Tyrrell Hatton is in action at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship this week, and the two-time winner was left frustrated by the pace of the greens in his second round.
Tyrrell Hatton’s complaints about the pace of the greens at this week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship were quickly shot down by the Sky Sports commentary team.
Having spent the majority of 2024 on the LIV Golf circuit, Hatton has returned to the DP World Tour in recent weeks in a bid to play in four events that will see him retain his membership and thus be eligible for next year’s Ryder Cup. His trip to Scotland this week marks the all-important fourth tournament he needs to tick off his tally.
Things began brightly for the Englishman on Thursday and he underlined his good form with a fine seven-under-par 65 that put him in with a very good chance of extending his tally of Green Jackets.
As for the first match Hatton began his tournament at Carnoustie and for the second round he played at Kingsbarns and once again produced another splendid performance. However, his Friday was not controversy-free after LIV star was caught whining over slow speeds of the putting green.
Missing a putt for birdie before tidying up for par on the tenth, Hatton claimed: “Oh they’re so slow. Why? Cut them…” Sky Sports’ Nick Dougherty however was seemingly left unimpressed in the commentary box. “No… you know why they don’t cut them,” he said during the coverage.
“Three rounds of golf, same pins, if they cut them quick and they get a day where it gets up to 20, 30mph winds, then they can become un-puttable. He knows that, it’s just a bit of frustration boiling over.” Dougherty’s co-commentator Dame Laura Davies then had her say.
“That’s put him in his place,” she said of Dougherty’s assessment of the LIV star’s reaction. Besides the frustrations, it was a repeat of the previous day for Hatton who scored a four-under 68 about the Scottish course to take him to 11-under for the championship.
Before the start of third Saturday at the St Andrews, Hatton is four shot away from two leaders Cameron John and Nicolas Colsaerts. Hatton is one of 14 LIV golfers in the field on the DP World Tour this week and the event at the Home of Golf at least appears to have the sport coming together.
LIV Golf and the PGA Tour representatives, Jay Monahan and Yasir Al-Rumayyan are both participating in the amateur part of the Pro-Am event. Not only are the two chief negotiators part of the entry list, but in the opening round, Tour commissioner Monahan and LIV chairman Al-Rumayyan took on professional partners Billy Horschel and Dean Burmester.