ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) — Tyrrell Hatton birdied his last two holes and tied the Old Course record at St. Andrews with an 11-under 61, giving him a one-shot lead over Nicolas Colsaerts going into the final round of the Dunhill Links Championship on Saturday.
Hatton already is a two-time winner of this European tour event that pairs professionals and amateurs from the celebrity and business world over three courses.
He is on pace to break his 72-hole tournament record from his 2017 victory. Hatton took a little off his 7-iron and hit it to 3 feet on the fabled Road Hole 17th for birdie and finished with a 10-foot birdie on the closing hole.
That put him at 22-under 194, low scoring that reflects the benign conditions at St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns. Hatton holds the tournament record of 24-under par.
“I was just taking each hole as it came and just trying to make as many birdies as I could,” Hatton said. “I knew when I holed that putt on 17, I had actually shot 10 under here before. I really wanted to birdie the last. That’s actually my lowest round on tour, as well.
“Good putt and thankfully it went in. It was a cool day.”
Colsaerts had a cool moment of his own. He was at Kingsbarns and made an albatross 2 on the par-5 16th hole. His 6-iron bounded well past the pin up a slope, stopped and then rolled back down into the cup.
Colsaerts had a chance to tie Hatton for the lead until missing the fairway on the par-5 ninth, his finishing hole, leaving him unable to reach the green in two. His par gave him a 65, still well within range of winning for the first time in five years.
“Super special,” Colsaerts said. “An albatross is pretty rare.”
Rory McIlroy had reason to think he was headed for a special day when he went out in 29 at St. Andrews with seven birdies in nine holes. He drove the green on the par-4 10th and had just over 5 feet for another birdie.
McIlroy missed the putt and didn’t make a birdie on the back nine. He was 10 shots worse — a 39 on the inward nine — for a 68 that left him 12 shots behind.
Romain Langasque had a 61 at St. Andrews in 2022, while Ross Fisher was the first to set the Old Course mark in 2017. The lowest at St. Andrews for the British Open is 63. The pins typically are easier for the Dunhill Links to not make it overly difficult for amateur players.
The power brokers in golf — PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia — won’t be around for Sunday’s final round at St. Andrews. Their teams finished well outside the 20 pro-am teams that advance.
PIF and the PGA Tour have been negotiating in the last 16 months on a deal to make the Saudi’s sovereign wealth fund a minority investor in the commercial PGA Tour Enterprises, and possibly lead to repairing golf’s fractured landscape.
Hatton is among 14 players from PIF-backed LIV Golf playing in the European tour event. They are banned from PGA Tour events.
Tom Vaillant of France had a 64 at Kingsbarns and was in third, three shots behind, while Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen had a 61 at Kingsbarns and was five behind.
Tommy Fleetwood was another shot back after a 67 that left him disappointed, mainly because the Old Course is susceptible to low scoring without much wind.
“When the Old Course is like this, if you hit it half-decent off the tee, you can give yourself a lot of chances,” Fleetwood said. “Five under, bogey-free, it sounds good. But it was a bit of a frustrating one. Fair play to the guys who shot amazing scores.”
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