Hatton joins Race to Dubai battle with Turkish Airlines Open triumph

Dubai: Tyrrell Hatton soared in 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 $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.”