Burnage finishes strong for St. Andrews Links Trophy win

Jake Burnage has made steady progress at the St. Andrews Links Trophy over the past three years. After moving up from 53rd in 2017 to third a year ago, the Englishman has now won the event at storied St. Andrews Links.

It didn’t come easily.

Burnage entered the day trailing fellow Englishman Matty Lamb, and had a see-saw front nine on the Old Course. Burnage birdied his opening hole, gave it back on No. 2, then birdied the third. The back nine included a birdie at No. 10 – which is where Burnage closed the gap on Lam – and an eagle at the par-5 14th.

Lamb, meanwhile, could only muster one birdie at the ninth, and with two bogeys on his card, finished with a final-round 1-over 73.

Both men made remarkable pars on the famous Road Hole 17th.

Box office stuff this! Two fighting fours from our leaders on the Road Hole 17th. Jake Burnage from the road, Matty Lamb from the infamous Road Hole Bunker. It's looking more and more like a two horse race to win the 2019 #LinksTrophy pic.twitter.com/OyouU7rDbD

— St Andrews Links (@TheHomeofGolf) June 9, 2019

In the end, Burnage won with a 20-under total, which was one better than Lamb.

Behind those two, Irishman Caolan Rafferty finished third at 17 under thanks in large part to a closing 66.