Hatton not worried by start

ST ANDREWS specialist Tyrrell Hatton insists his experience of winning on the Old Course counts for little at The Open but he is happy to have put himself in a good position.

The 30-year-old Englishman won back-to-back Dunhill Links Championships in 2016 and 2017, and was runner-up the year after, although that event only features two rounds at the Home of Golf.

His career scoring average in that event is 67.5 but his 66 yesterday propelled him to eight under.

“There’s still a lot of golf left to play. Although I’ve won around here in the past, the golf course is very different to how we play in

October and the pin positions are a lot tighter,” he said.

“If I play good golf, then, sure, we’ll have a chance, but it’s definitely not a time to get ahead of ourselves. It’s a new day so it’s completely different.” Hatton, who opened up with a two-under 70, has a reputation for having a fiery temperament and that was evident on his opening hole when, having missed a short birdie putt, he hurled his ball into the Swilcan Burn in frustration.

A club toss followed a couple of holes later as he visibly expressed his dissatisfaction at one of his iron approaches but from the moment he birdied the sixth – starting a run of four birdies in five holes – he never looked back.

“I threw it (the ball) in the water, yeah. It was scared of the dark,” he added.

“It annoyed me. It was obviously a really good chance. It would be nice to start with a birdie and feel like you have a bit of momentum but that kind of set things going early on where I just struggled with the pace.

“Fortunately I managed to hit it close enough on six and seven where I couldn’t leave it short and it was nice to hole them.

“If I get too annoyed, I get in my own way, then, yeah, it’s a problem but if I hit a bad shot and I let it out then it’s not going to harm me.

“It would be worse for me if I try and act like everything’s fine because it’s just not my character.

“I wouldn’t even think about some of the stuff I say and it just flies out of the gate: obviously it’s not well-liked, which is fine, but it’s just me. I’m not trying to offend anyone.”