TAKING THE FIGHT
yrrell Hatton has fought his way to the top of the game. He didn’t have a particularly decorated amateur CV before starting his professional career at the bottom and earning his way up every rung of the ladder.
But here he is, ten years after turning pro, with seven wins on the European and PGA Tours, ranked England’s number one golfer and heading to his second Ryder Cup. The fighting spirit and talent that got him here is exactly why he will be an integral part of Team Europe at Whistling Straits, and for many matches to come.
Hatton was one of five European rookies in 2018 and started the week as the ninth highest-ranked of the 12 at 26th in the world. This time he’ll be one of the top three or four Europeans and much better known to American fans after a maiden PGA Tour win in the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2020. His status in the game has risen significantly over the last three years, but it’s not something that’s made any difference to Hatton himself.
“It’s nice, but I don’t really think about that unless I’m asked the question,” Hatton says in his typically modest and unaffected manner. “It’s cool, but it doesn’t bring any added pressure. It’s not something I think about while I’m playing or trying to do well in a tournament.”
The man from Marlow, Buckinghamshire, played his way to Paris through the European points list, courtesy of a successful Dunhill Links Championship defence and an Italian Open title in backto-back starts in October 2017, plus a T6th finish at the US Open the following year. He recorded one win and two losses from his three matches as Europe cantered to a 17.5-10.5 victory.
No 1st tee nerves
Hatton’s face lights up when you mention the Ryder Cup. Qualifying for the team again was his “main goal at the start of the year” and there’s no hesitation when he’s asked about his memories from Le Golf National. “I think just the 1st tee stands out,” he says.
“The atmosphere was unbelievable on that 1st tee. I absolutely loved it”
“That was an unbelievable experience. I was lucky enough to go out Friday morning with Paul Casey. Standing on that 1st tee, the atmosphere was unbelievable. I absolutely loved it.
“The guys talked about it at the start of the week, saying you’re going to be nervous on that 1st tee, but weirdly for me, I felt really calm. I was more nervous when I got to the range, but I had a really good warm-up. My dad was there [father Jeff is also his coach], the swing was in a good place, I was getting into the positions I want to and it felt good. That gave me the confidence walking out to the tee that I knew what I was doing.
“So, I was able to enjoy that atmosphere a bit more than if you’re nervous and a bit worried about how you’re going to hit it. I felt in a good place and it was very special.”
Hatton and Casey lost one-down to Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth in that first session, but bounced back in the Saturday morning fourballs with an impressive 3&2 win over World No.1 Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler. Their partnership was something both players knew was likely to happen weeks before they arrived in France.
“Thomas Bjorn had mentioned it to us about a month before,” Hatton explains. “We get on well, he’s a great player, and he has experience from Ryder Cups before, so that was good for me with it being my first time. I guess he guided me round and we worked really well. I didn’t putt particularly well that week, but I read the greens well. Paul was pretty good at his start line, so he holed a lot of putts and I just read them for him.”
It would be no surprise to see Hatton and Casey team up again at Whistling Straits, but one of the great things about the European team, and the reason we have such a fantastic record in the Ryder Cup, is the unity within the team room. Whatever egos there might be are left at the door, the players know how to operate as part of a team, and pretty much anyone can, and would, play with anyone else.
“Everyone was in it together,” Hatton enthuses. “We had a great team chemistry, and the team room was a lot of fun. It helps that everyone gets on with everyone else, and there was no friction in there. We’re all pulling in the same direction, trying to achieve the same goal. It was very special at the end of the week. Everyone won a point and contributed, and to win the Ryder Cup is pretty special.”
Winning at home is one thing – Europe has won the last six Ryder Cups on its own patch
– but he knows claiming the trophy on American soil is going to be much tougher: “It will be a different experience,
I’m sure. Obviously, the nice thing about Paris was that we had home fans, so everyone is rooting for you. It’s going to be very different at Whistling Straits. We play quite a lot on the PGA Tour now, so you’re used to a certain atmosphere. It’s going to be loud.”
You sense Hatton has discovered a comfort level playing in America in front of American fans and against the best players on the PGA Tour, and he’s confident that he can be part of a team that retains the Ryder Cup: “It’s always an exciting week and Europe has got a pretty good record in the Ryder Cup in years gone by, so hopefully we can win it again.”
PGA Tour breakthrough
He has every right to feel comfortable and confident given his performances over the last few years. A PGA Tour win is always a significant milestone for any European player, something which Hatton achieved at the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational, but he’s continued to assert himself on his home tour, too. He took the 2019 Turkish Airlines Open after a remarkable six-man play-off and confirmed his status as one of the leading players on the European Tour when he won the
BMW PGA Championship, the circuit’s flagship event, last October.
