Thorbjorn Olesen salvages season with Alfred Dunhill Links win

With just a few weeks left in the European Tour’s regular season, Thorbjorn Olesen came into the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship — the Euro Tour equivalent of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am — on the verge of losing his playing privileges. Then he went out and did something a promising young player would: he won.

Olesen wrapped up a two-shot win on Sunday at the Old Course at St. Andrews, one of three courses in the tournament rotation and host to the final round of the pro-am event. His 18-under total beat Americans Brooks Koepka and Chris Stroud, earning €708,171 and jumping from 124th on the money list standings into the top 25.

“This is very special,” said Olesen, who has been dealing with tendon problems in his left hand for much of the season. “It’s been a very tough year and to stand here with this trophy, especially to win it at St. Andrews. It’s something you dream of when you’re a little kid. So I’m very emotional.”

The Dane, who now has three European Tour wins, had missed 10 of his last 13 European Tour cuts, but the win should propel him into the top 75 in the Official World Golf Ranking, better than the 80th position where he finished 2014.

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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