AUGUSTA, Ga. – Tyrrell Hatton wasn’t trying to fool anybody. When asked if he felt like he kept his emotions in check Sunday around Augusta National Golf Club, the emotive Englishman was brutally honest.
“No,” he said.
Hatton had just signed for an 8-over 80. His score the previous day was only a stroke better. And at 17 over, he was likely finishing 52nd, also known as DFL among players who made the cut at this 86th Masters.
“When you are clearly bottom of the field during the weekend, even if I feel like I’ve hit good shots out there, I’ve not been rewarded for them, so it’s a case of just lose a bit of interest,” Hatton said. “Certainly, with the scores I had going, it’s not even trying to build on anything for next week. I’m just trying to ideally get off the golf course as fast as possible.”
Full-field scores from the 86th Masters Tournament
Still exasperated, Hatton wasn’t shy about telling reporters how he really felt, bemoaning that Augusta National doesn’t “fit his eye” and that “I never do well here.” He called the venerable layout “unfair at times,” contending that good shots don’t get rewarded.
“If you hit a good shot, you should end up near the hole, not then short-sided into a bunker because of the slopes that they’ve created and stuff,” Hatton argued. “I think it’s how the course is set up in general. You don’t really have to miss a shot, and your next one, you’re really struggling to make par. With how it runs off the greens here and the slopes that you are then chipping into and how obviously it’s cut, it just makes it really hard to even get chip shots close. I think everything is exaggerated here.”
One could argue, though, that Hatton didn’t produce enough good shots to make a strong case. There was no better example than the snap-hook he hit into the woods on the 13th hole, which he immediately followed by tomahawking his driver head into the turf and saying that he wanted to go home.
“Would be nice if we had a time machine to fast forward certain things,” he expounded afterward.
And that wasn’t the only time he needed one. This week, Hatton could also be seen using his putter as a shotgun, flipping off the opening hole and making other demonstrative gestures. On the scorecard, he notched just one birdie on a non-par 5.
“I’m glad it’s over,” Hatton said.
Hatton’s playing competitor, Billy Horschel, who joined Hatton in a featured pairing for both weekend rounds and had a few viral moments of his own, said he didn’t mind Hatton’s behavior.
“I love Tyrell. Tyrell is great,” Horschel said. “He gets upset, but he is over it. He doesn’t carry on. He is over it right after he does it, and it’s over. You can talk to him five seconds after he got pissed at something, and he is fine.
“There are guys out here that mope and pout and carry themselves when they hit a bad shot, and they’re not fun to play with. I don’t mind if someone gets angry, but just don’t pout and mope around.”
For the most part, Horschel was right. After his interview was over, Hatton hung around scoring and chatted with a few media types. He had a smile on his face, but perhaps that was because he had no more holes to play.
“It’s just one of those weeks that I feel like if I come back in the future, it’s just a case of trying to get through the best that I can,” said Hatton, who added that he was forced to carry his staff bag a few times this weekend because his caddie, Mick Donaghy, is battling a bum knee.
“I can say it wasn’t a fun walk,” Hatton added, “but maybe I’ll be better off if I come back being a caddie here rather than trying to hit golf shots.”
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