To win on any professional tour these days is difficult. To successfully defend the title the following year is even harder. Tyrrell Hatton and Brendan Steele achieved something quite rare on Sunday by both successfully defending titles won in 2016, in the same week.
Since their respective wins at the Dunhill Links Championship and Safeway Open last year, both players have had mixed results.
Steele endured a topsy-tervy 2016/17 season that promised so much in its early stages — a win and a pair of T-6 results coming in his first five events. Following yet another T-6 at The Players’ Championship in May, Steele’s form waned in the latter stages of the season highlighted by a run of four missed cuts in five starts which cost him a place in the Tour Championship.
Hatton, meanwhile was a model of consistency in the months that followed his maiden European Tour triumph. Nine consecutive top-25s catapulted the Englishman to a career-high world ranking of 14.
After the bright start to 2017, Hatton’s form dropped off alarmingly. The Englishman went nine events without posting a top-25 finish. The dreadful stretch has been snapped in recent weeks, however, with finishes of T-3 (European Masters) and T-8 at the British Masters.
While the pair have shared a similar season trajectory, the manner in which they went about winning on Sunday contrasted each other.
As the saying goes, there are many ways to skin a cat. Steele used superior length off the tee to his advantage, averaging 342 yards off the tee to the field average of 327.8. Though his Greens in Regulation percentage left a lot to be desired, finishing the week 12.5% below the field average, Steele made up for it on the greens.
With his trusty Scotty Cameron in hand, Steele gained 1.734 strokes on the field in each round. When compared to the rest of the field’s average of 0.560, his putter proved the difference in his two-stroke victory which ensured he bacame the first repeat winner in tournament history.
Hatton, on the other hand, handled the blustery Scottish conditions on offer with aplomb. To only make two bogeys over 72 holes across the three testing venues played at the Dunhill, one’s ball-striking has to be nothing short of exceptional.
With a GIR percentage of 84.7%, the 25-year-old’s iron play was exactly that. He was able to take advantage of many of his opportunities too, thanks to a cooperative putter. With just 28.8 putts per round for the week, Hatton built up a seven-shot lead at one point during the final round before settling for a three-shot triumph over Ross Fisher. Like Steele, Hatton became the first repeat winner in the history of the Dunhill Links.
With their wins, the torrid times endured by both men over the last few months have been forgotten. After all, winning takes care of everything.
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