Ryan Fox (NZ) secured a memorable victory at St Andrews, Scotland, firing a closing 68 on the Old Course to win the 2022 $5 million Alfred Dunhill Links Championship by a single shot.
Fox began the day four shots behind but needed just seven holes of Sunday’s fourth round to take the outright lead before a combination of magnificent approach play and brilliance on the greens helped the 35 year-old extend his advantage to three strokes with three to play.
Dropped shot
He suffered a late scare at the 17th but managed to limit the damage to just one dropped shot before safely parring the last to claim his second DP World Tour title of the 2022 campaign and third in all.
Fox finished the tournament on 15 under par after carding seven birdies and four bogeys, one shot clear of Callum Shinkwin (Eng) and Alex Noren (Swe).
Speaking about the possibility of challenging for the Harry Vardon Trophy for winning the DP World Tour Rankings this year, Fox, who also won the Ras al Khaimah Classic in February at Al Hamra Golf Club, added: “I guess after the good run I had in the middle of the year, that was always the goal, to give myself a chance going into Dubai. It’s pretty cool to have that. Obviously, there are a couple of pretty good players on that Rankings list, so I’ll have to do something even more special to get ahead of those guys but just to be in the mix is pretty good.”
Rory McIlroy (NI) finished in a tie for fourth on 13 under alongside Frenchman Antoine Rozner who won the 2020 Golf in Dubai Championship presented by DP World played over the Fire course at Jumeirah Golf Estates, as well as the 2021 Commercial Bank Qatar Masters at Education City GC in Doha, Qatar.
Four spots
In the DP World Tour Rankings, Fox moves up four spots to third, behind Rory McIlroy in first and Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng) in second.
Dubai based Adrian Meronk (Pol) remains in eighth, with movers including Callum Shinkwin (Eng), up 19 spots to 16, Alex Noren up 37 spots to 23 and Antoine Rozner up 19 to 35.
The top 50 players in the DP World Tour Rankings will be invited to compete in the end of season $10 million DP World Tour Championship, Dubai, to be held on Earth course at Jumeirah Golf Estates, 17th – 20th November, 2022, on the DP World Tour.
Top 10 DP World Tour Rankings Table in Points after the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, 29th September - 2nd October, 2022.
R. McIlroy (NI) 4,154.1
M. Fitzpatrick (Eng) 3,155.5
R. Fox (NZ) 3,119.5
V. Hovland (Nor) 2,711.4
W. Zalatoris (US) 2,661.5
T. Pieters (Bel) 2,575.5
S. Lowry (Ire) 2,471.4
A. Meronk (Pol) 2,245.2
T. Lawrence (RSA) 1,842.4
T. Fleetwood (Eng) 1,653.7
