Livescore
Tyrrell Hatton smashed up a tee box, received a stern telling off from an official and then, after battling to within a stroke of the lead going into the final day of the Dubai Desert Classic, declared: “I don’t want to be boring like everyone else.”
Love him or hate him – or adore his golf and despair at his tantrums – the Englishman is anything but dull. The 33-year-old is a seething contradiction, as he can exasperate at the same time as he enthrals. And in an era when the archetypal modern golfer is impressing the dwindling viewerships with the monotony of the faultless ball-striking at the same time as driving the same viewer to switch over with the monotony of their characters, Hatton is the poster boy for emotion. Good and bad.
This third round at the Emirates Golf Club was a headcase in point. Utterly determined to collect as many Ryder Cup points as possible in his last counting regular tournament in qualification, the LIV man fired a 69 to move to 12-under and on to the heels of the New Zealand front-runner Daniel Hillier (70).
Moving day. Except the thing Hatton moved most was the poor marker on the par-three seventh tee that received the full Basil Fawlty treatment after his ball dared to fly 50 feet past the pin. He could have looked to the heavens and blamed the 30mph gusts, but there was something more substantial on which to take out his tantrum. So, he was spoken to afterwards. Sorry, but not sorry.
“Hopefully I can be a little bit more patient out there when I need to be and still maintain that fire,” Hatton said. “Because if I lose that, then I’ll just be boring, like everyone else.
“Yeah, I was spoken to about what had happened when I signed my card. I don’t have an issue with what was said. I mean, I’m aware that it’s not the right thing to do. But in the heat of the moment when you’re frustrated, you just do things that you probably wish you didn’t do. But I’m not going to let it bother me for the rest of the day. I mean, if that’s the worst thing I do as a human, then it’s not that bad.”
Classic Hatton. His favourite golfer growing up was Colin Montgomerie and just like the great Scot, he wears his heart on his sleeve – and in all the blue air that accumulates around him. He cursed and chuntered all day, railing at the conditions and yet somehow still managed to establish himself as the firm favourite to win his second Tour title in his last five starts.
Hatton’s other three appearances in this run were a third, a fifth and a sixth. He is desperate to earn his berth for a third Ryder Cup appearance automatically and in this mood – and what a mood it happens to be – he could be unstoppable.
There are two shots back to Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson in third and seven behind on six-under following a 69, stands Rory McIlroy trying to win this event for a third time in a row.
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