‘Mad’ Hatton Searches For Right Mix Of Grace And Agita

Tyrrell Hatton is known for his piquant thoughts on golf course setups and profane self-flagellation seemingly every time a shot goes awry but his greatest challenge during tournament weeks is lunch in the locker room.

“The sound of people chewing, it drives me mad,” he says, citing Haotong Li as the worst offender. At home, Hatton plays music during meals because, he says, “I can’t stand to hear myself chew.”

It’s not easy being wired like Hatton. Just driving around his native England often sets him off. “I just have to vent in the car, maybe do a little shouting. I’m not going to follow the person that cut me off and have a tear at them, though sometimes I want to.”

Yet somehow this cat on a hot tin roof is thriving on golf’s most stressful course at its most pressure-packed championship. With rounds of 68-71, Hatton is in contention at the 124th United States Open. He is already halfway to a unique Grand Slam, having flipped the bird at both the Masters and Open Championship. But now this six-time winner on the European Tour, and champion of the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational, is in position to become known for more than just his temper.

And the key is—get this!—being a little more chill.

“If you have hit a good shot and you get a bad break, although it stings, just trying to move on from that,” the soft-spoken Hatton said during a cheery press conference on Friday afternoon. “I’d say I’ve done better at that the last two days than maybe I had done so far this year … I’m trying not to sort of blow up too much because I’m trying to give myself a little bit of grace on occasions.”

It seems paradoxical that the high-strung Hatton plays his best when courses are on the edge of unplayable but he tied for sixth at the 2018 U.S. Open, when Shinnecock Hills damn near required roller skates, and the Bay Hill setup he conquered was one of the most extreme in PGA Tour history. Hatton shot 3-over on the weekend to prevail.

He describes his on-course inner monologue as “internally screaming” so he’s used to the kind of stress Pinehurst No. 2 is inflicting, while everyone else in the field seems way out of their comfort zone. “A lot of guys sort of losing their head, it sort of brings them to my level because I lose my head every week,” Hatton says with a twinkle. “They can kind of experience what it’s like in my head for a week.”

Pinehurst No. 2 demands precision, which suits Hatton, as iron play is usually his strength. As he has shown himself more grace this week, the golf gods have responded in kind.

On the par-3 17th hole during the first round, he didn’t catch his 5-iron just right. “I fatted it a bit and hit it out on the toe, it’s just a disgusting feeling.” But had he flushed it, his ball would have bounded off the back of the green, a fate that befell his playing partners. Instead, Hatton’s shot wound up pin-high and he holed the birdie putt. Having been an “absolute head case” during the practice rounds, and fearing he might not be able to break 80 in the tournament proper, Hatton suddenly started to believe. “I feel like if there is a golf god, I’ve got a few in the bank.”

Hatton has offended purists with, among other things, his on-course f-bombs and blunt assessment of Augusta National (“You can hit good shots here and not get any reward for it”). But it’s hard to stay mad at him because he offers temporary insanity as a plausible defense.

“Half the stuff I say on the golf course, I don’t even know where it comes from. There are some times where it’s like, ‘Oh, I probably shouldn’t have said that’ or cringe out a little bit inside at some of the stuff. But it’s just a reaction.”

His peers appreciate that Hatton offers fans a graphic look at the exquisite torture of tournament golf.

“He says what a lot of us are feeling,” says Sepp Straka. “I love playing with Tyrrell because it’s always amusing.” Straka recalls that on the first tee of their first-ever round together the starter mispronounced Hatton’s first name. (It is Tehr-ILL, definitely not TIE-rell.)

“That’s all it took,” Straka says with a laugh. “He was off and running after that. But he uses the anger to fuel himself and it’s pretty effective. If he was happy all the time he’d probably play worse.”

So this weekend sets up as a delicious battle not only between Hatton and the course but Hatton and himself. Can he find just the right mix of grace and agita? At this U.S. Open, that is one of the big questions to chew on.

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