Like many British players, Hatton holds the event close to his heart because he attended it as a child to watch his heroes playing up close. “It was a massive win for me,” he agrees. “It’s such a special tournament. I’ve been going since I was five, so to now be playing it inside the ropes is great, and to hold the trophy at the end of the week was even more special. At the end of your career, you want to look back and be proud of what you’ve achieved, and that’s definitely going to be one of the highlights of my career and a very proud moment.”
The 29-year-old played some magnificent golf on the way to a four-shot victory that took him into the top ten of the world rankings for the first time. But he received as many headlines for the hoodie that he chose to wear throughout the week as he did for his excellent scoring.
“I was a little surprised by the reaction,” he admits. “I wasn’t the first person to wear a hoodie, but it was great how much attention it got, although it was definitely divided! I enjoyed wearing it – it was great.
“There wasn’t too much thought to it. It’s very easy to swing in and it moves nicely with your body so there’s no restriction there. On days where it’s a bit cold and you need to layer up, you want to be able
to swing freely and I was able to do that in the hoodie. I thought it was cool to wear.”
What would Hatton say to those who criticised it? “I’d be interested to see them actually put it on and swing a golf club in it,” he says. “I think they’d probably change their mind compared to the standard jumper that they might wear at the weekend.
“But everyone’s different, I guess. I think more relaxed dress codes can help grow the game. I think golf is sometimes too stuffy. The perfect example of that is the emails that clubs sent out after I was wearing the hoodie at Wentworth [telling members they weren’t acceptable]. Some of them were embarrassing. I think that puts a lot of people off playing golf.
“Part of golf is socialising and getting people up to the club and having a good time together, and you’re only going to push people away by being too strict about what you can and can’t wear.”
Bright start to the year
Hatton, who has finished no worse than 12th on the Race to Dubai since 2016, started this year with a bang. He opened up with a wonderful 65 at the Abu Dhabi Championship and closed with a 66 to claim his sixth European Tour win by an emphatic four-stroke margin. But he admits he hasn’t kicked on as he would have liked.
“Although I won in Abu Dhabi, it’s not been too great since then,” he tells me. “I’ve no explanation for that at all. You try your best every single week and some weeks work out better than others. I just haven’t really put it together. I’m hoping things change moving forward. Obviously, I want to take some form into the Ryder Cup.”
For all his fantastic play and wins over the last five years, he still hasn’t quite found his best stuff in the Majors. Yes, he has five top tens from his last 21 Major starts, but he’s yet to really challenge for that careerdefining win. His assessment of the situation is impressively mature and measured.
“I try and treat most weeks the same, although my Major record hasn’t been that great,” he agrees. “It’s just one of those things. I just haven’t put it all together. I might have driven the ball well and hit my irons pretty good, but not holed any putts. Or my long game might not have been great, but I’ve putted well.
“I’ve never had a week in a Major where it’s all come together. Hopefully that will happen sooner rather than later. It would be nice to give myself an opportunity to win. It would be a different type of pressure than what we’ve been used to in the past, but hopefully I’ll be able to manage it well.”
It’s surely just a matter of time until he gets into contention on the back nine on Sunday at a
Major Championship, and you’d like to think he’d handle, and embrace, that pressure as impressively as on the 1st tee on his Ryder Cup debut or when holding off the likes of Bryson Dechambeau and Rory Mcilroy to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Of course, no golfer achieves anything alone. While his father, Jeff, has been his swing coach his entire life and his team at Modest! Golf help him off the course, it’s veteran caddie Mick Donaghy who is right beside him on the course making up the ‘we’ that Hatton refers to. He has changed caddies on a reasonably regular basis, but has found the perfect sidekick in the affable but no-nonsense Glaswegian.
“We get on well and we’ve enjoyed working together the last two-and-a-half years,” Hatton confirms. “He’s got so much experience on the bag and we’ve done amazingly well in that time period. Lockdown was interesting. Coming back out with the bubbles and staying together – it’s almost like having your grandad in the house, putting him to bed sometimes! It’s been interesting, but obviously we get on well.”
There’s obvious warmth from Hatton for Donaghy as a person, and complete trust in him as a caddie. The man swinging the clubs doesn’t even carry a yardage book and relies entirely on his looper for information, numbers and encouragement. “He knows my game really well,” Hatton adds. “If we are in between clubs, then he’s generally going to say something that will make me feel comfortable to hit the club we’ve selected, so I just have to stand there and make a good swing.”
It’s not been an easy journey, but Hatton has made plenty of good swings to get where he is now. He’s battled his way up the professional pyramid, he’s overcome criticism of his behaviour and clothing, and he’s made it to the top of the game. He’s not going to stop fighting now, and you can guarantee that with Donaghy in his corner and his team and Europe behind him, he’s going to come out swinging at Whistling Straits.
“It’s just one of those things. I just haven’t put it all together yet in a Major”