When you search for “Tyrrell Hatton broken club,” an immediate problem arises: the query is too general.
There are too many instances of the 30-year-old Englishman losing his ever-loving mind on the golf course and taking it out on his equipment. You need to be more specific.
In the aftermath of his failed title defense this week at the DP World Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Hatton made his feelings about the closing hole at the first-year host course abundantly clear.
- “I would love for a bomb to drop on it and blow it to oblivion, to be honest,” Hatton said after playing the hole in 4-over for the week, which included a pair of bookend birdies. “It’s just such a terrible finishing hole. It would be a much better finishing hole if you’re actually rewarded for hitting the fairway, which as it stands, you’re not.”
Hatton finished the tournament at 7-under par and in a tie for sixth place, three shots behind eventual champion, Thomas Pieters. Hatton’s ire was drawn mostly in the second and third rounds when he made a double-bogey 7 and a quadruple-bogey 9, resulting in six dropped shots that could have dramatically improved his chances for back-to-back victories.
Instead, Hatton fumed both during and after his rounds about the hole, which resulted in a snapped fairway wood on Saturday.
Never change, Tyrrell. (📷 Andrew Reddington) pic.twitter.com/fXP19RzyQQ
— Ben Smith (@bendsmith91) January 24, 2022
Why does Hatton hate the hole? Let us count the ways.
- “It must be one of the worst par fives that I’ve ever seen in my life and, over the last two days, I’ve clearly played it about as well as it was designed,” Hatton said after the third round. “What’s wrong with it? Where do you start? It shouldn’t have a bunker in the middle of the fairway and it shouldn’t be over 600 yards from a forward tee. If you hit a good drive as a pro you should have at least a chance to go for the green in two, otherwise the hole becomes a par-3 after the first two shots, and that’s if you play it well.”
For the week, the 646-yard finishing hole played to a 5.17 stroke average, the fourth-toughest hole to par on the layout. Hatton requested a redesign by the time the Tour returns to Yas Links in 2023, but he knows that’s a tall task. Instead, he may make different arrangements.
“We are due to come back here next year and it would be nice if they redesigned it,” he said. “But I think that’s a bit of an ask. Perhaps I may not be back.”
