World's greatest aiming to wrestle Hatton's crown away

The Englishman has created a real love affair with the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, romping to back to back wins in 2016 and 2017.

His 24-under-par last year was the lowest winning score in the event

But 2018 is set to be a whole new challenge, with some huge names set to compete for one of the biggest prizes on the European Tour.

US Open winner Brooks Koepka will line up, along with world number 15 Tony Finau and highly popular Matt Kuchar.

Another aiming to get his hand on the trophy at the Old Course next Sunday is Tommy Fleetwood, the Englishman and Hatton stars of this year’s European Ryder Cup side.

So Hatton knows he’ll have to be at his very, very best if he’s to create history and win the Dunhill for a third time.

He said: “It would be incredible to win the Dunhill again.

“A few years ago if someone had said you could win it three years running, you wouldn’t have believed it.

“Hopefully I can put up a good defence.”

“St Andrews is a course that I’ve played a lot since 2010.

“At the beginning with not a lot of success to be honest.

“The last few years it’s been very good to me.

“So I take confidence that I’ve shot some really good scores.

“We’ll see how Carnoustie and Kingsbarns play.

“The last few years the weather has been good which has allowed low scoring.”

The Dunhill is also famous for its pro-am, and there’s set to be a real knockout challenge in the team competition this year.

Former world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko will be swapping his boxing gloves for a golf glove as he tees up at the event.

Play starts on Thursday morning.