Early in Round 2 at the 2025 PGA Championship, LIV star Tyrrell Hatton made a charge for the lead. But after getting within one shot, it all came crashing down with a disastrous implosion on a single hole that left Hatton cursing and spitting at his ball — and his position on the leaderboard plummeting.
Mud balls confound stars, Hatton cruises
When the dust had settled on Day 1 of the PGA Championship, many stars like Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas found themselves on the lower half of the leaderboard.
Several of them publicly blamed mud balls in Quail Hollow’s fairways for their crooked scores. Even ESPN analyst Curtis Strange joined in the criticism, saying the PGA tournament organizers “were wrong” not to allow lift, clean and place on Thursday.
Despite a solid opening-round 69, Scottie Scheffler also criticized the playing conditions at length, which he said led to his double bogey at the 16th hole.
Playing partner and defending champion Xander Schauffele called the preponderance of mud balls “kind of stupid.”
Hatton, on the other hand, had little to complain about Thursday night. The Englishman fired a three-under 68 in the first round to get into contention.
But the infamously hot-tempered pro had plenty to say during Friday’s second round.
‘I did a good job of battling back today’ – Scheffler after mub ball upset
‘I did a good job of battling back today’ – Scheffler after mub ball upset – Source: IMG Media, PGA of America.
While it isn’t clear if mud balls had anything to do with Hatton’s struggles on Friday, at the very least he’s the latest victim of host course Quail Hollow.
Angered Tyrrell Hatton collapses at PGA
In the early going of Round 2, which he started on the 10th tee, Hatton didn’t stumble at all. In fact, he made a charge at the leaders.
He put up back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11 to get off to a hot start, then added another red number at 17 to move to five under. At that point, he was just one shot off the lead and seemingly in cruise control.
Then disaster struck.
At the par-4 18th hole, Hatton lost his drive to left and watched it splash down into a creek. His frustration flared up quickly.
After the shot, Hatton looked at his driver head and hissed at it. Then a mic on the tee caught Hatton as he uttered this R-rated reaction:
“Piece of sh– c—.”
From there, Hatton took the penalty stroke, then dropped roughly 40 yards behind where his ball found the water to hit his third shot. But something went very wrong on that shot, too, as his ball landed short and right in deep rough, 40 yards from the green.
And it kept getting worse. The rough swallowed his wedge on his fourth, which also failed to reach the green. At that point, Hatton bent over and spat at the spot where his ball had rested.
