It’s been a month since the US Open, but Tyrrell Hatton still cannot help but chuckle when asked to reflect upon the hellish conditions he had to endure during the final round at Oakmont.
Hatton had recorded six top-ten finishes in majors prior to that tournament, but by his own admission, had never truly found himself in contention to win one of golf’s biggest prizes until then.
Standing on the 17th tee during a rain-sodden final round, that moment arrived as the Englishman found himself in a five-way tie for the lead and in with a shot at his maiden major scalp.
A cruel twist of fate awaited.
Driving at the short par-4, Hatton’s ball looked to be heading for the bunker and a chance to get up and down for birdie. Instead, the 33-year-old’s ball inexplicably came to rest just short of the bunker, leaving him a near-impossible chip shot from a downhill lie in thick, wet rough.
‘I felt like I hit a shot that would be in a decent spot and it was only after the round when I watched the video back and saw where it landed – a yard from the bunker on the downslope – that kind of made it sting a bit more,’ the World No.23 tells Metro.
In the end, a bogey five on 17 and another on 18 ended Hatton’s US Open hopes as he settled for a T4 finish, four strokes behind eventual winner, JJ Spaun.
Always a man to wear his heart on his sleeve, Hatton let his frustration be known in the immediate aftermath, but looks back on the near-miss differently now as he gears up for his latest major challenge – this week’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
‘The overriding feeling I had afterwards, once the dust settled, was happiness with how I dealt with everything,’ he adds.
‘Those last two holes are still the freshest in your mind when you go to reflect on the week but I’ve worked hard in recent years to try and reframe those near misses and use them as fuel for the next time I arrive at that situation.’
‘Hectic summer schedule has me fine-tuned’
There are few opportunities to take pause and reflect on such near-misses, though, such is golf’s unrelenting summer schedule. Hatton is in the middle of a three-month run where he only has three weeks at home and out of competition. It’s a good job he enjoys it, then.
‘Playing this much before and in between majors certainly isn’t a bad thing for me,’ he explains. ‘I’ve had a mixture of both – having a week off before a major or playing beforehand – and I think I prefer playing before.
‘If you play well, you have that momentum going into a major, which is great. Weeks off can be a bit more challenging when you are left to your own devices, whereas in those tournament weeks, you can have more structure in terms of your practice.’
Hatton urged to curb fiery temper by Nick Faldo
Hatton’s on-course outbursts have been the source of plenty of debate over the years, and Sir Nick Faldo, the last Englishman to lift the Claret Jug back in 1992, believes it may be holding his fellow countryman back.
‘You look at all the major champions and very few of them have beaten themselves up mid-round,’ he said.
‘Wherever he finds that helpful, I don’t know but you kind of doubt if his head is completely clear ready for the next shot.
‘You’ve got to have a clear mind and good decisions, and you can’t dwell on what you did three holes back in our game.
Read more of Nick Faldo’s pre-tournament thoughts by clicking here.
A T23 finish at last week’s LIV Andalucia may rank as one of his worst of the season, but Hatton still arrives in Northern Ireland with plenty of confidence, given he finished in a tie for sixth last time the Open was held at Portrush in 2019.
‘It’s nice to have those positive feelings anytime you go back to a course that you played well at,’ he says. ‘It was a good week for me back in 2019 and I’ll be hoping that I can go and finish a few spots better this time around.’
Hatton’s Ryder Cup teammate, Shane Lowry, took home the trophy that week six years ago, and the Englishman has already been consulting with one of his new LIV teammates, Legion XIII member and hometown boy Tom McKibbin, to try and gain an advantage this time around.
‘I know he played there last week, so I’ve spoken to him about the golf course’s condition and how it was playing – nothing more than that, but every little helps,’ he insists.
One thing is for sure: Hatton can’t be relying on his memory when it comes to his most recent trip around the iconic links course.
‘I’ve played Portrush six or seven times now, although the last time I played it I was a bit more frosty given I was hungover on a boys’ trip,’ he jokes.
‘We’ll get there on Monday, so that gives us plenty of time to do the work and hopefully be ready come Thursday.’
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