Hatton is straight back into the groove
On a picturepostcard Florida day filled with exceptional scoring in the opening round of the Players Championship, you would normally hear the roars from one end of this venue to the other.
Instead, it says everything about the times we are living in that, even at the vast amphitheatre of the 17th, the crowd numbers were small and very subdued.
This was the final day of golf normality, if you will, before the crowds are kept away and the game falls silent. In truth, it didn’t feel very normal at all. You know that knot of foreboding on the day before bad news? This was a bit like that.
It was certainly harsh on Hideki Matsuyama, who showed his penchant for low scores by equalling the course record of 63, then faced a barrage of questions about playing in front of no spectators for the next three days.
Matsuyama shares the record with three of the greats in Greg norman, nick Price and Fred Couples.
‘I knew that if I eagled my final hole, I would be in good company. I’m happy it went in,’ he said.
among the UK contingent, Tyrrell Hatton continued where he left off at the arnold Palmer Invitational last week, breaking 70 for the first time in his ninth competitive round on this course with a 69. Such is his state of mind right now, even a loose blow into the water at the 18th — his ninth — was met with nothing more than a shrug rather than a melodramatic display of rage.
‘You can’t beat yourself up over one bad swing,’ pointed out the man who used to love doing just that. ‘The course hasn’t been that kind to me in the past, so I’m very happy with that score.’
Scotland’s Martin Laird fired three birdies in his first four holes on his way to a 69 to sit alongside Hatton on three under, with Russell Knox four shots worse off.
Graeme McDowell finished one shot closer to the lead with a 68 in a big week for the northern Irishman. He is 51st in the world and the top 50 at the end of this month get an invitation to the Masters.
‘aside from the fact it’s my favourite course, I think my threeand five-year-old would both look cute in their augusta boiler suits at the par-three event,’ he said.
as for what the next three days are going to be like, he opted for a welcome note of levity, adding: ‘Like augusta, it’s a course where the crowds and the roars play such a big part, so it’ll feel strange.’
Rather like last week at Bay Hill, a tricky wind picked up to make life more difficult for the afternoon starters, including the grouping of the world’s top three, none of whom managed to break par over the front nine.
Rory McIlroy continued the curious travails of every recent defending champion — none has finished in the top ten since adam Scott in 2005 — with a front nine completed in 38 shots.
World no 2 Jon Rahm fared best with a hardly distinguished outward half of 36, while Brooks Koepka shot 37.