Alfred Dunhill Links preview: Hatton has to be the pick

One of the great events on the DP World Tour takes place this week with St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns jointly hosting the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. With wet and windy weather forecast this could be a fascinating watch, especially with the likes of Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick in the field. 

Hatton the flavour of the week

Rory McIlroy is the one to beat this week at 9/2. He’s been in great recent form and bar a missed cut at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, his worst finish in his last six starts is a tie for eighth. He’s playing the sort of golf we’ve always known he’s capable of and it’s highly likely he’ll contend again, particularly with his great record at St Andrews.

However, do we really want to be taking such a short price in a tournament when rounds take the best part of six hours and there’s a huge threat of bad weather?

We’re not so sure and instead much prefer tournament specialist Tyrrell Hatton at 14/1.

Hatton’s record in this event is nothing short of superb having won it back-to-back in 2016 and 2017 and finishing runner-up on further two occasions, including last year. For whatever reason it’s a format that seems to really suit the Englishman and he clearly has a particular liking to St Andrews having finished in a tie for 11th at The Open this year. He played okay at the BMW PGA Championship but was much better at the Italian Open where he finished in eighth spot.

It hasn’t been a great year by Hatton’s standards but these sort of events, where plenty of birdies are a must, really play to his strengths. He’s won six times on the DP World Tour with winning scores of -18,-19,-20,-21,-24 and -23, so it’s clear that he much prefers it when players need to be attacking. That’s a given this week as with so many amateurs playing alongside their professional partners, the pin positions have to be favourable to avoid slow play.

All-in-all then, this looks a golden opportunity for Hatton to get back in the winners’ circle.