Tyrrell Hatton has entered the top five of the Race to Dubai rankings after securing his third European Tour title of his career and second in a row at the Italian Open.
The 26-year-old birdied the final hole to back up last weekend’s successful defence of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship title with the third Tour win of his career.
For the second Sunday in succession Ross Fisher piled the pressure on his compatriot Hatton, but had to settle for second, tied with Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat.
“It’s amazing to win one but to win back-to-back and defend in two weeks is unbelievable,” world number 22 Hatton told europeantour.com.
“Although I found it hard to believe, I tried to stay patient. In the end, I guess I got my reward.
“The end goal is to get as high as possible up the world rankings. Obviously the last two weeks have helped a lot.”
The victory saw the Englishman claim 990,398 points, taking him from 11th to fifth place in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai rankings with a season tally of 2,443,181 points.
He’ll now be in contention for the $5million Race to Dubai bonus pool when the top 60 players in the European Tour tee-off at the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates from November 16-19.
Tommy Fleetwood also finished tied for sixth to ensure that he remains at the head of the Rankings with 3,974,247 points.
Sergio Garcia is in second with a season-tally of 2,851,251 points and his young compatriot Jon Rahm sits in third spot on 2,840,693.