Alfred Dunhill Links Championship 2015: Leaderboard Scores, Prize Money Payouts
Thorbjorn Olesen reigned supreme at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on Sunday, as he held his nerve to pip American duo Brooks Koepka and Chris Stroud and land his third European Tour trophy.
The Dane came into the final round with a three-shot lead over Florian Fritsch at the top of the tree after taming St Andrews’ famous Old Course in 65 blows on Saturday, and it was a lead he never surrendered.
Here’s a look at the final leaderboard from a fantastic exhibition of links golf:
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| Pos | Golfer | To Par | Sunday's Round |
| 1 | Thorbjorn Olesen | -18 | 71 |
| T2 | Brooks Koepka | -16 | 67 |
| T2 | Chris Stroud | -16 | 68 |
| T4 | Chris Wood | -15 | 65 |
| T4 | Bernd Wiesberger | -15 | 66 |
| T4 | Benjamin Herbert | -15 | 70 |
| T4 | Joakim Lagergren | -15 | 69 |
| T4 | Kiradech Aphibarnrat | -15 | 69 |
| T9 | Stewart Cink | -14 | 67 |
| T9 | David Drysdale | -14 | 68 |
| T9 | Soren Kjeldsen | -14 | 68 |
| T9 | David Horsey | -14 | 68 |
Olesen Keeps Cool to Land Links Crown
Despite Olesen’s healthy advantage heading into Sunday’s play, pressure looked to be getting the better of the Dane in the early exchanges.
An opening birdie was followed by a clumsy double bogey and another bogey on the third, leaving Olesen on 15 under and looking over his shoulder.
However, he didn’t take long to recover, with birdies on the fourth and fifth holes giving back his breathing space.
It was clear that Olesen needed to score well, though. Players were coming in with incredible totals due to the favourable conditions at St Andrews, and level par after nine holes didn’t look to be good enough.
As it turned out, a single birdie on the par-four 15th handed the 25-year-old the victory, and the putt that dropped was worthy of winning any tournament.
From all of 50 feet, Olesen drained an incredible birdie to move to his 18-under total, as European Tour revealed:
Koepka and Stroud were two shots back on 16 under after carding two of many low scores of the day at the Old Course. The former put together an impressive five-under 67 to move up six places into second.
The round of the day, however, came courtesy of Englishman Chris Wood, who carded a seven-under 65 and tied for fourth. That gave Wood a lovely cheque for just short of $200,000, as we see below:
| Position | Payout |
| 1 | $800,000 |
| 2 | $533,330 |
| 3 | $300,480 |
| 4 | $240,000 |
| 5 | $203,520 |
| 6 | $168,000 |
| 7 | $144,000 |
| 8 | $120,000 |
| 9 | $107,520 |
| 10 | $96,000 |
While the Dunhill Links is a serious contest for the professionals, it's about the amateurs as well, as a handicap tournament also came to a close on Sunday.
And it was former footballer Michael Ballack's team that scooped the $50,000 prize pot, with Fritsch putting in a strong performance as their pro, via Alfred Dunhill Links:
Still, the day belonged to Olesen, who became the first Dane to ever win the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
The win is more than just another trophy, though, as it proves just how much Olesen is improving of late. Northern Irishman Darren Clarke was one of many singing his praises after the round:
The 25-year-old showed grit, determination and bottle to cross the line, and it’s clear that his links performances will bring nothing but encouragement when The Open comes back around.
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