Tyrrell Hatton framed the rewarding, yet costly, event well. A couple hours after it all went down, on his Instagram story, the Englishman pieced together four photos of him on Sunday on the 18th green at Emirates Golf Club — clockwise, from the upper left, was a shot of him covering his face with both hands, then a shot of him covering his eyes with his right hand, then a shot of him covering his face while arching his back backward, then, finally, a shot of him covering his mouth with both hands. Below the montage were these words:
“Delighted with that eagle on the last….”
And to the right of the ellipses was a skull.
The emoji was honest. The sentence was sarcasm. Yes, Hatton was in at least good spirits now over his 50-foot putt that he made, but much rather would have missed.
Come again? OK, let’s set this up. Hatton was playing the third round of the DP World Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic (notably with Luke Donald, this year’s European Ryder Cup captain, and Henrik Stenson, this year’s former Ryder Cup captain who had had the role taken away when he joined Saudi-backed LIV Golf). And Hatton was playing OK — an even-par 72 in the first round, and a 70 in the second to make the cut — but he was somewhat struggling Sunday and trending to miss a third-round cut. And the journey home from Dubai takes a while.
You may be starting to know where this is going.
So, according to Golf Digest’s John Huggan — whose complete story you should read here — Hatton’s agent booked a flight.
Then, on the 564-yard, par-5 18th, while sitting at even par for the tournament, Hatton hit a drive 297 yards down the middle of the fairway.
Then he found the green in two.
Then he made the 50-footer. And Hatton, yes, covered his face with both hands. He covered his eyes with his right hand. He covered his face while arching his back backward. He covered his mouth with both hands. He dropped to two-under, where the cut was looking to be.
Wild.
“I’m pretty sad about it,” Hatton told Golf Digest’s Huggan, before the cut was officially established. “Making that cut has just potentially cost me 48 hours at home. …
“That is probably the only 50-foot putt I wish I’d never made in my life.”
A few hours later, of course, the cut was set at his number.
And on Monday, Hatton was to tee off on hole 10 at 9:15 a.m. local time.
Editor’s note: To read more on the story from Golf Digest’s John Huggan — which includes more quotes from Hatton and Hatton’s caddie, Mick Donaghy — please click here.
