St Andrews Magazine 2017 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Daily: Saturday 7 October

Daily Newsletter

Saturday 7 October 2017

Terrific Tommy Puts everyone else in the shade

FABULOUS FLEETWOOD ON FIRE TO BREAK CARNOUSTIE COURSE RECORD

After wins at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and HNA Open de France, Race to Dubai leader Tommy Fleetwood is in position claim a third prestige title of the season on the European Tour and put daylight between himself and the chasing pack.

The Southport man reeled off five birdies in a row in a record-breaking low round of 63 at Carnoustie Golf Links to tie defending champion Tyrrell Hatton at the top heading into the weekend.

Playing with pre-tournament favourite Rory McIlroy, new father Fleetwood birdied three holes on the front nine to go out in 33, but picked up the pace with a blistering back nine of 30, including a birdie at the daunting par-four eighteenth.

Speaking after his round, Fleetwood admitted to being in the zone and not really realizing what he was achieving: “You

don’t really think about it much whilst you’re playing”, he said. “to hole that one on the last and as you said it was a course record. So all in all, a good day’s work, wasn’t it.”

Fleetwood acknowledged the prestige of the achievement but also that a score like this wouldn’t probably be possible during an Open there: “I mean, I think I hit it in some

place that you probably can’t hit it when the Open comes around. Any time you have a course record, especially on a golf course like this, it’s brilliant to have. Yeah, very proud at the moment.”

A win here could extend his lead to nearly 1.5million points with the $7million Rolex Series Italian Open coming up next week, but Tommy knows that his job won’t be complete until he gets to Dubai. When asked if a win here would cement the Race to Dubai title, he said “I doubt it. Let’s concentrate

on tomorrow first. I would love to win the tournament.

But if I can keep making that cushion a little bit bigger, then it will feel a lot nicer.”

Fleetwood will be among seven of the top ten on the Race to Dubai which will tee-it-up at next week’s Italian Open, an event with new importance following its elevation to the Rolex Series.

The Englishman finished second to Oliver Wilson in 2014, losing out by a single shot, and a win here would put him exotic company of having won at both Gleneagles and St Andrews, two of Scotland’s iconic golfing destinations.

HATTON ON TRACK TO SUCCESSFULLY DEFEND DUNHILL TITLE

Nobody in the sixteen-year history of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship has defended the title, going into the weekend Tyrrell Hatton is in with a superb chance of doing so. The Englishman shot a superb round of 65 around Carnoustie on Friday, a round only bumped out of the limelight by Tommy Fleetwood’s course record 63.

Seven birdies and no bogeys saw Hatton tie Fleetwood at the top on a thrilling day at next year’s Open Championship venue. Despite conditions being favourable a round of 65 at Carnoustie is still notable and Hatton was happy: “Yeah,

happy with today’s round. I got a couple of lucky breaks but obviously you need that. The putter came alive for me over the last 13 holes. It was a really good day.”

Hatton admitted to being motivated by the fact he had won the championship last year, “It’s a strange feeling to think I’ve won the tournament, because I look back and it doesn’t feel like it was me that won” said Hatton rather bizarrely.

After having played the Old Course and Carnoustie, it is on to Kingsbarns on Saturday, what is widely regarded as the easiest of the three courses, however Hatton doesn’t feel that will be an advantage: “Personally, I’ve never scored

best around there, it’s always been the one where I have scored worst. Hopefully that run doesn’t continue tomorrow.”

Hatton is 11-under-par after 36 holes and tied with Tommy Fleetwood for the lead.

With the trophy last year

ANGUS PUBLIC COME OUT IN THEIR DROVES TO WATCH CELEBRITIES AT CARNOUSTIE

The sun shone, the stars came to play and the Angus public responded. The crowds at Carnoustie on Friday were large in number and energetic in support of the competitors in the second round of the 2017 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Excepting Rory McIlroy, it was Jamie Dornan who attracted the largest gallery, with no disrespect to defending champion and co-leader Tyrrell Hatton. Dornan demonstrated his usual wildness off the tee on more than one occasion, and his approach shots were a little wild too.

One such occasion was on the first hole when his second flew into the crowd on the dunes surrounding the green, to leave him with a particularly tricky lie, as shown opposite.

The other was on the eighteenth when his drive crashed into a photographer, it was lucky the man wasn’t seriously injured, with just the top of his lens a little dented.

Jamie Redknapp proved popular alongside Luke Donald, the Dundee area is an avid football supporting public and the likes of the former Liverpool star is one of the main attractions for some.

Another was Wladimir Klitschko, the former Heavyweight champion teamed up with Germany’s Max Kieffer, and the pair shared great camaraderie with the Boxer living in the country.

MCILROY EDGES BACK INTO PICTURE FOR THE WEEKEND WITH FINE BACK NINE

Pre-tournament favourite Rory McIlroy demonstrated fighting spirit to defeat the frustration which was clear to all to see with his game. The former world number one played superbly from tee to green but couldn’t buy a putt, until the closing stages of his round.

Great birdie chances came and went on 1 and 2, before a poor bogey followed at 3. He bounced straight back with birdie at the 4th but a calamitous double-bogey at the parfive 6th gave him real cause for concern that Saturday would be his last day of an injury-plagued season.

Then the real Rory stood up, with three birdies on the back nine to turn a possible 75 into a 71, and the Ulsterman heads to Kingsbarns on Saturday at level par and in with a chance of making the cut.

It was clear, as has been the case for much of the year, that his putting was the issue, for most of the round. He lost a couple of tee shots to the right, but in the main his long game was good. The three-time runner-up at the Alfred Dunhill Links Champion can still harbour hopes of bursting into contention with two low rounds, as unlikely as it may seem with him sitting 11 shots back of the lead.