ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Robert MacIntyre won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on Sunday for a second DP World Tour victory in as many years in his native Scotland, completing a successful homecoming after being part of Europe’s victory over the United States in the Ryder Cup a week earlier at Bethpage Black in New York.
“Just a beautiful ending to a good week,” MacIntyre said after shooting a third straight 6-under-par 66, this time in strong winds on the Old Course at St. Andrews, to finish with a 54-hole score of 18-under 198 and complete a four-stroke victory at the home of golf. He scored the same at Carnoustie and Kingsbarns earlier in the tournament.
The third round was postponed Saturday because of stormy weather, making the event — a pro-am played across three of Scotland’s top links courses — 18 holes shorter than intended.
MacIntyre, who was No. 9 in the most recent Official World Golf Ranking, won the Scottish Open last year at the Renaissance Club. his previous victory in individual play on the Europe-based DP World Tour. He earned 1 1/2 points for the Europeans in the Ryder Cup, where MacIntyre encountered much more hostile conditions than he did back home this week.
“I don’t know how we’re going to celebrate after the celebrations we had last Sunday,” he said. “We’ll try our best.”
MacIntyre mastered the links by staying largely out of trouble — chiefly by avoiding the pot bunkers dotted around the courses — having arrived in Scotland with expectations hardly at their highest.
“I had a laugh when we were driving the buggy back down to the clubhouse,” he said. “I’ve done everything against the book this week, from preparation. I pitched up Wednesday afternoon. I know the golf courses. Played 12 holes on Wednesday. The diet has not been good this week — I can confirm that. I’ve eaten plenty of takeaways, fish and chips, plenty of others.
“But yeah, sometimes when you are least expecting it, things happen.”
Tyrrell Hatton, the tournament’s 2024 winner and another member of Team Europe, shot a 65 at St. Andrews and jumped into second place — one stroke better than fellow English player John Parry (66 at St. Andrews) and South Africa’s Richard Sterne (71 at Carnoustie) as they shared third.
PGA Tour: Fisk finally gets his first
JACKSON, Miss. — Steven Fisk said he wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of his first PGA Tour victory, and it took birdies on his last three holes to close with an 8-under 64 to win the Sanderson Farms Championship.
The 28-year-old former Georgia Southern University star — the Atlanta native still resides in the Peach State — and Garrick Higgo finally separated themselves over the closing holes at the Country Club of Jackson, and they put on quite a show.
They were tied when Fisk missed a five-foot birdie putt on the reachable par-4 15th. That turned out to be his last mistake.
He holed a 40-foot birdie putt on the 16th, and Higgo said he heard someone in the crowd say, “Take that, Higgo.” The 26-year-old South African answered with a 12-foot birdie of his own — his fourth in a row on the back nine — and playfully put his finger against his lips with a smile.
Fisk hit a wedge that had the ball dancing around the cup before it settled three feet away on the 17th. Higgo answered again with a wedge to just outside three feet. It appeared as though it would go down to the wire, except that Higgo’s short birdie putt caught the left lip.
Fisk pulled one ahead with the birdie, then left no doubt with an approach to four feet for one final birdie to win by two shots over Higgo.
“I came out today with an attitude that nothing was going to stop me,” Fisk said during his Golf Channel interview on the 18th green. “I just felt like I’d be standing right here, right now, before the round started. I know I’m good enough. I thought I could do it.”
And he did, finishing 72 holes at 24-under 264 for a win that carries big benefits. Fisk was at No. 135 in the FedEx Cup standings, destined to return to the developmental Korn Ferry Tour unless he made up ground during the remaining two months of the PGA Tour’s Fall Series. Only the top 100 at the end of the season keep full cards.
He now has a two-year exemption through 2027, after it took him five years to get to the tour.
“To have some job security is pretty nice,” Fisk said. “It’s been a long, hard year.”
Danny Walker was tied for the lead early on the back nine, but he hit it into the water going for the green on the par-5 11th and made a bogey, then drove left into a hazard on the 17th that led to another dropped shot. He closed out a 69 and tied for third with Vince Whaley (67) and Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard (65), the latter a week removed from playing in the Ryder Cup
The final field of 67 players included a pair of Baylor School graduates. Luke List (68), a two-time career winner on the PGA Tour who won the 2022 Sanderson Farms championship for his breakthrough victory, tied for 29th at 11 under. Stephan Jaeger (70) shared 44th place at 9 under.
Champions: No more qualifying for Gainey
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Tommy Gainey holed a long eagle putt from off the green at the par-5 13th to take the lead, and he closed out a 6-under 66 to win by two shots in the Constellation Furyk & Friends, securing his first victory in a PGA Tour Champions tournament.
The 50-year-old from South Carolina had to go through qualifying just to get into the field at Timuquana Country Club. He started the final round four shots behind fellow American player Matt Gogel, then pulled away in the middle of the back nine to hold off Australia’s Cameron Percy.
Percy was one shot behind when he was fooled on a 15-foot birdie chance on the par-17th. He missed another birdie putt from 15 feet on the final hole, and Gainey rolled in a six-foot birdie to finish the 54-hole tournament 14-under 202.
Gogel (75) was part of a five-way tie for third.
Gainey had gone through four Monday qualifiers this year. He now is exempt and moves to No. 37 in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup standings on the 50-and-older tour.
“I grinded for a long time, and finally I can say that grinding and hard work has paid off,” said Gainey, whose lone PGA Tour victory was in October 2012 at Georgia’s Sea Island Golf Club. “Man, a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.”
LPGA Tour: Hwang is latest new winner
HONOLULU — Youmin Hwang won the Lotte Championship on Saturday for her first victory in an LPGA Tour event, with the 22-year-old making a big late charge to run the tour’s season-opening streak without a repeat winner to 25 tournaments.
Hwang birdied five of the last six holes (including the final four) at breezy Hoakalei Country Club for a 5-under 67, finishing with a 72-hole score of 17-under 271 for a one-shot victory over fellow South Korean player Hyo Joo Kim.
“This is my dream,” Hwang, a Korean LPGA member who was in the field on a sponsor’s invitation, said through an interpreter. “Finally, I achieved my dream here at the Lotte Championship, and I also very much look forward to my future as well in the LPGA.”
Hwang, who already had two career wins each on the top tours back home and in Taiwan, has the option to accept immediate membership of the U.S.-based circuit or defer to next season. She won in her sixth career LPGA Tour start and fourth of the season, having made the cut in a trio of majors: the U.S. Women’s Open, the Women’s PGA and the Evian Championship in France.
Tied for first place after her birdie on the par-4 17th, Hwang got a break when co-leaders Minami Katsu of Japan and Kim each bogeyed the hole in the group behind. On the par-5 18th, Hwang hit her second shot through the green into rough and chipped to a foot.
Hwang shot a career-best 62 on Thursday to open a three-stroke lead, then had a 75 on Friday to drop into a tie for second, a shot behind Akie Iwai.
Kim birdied the 18th for a 68, while Katsu was third at 15 under after a 69.
Second-ranked Nelly Korda closed with a 69 as the American star finished three back at 17 under with Taiwan’s Peiyun Chien (70), U.S. player Jessica Porvasnik (70) and Iwai (71). Korda hasn’t won this year after doing so seven times in 2024.