Tyrrell Hatton balances the club grip in the second round of the DP World Tour Championship on Friday.
Getty Images
Course commentator Tyrrell Hatton is back – in Dubai for the DP World Tour Championship – and this time, he might have a point.
Hatton stepped onto the tee box for the 18th hole on the Earth Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates on Friday, just one off the lead. The 611-yard par-5 usually plays like one of the easiest holes to put together, but on Friday it was the opposite. It was rare that he hit three in one game over par.
The 18th plays directly into some fairway bunkers 295 yards away and includes a stream that runs down the fairway, bisecting it. The widest part of the fairway before the river – from the tee box they played on, at least – was about 300 yards. And from the sound of the broadcast, Hatton hit the spot.
“Perfectomungo,” said one of the broadcasters. “It’s really good.”
Another followed up with, “Long way out there, too. We will definitely be able to reach.”
Terrible announcement there!
Hatton’s tee ball traveled 296 yards, crossed the bunkers and found the center of the fairway. From there, he has a 282-yard drive up the fairway to a gently sloping fairway, a hole deep on the green. In a vacuum, Hatton pulls a 3-wood and tries to put his ball hole up, but this was not the vacuum. Between the wind in his face, the downhill and being forced to cross a snaking stream, any 3-wood strike would not have been profitable. When he saw you, he did as he usually did. He spoke his mind.
“It’s really sad,” Hatton said to his manager, crying loudly over the broadcast microphones. “I despise everything about this hole. A really bad hole of golf.”
After a bit of direction from his caddy, Hatton lamented that he had to play a 9-iron with his second shot on the par-5 after hitting a huge drive.
It’s not clear what short iron Hatton was playing from the fairway – or if there was something more about the hole he was defying – but he made a smooth swing and didn’t even bother watching it roll down the fairway to river right. His second shot went 146 yards, leaving him at 138, playing for par, just nine feet from the hole. He would make two putts for average.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard Hatton grumble about the course setup or a particular hole. But on this particular occasion, he has a firm ground to stand on. Consider the fact that in Thursday’s first round, Hatton again hit a 296-yard drive into the same fairway. But on Thursday he didn’t have the same result, because the hole was set up from a completely different tee box – one 30 yards back – making the second shot even longer and less prone to abuse. Hatton hit a long iron into the same fairway to the right and made another par. Even if he has to lie down, doing so with a 6 iron sounds like championship golf, doesn’t it?
This broadcast photo shows the difficulty of the 18th tee shot, as well as the unreal condition of reaching the green twice.
Golf station
Golf fans are free to ask themselves: is there anything wrong with a true three hole hole? Isn’t it fair to want a par-5 so you can sometimes play a score closer to five? The answer is no! It’s perfectly fine to want that. But context is important. The 18th on the Earth Course, as established this week, is very much in favor of a select few, and one of them was playing with Hatton Friday.
Hatton’s playing partner was Rory McIlroy, who trailed Hatton by one stroke so far. But McIlroy’s drive skipped and was cut short, creating a water hazard. From the tee, McIlroy thought he had reached danger. Indeed, he had hit 306 yards and made a nice 3-wood layup on the green. He hit a smooth cut that came just short of the hole, making an easy putt-putt birdie and a 36-hole tie with Hatton. McIlroy’s approach is one that only a handful of players can reach – he also claimed the green in 2 on Thursday when he went long – and Hatton is clearly not one of them.
The devil’s last argument to be made against Hatton Hey, why don’t you hit up Rory McIlroy! And while Hatton doesn’t have the long game to match McIlroy’s, he’s no slouch. It is about five yards longer than the PGA Tour average and is above average in driving accuracy. In short, he’s a solid player off the tee, and he just wants to be rewarded with a chance to get to the green when he hits a good shot. Although there is nothing in the rules of golf that mandates the course set up to give eagle putts, it is a fundamental of modern golf. That doesn’t happen this week on this course, and it could be the difference between him and McIlroy this weekend.
Ironically, if Hatton has anyone to blame for creating the hole and the stream that cuts through the middle of the fairway, it’s the course designer. That man is the commissioner of LIV Golf, Greg Norman.
