Hatton hoping to swap his hoodies for a Masters green jacket
He’s perhaps more at ease wearing comfortable hoodies, but Marlow’s Tyrrell Hatton will be hoping to pull on a Masters green jacket after taking to the fairways of the Augusta National this week.
The Harleyford Golf Club member heads to Georgia as one of the most inform golfers in the game right now, having moved into the world’s top 10 for the first time following his ‘dream win’ in the BMW PGA Championships at Wentworth last month.
The 29-year-old has shown remarkable consistency in 2020. Of the 13 events he’s played he’s won two of them and claimed five more top 10 finishes. His trajectory would suggest he’ll be in with a chance of lifting a major trophy fairly soon but, whether
that comes on the most famous golf course of them all, only time will tell.
Despite this consistency, Hatton’s record in the majors this season has been below par, having missed the cut at both the PGA Championships and US Open. His record in the Masters also leaves plenty of room for improvement. To date his best attempt came in 2018 when he finished in a tie or 44th.
It’s likely he’ll improve on that with the rescheduled event getting under way yesterday (Thursday).
It was originally scheduled to take place in April but was postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
After finishing last season with a dramatic play-off victory in the Turkish Airlines Open, Hatton carried his form over the winter break. He claimed his first PGA Tour title with victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, pulling on the competition’s red jacket, and last month lifted his third Rolex Series title at the BMW PGA
Championships at Wentworth, an event he used to regularly attend as a spectator when he was growing up in Marlow. He held off the formidable challenge of Frenchman Victor Perez to triumph, finishing on 19-under-par.
The victory was his fifth European Tour title, elevating him to eighth in the Race to Dubai Rankings.
“For me, 2020 on the golf course has been a very special year,” Hatton told the BBC. “I think coming into a major, this is the best form that I’ve had.”
Last weekend he warmed up for the Masters by finishing tied for seventh at the Houston Open, again showing the consistency which will see him head to Augusta as one of the favourites to pull on the green jacket come Sunday evening.