficit, however, Hatton took a huge stride towards victory with a brilliant wedge approach to the 16th that set up a tap-in birdie.
There was still time for a few jitters on the 18th. Hatton unsurprisingly laid up but a conservative approach to the back of the green in order to take the water out of play left him with a 45-foot birdie effort.
Hillier had gone for the green in two and gone over the back, but made a nine-footer for birdie to leave Hatton a testing five-footer, which he duly converted.
Hatton’s victory is significant in more ways than one. He goes to the top of the Race to Dubai at this early stage of the season and back inside the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking but will also put him inside the top-2 in the automatic Ryder Cup standings for Team Europe.
Hatton would desperately love to be on the plane to Bethpage Black with Luke Donald and co but knows his opportunities to impress are limited with just the four major championships remaining outside of LIV Golf events.
“This event and the four majors this year are massive for me to try and earn as many points as I can to try and be an automatic qualifier but this is a big step in the right direction, so happy with that and looking forward to the rest of the year.”
Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy claimed a share of fourth place with a final round of 66 for a twelve-under total with Tom McKibbin a shot further back after a closing 69.
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