Well Played
U.S. Open 2024: Tyrrell Hatton made a brilliant point about other players 'losing their heads' like him this week
David Cannon
It was only fitting that Tyrrell Hatton's best shot of Thursday was one that he seemed completely disgusted with. The fiery Brit drop-kicked his 5-iron on the 17th hole only to watch as his ball ended up nine feet from the cup to set up a rare birdie on the difficult par 3. As our Christopher Powers wrote, even Hideki Matsuyama had to be jealous of that one.
Hatton is not one to hold his emotions or opinions in—heck, the guy hates Augusta National—but he had all positives to say following an opening 68 at Pinehurst No. 2 that has him in contention. And he even was able to spin his wild ways on the course into an advantage at a difficult U.S. Open venue.
"Yeah, I guess in some ways, with it being harder a lot of guys sort of losing their head, it sort of brings them to my level because I just lose my head every week," Hatton said with a smile. "They can kind of experience what it's like in my head for a week."
That's an unusual self pep talk, but he has a point! A U.S. Open can cause any golfer to lose his head. Heck, Scottie Scheffler even lost his hair!
Anyway, we'll have to see if Hatton can keep the good vibes going, however. As he said moments later, the LIV golfer wasn't feeling very confident coming into the round—but it's a very fickle game.
"My manager's giggling behind you because he knows that I've been an absolute head case, even more so in the practice days," Hatton said. "I mean, I literally didn't think I was going to break 80. I go out there and, like, just have a practice swing on the 10th tee. I was like, That actually felt right. Then tee off the 10th, actually hit the fairway. Okay, that was a nice feeling."
And, in a weird way, it must be a nice feeling for him to see others losing their cool like him. Misery loves company. And there's always plenty of misery at a U.S. Open.