Tyrrell kicks desert sand in Rory’s face
TYRRELL HATTON put Rory McIlroy in his place at the Abu Dhabi Championship yesterday to underline his status as the hottest player in golf.
Hatton will move above the Northern Irishman in the world rankings for the first time at No5 after outplaying his Ryder Cup team-mate to win by four shots in the Middle East.
McIlroy shot a 72 to his playing partner’s 66 and the world No6’s third-place finish behind Australian Jason Scrivener represented his fifth podium at a tournament that he has never won.
For Hatton, the £1million victory was his fourth title in 20 tournaments, a record that eclipses his more decorated rivals at the top of the sport.
He said: “It’s tough to win any tournament. Every single week there are world-class golfers at the top of the leaderboard, so I’m definitely pinching myself.
“It’s very surreal to be that high in the rankings. If Rory plays as well as he can, he’s basically the best in the world, so it was always going to be really tough to get past him.” Starting the final round one shot behind McIlroy, he slipped two back when his rival birdied two of the first three holes.
But a missed tiddler at the fourth opened the door for Hatton and the 29-year-old from Marlow strode through it.
By the turn he was two shots clear. McIlroy set up an excellent position to wipe out the lead at the par-five 10th with a look at an eagle, but Hatton muscled his way in with an outlandish birdie putt over a ridge from 30 feet.
“I thought I was in good position on 10, and Tyrrell was outside of me, but he made that putt for birdie and then I could not make mine for eagle and that was a huge momentum-keeper for him,” said McIlroy.
“Then I bogeyed the next and, after that, it was hard to get back into it.”