A pole apart as Adrian Meronk’s 68 makes him 25th Alfred Dunhill Links Champion

Adrian Meronk held off a star-studded chasing pack to become the first player from Poland to win the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Meronk shot a closing four-under-par 68 at the Old Course to win by two strokes from Casey Jarvis and Niklas Norgaard, showing calmness under pressure down the stretch to clinch his fifth DP World Tour title.

And the 33-year-old also won the Team Championship with his amateur partner Tom Chaplin, the singer-songwriter and Keane frontman, to complete a memorable double.

The 25th edition of the Dunhill Links featured dramatic late surges from a trio of big names as Tommy Fleetwood, Brooks Koepka and defending champion Bob MacIntyre made brave efforts to challenge Meronk.

But Fleetwood’s 64, Koepka’s 66 and MacIntyre’s 68 were not enough as Meronk first surged past overnight leader Jarvis, who could only manage a par 72, and then also kept everyone else at bay to finish on 20-under-par.

Denmark’s Norgaard birdied the last hole for a 68 and a share of second place with Jarvis, while Scotland’s Michael Stewart tied for fourth with Fleetwood after a 66. Koepka and MacIntyre were a further stroke back.

Meronk said: “It is amazing to win here ten years after I started my professional career in the Dunhill Links of 2016, I am very proud and happy and it’s a special victory because it’s at the Home of Golf and because of the point I am at in my career.

“The walk down 18 after hitting a good drive virtually to the green was an unbelievable feeling. I had goosebumps and I was thinking of Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus walking over the bridge up 18 and I was trying to get the energy from those feelings!

“It’s a dream come true because a couple of months ago I was thinking of taking a break from the game. I was making silly mistakes and not getting the results despite playing quite solid golf overall.

“I was getting angry with myself but now to be sat here with this victory just shows how quickly things can change and what a strange game golf is.”

Chaplin, a keen amateur golfer and a member at Rye Golf Club in Sussex, also held his nerve on the closing holes – sinking a crucial four-foot net par putt on the 17th after Meronk had bogeyed and also matching his professional partner’s par at the 18th to seal the team win at 41-under-par.

It is Chaplin’s ninth appearance at the Dunhill Links but the first time he has made the team cut and he said: “I am feeling totally emotional right now – it’s overwhelming and the best thing ever.

“On the first round on Thursday I was feeling sick with food poisoning and was grateful for a few rides in a buggy with Huey Lewis, the other amateur in our group.

“But I played okay and Adrian actually had a slowish start so I felt I had done my bit. To end up winning the team event is incredible and I am so pleased too for Adrian, who was really calm out there today.

“I think like all the amateurs here all you want to do is not look stupid and over those last couple of putts I was just concentrating on keeping my head still and making a good stroke.

“It is so exciting to have experienced that today. It’s such a different discipline from singing in front of people but I’m running on vapours now!”

Jarvis, the 23-year old South African who has already won two DP World Tour titles in a breakthrough year, led by two shots at the start of the final round and threatened to pull clear himself with two successive birdies on the front nine.

But while he fell back with bogeys at the 9th and 11th holes and it was Meronk who took control with three birdies in six holes. Three shots clear when he stood on the 15th tee, Meronk was later helped by Jarvis also bogeying the Road Hole 17th. A solid par on the last meant Jarvis needed an eagle two to tie and he could also only close with a par.

With a tricky crosswind, and occasional gusts of up to 35mph, posting a low round was always going to be a challenge, although Fleetwood thrilled the crowds with a brilliant eight-birdie display to get to 17-under-par.

Koepka, the five-times major winner bidding to become the first American to win the Dunhill Links, finished in a share of sixth place on 16 under, after eagling the iconic 18th for a 66.

MacIntyre, wounded by a double-bogey six at the 10th, bounced back with an eagle three on the 14th and also ended on 16 under for the tournament.

Meronk’s win, his first for almost three years, lifts him from a lowly 527th in the world rankings into the top 150. He also moves up 103 places to 38th in the Race to Dubai points table.

The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is a celebration of Links golf, played over the Old Course St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns, three of the greatest Links courses in the world, culminating in the final day on the Old Course on Sunday.

With a prize fund of US$5 million, the Alfred Dunhill Links incorporates two separate competitions - an Individual Professional tournament for the world's leading golfers and the Team Championship in which the professionals are paired with amateur golfers which creates a unique atmosphere.

Among the celebrity amateurs who played are Michael Peña, Ronan Keating, Tom Chaplin, Dave Farrell, Mike Rutherford, Huey Lewis, Piers Morgan, Peter Jones, Gareth Bale, James Milner, Ruud Gullit, Kelly Slater, Steve Redgrave, A.P. McCoy, Ian Botham, Kevin Pietersen, Allan Lamb, Mark Nicholas, Schalk Burger Snr, Morne du Plessis and Rob Louw.

This is the 25th year of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and during that time, many millions have been raised for charity. In June 2011 the Alfred Dunhill Links Foundation was established as the official Foundation of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. The Foundation is committed to developing young amateur golfers in Scotland and South Africa and funds scholarships for postgraduate students attending the University of St Andrews, and the St Andrews Pilgrim Foundation, which refurbishes and preserves historical monuments in the town.