Tyrrell Hatton
In The Making Tyrrell Hatton has produced some phenomenal golf over the past three seasons. Can 2019 be the year he pushes on to Major glory?
Neil Tappin sits down with the three-time European Tour winner
ver the last three years, Tyrrell Hatton has become one of the most consistently high-flying performers in the game. In his last 60 European Tour starts, the Englishman has had 25 top-ten finishes that have included three wins. What’s more, having only missed eight cuts during that time, Hatton has pocketed just over €10 million. This is an eye-watering amount – especially for a 27-year-old – but beyond the money, these stats reveal a young man with the pedigree to go on and achieve something truly special.
When thinking about Major Champions of the future, the name Tyrrell Hatton might not immediately spring to mind, but while fellow 20-somethings Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas have taken the world game by storm, Hatton has been
steadily developing the experience to make his own mark. He may have only turned pro in 2011, but by the end of last summer, Hatton had played in a whopping 15 Majors. In fact, four of his 25 top-tens since the start of 2016 have come in the biggest events in the game.
Beyond these impressive individual performances, Hatton also has a Ryder Cup appearance to his name. He qualified automatically for Thomas Bjorn’s side in Paris and teamed up with Paul Casey to win one point from his two four-ball matches. He may have lost his final-day singles to the Masters Champion Patrick Reed, but Hatton will forever be a Ryder Cup winner. If ever there was a moment to take stock and celebrate it was on Sunday, September 30, and Hatton did just that. “Sunday night was messy,” he told Wayne Riley on Sky Sports. “I got back into my room at four in the morning and then always the sign of a good night is when you fall asleep next to the toilet.”
It was less than 48 hours after the celebrations that my own interview with Hatton took place. As the defending Alfred Dunhill Links champion, he was quickly back on tour and fulfilling a series of media obligations. Sat opposite me in a corner of the media centre in St Andrews, he looked far fresher than I had expected. Clearly the excitement
of the moment hadn’t died, and while this was a stunning team achievement, I wanted to know what lessons he had learned about himself in Paris.
“Well, it was a pressure that I had not experienced before and I was happy with how I played,” he revealed. “Although I only got one point out of three, I feel I should have got three from three. My long game was good but I had a frustrating week on the greens. To know I can play like that under that pressure is great moving forward for me. I was nervous on the first tee, like everyone was – there would not have been anyone who was stood on the first tee who would not be feeling the nerves. It was a great atmosphere to play in front of and it certainly didn’t get the better of me. I felt pretty calm out there. In fact, I thought I’d be more nervous!”
Highs and lows
If there was one negative to come from 2018, it was that despite all the high finishes, there was no silverware for the Hatton trophy cabinet. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all came at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship itself. With just 12 holes left to play, the High Wycombe man led by five shots, and given that he’d won both of the previous two Links Championships, his triumph seemed a forgone conclusion. The four back-nine bogeys that manoeuvred him into second place behind Lucas Bjerregaard surprised everyone, not least the man himself. “I’m pretty disappointed,” he told the press afterwards. “I had a five-shot lead at one point. It was in my hands. Unfortunately I just couldn’t seem to do anything right on the back nine.”
Hatton’s other near miss was at the Wgc-mexico Championship. For a player such as Hatton, winning an event like this would have been yet another stepping stone towards potential Major success. This was the right tournament at the right time, and standing on the 18th tee needing a par to make a play-off with Phil Mickelson and Justin Thomas, it was a realistic possibility too.
“I think back to Mexico and it’s still a bit sore,” he explained. “Especially with the 18th hole being a 5-iron and a gap wedge. To have a chance to win such a big golf tournament and to bogey the last hole and not get in the play-off is quite sore. You don’t know when those opportunities will come back round again because we are all trying our best out here.”
“It was a great atmosphere. I felt pretty calm out there. In fact, I thought I’d be more nervous!”