Tyrrell Hatton may be most fun player you’re not watching

HOUSTON — To hear Tyrrell Hatton tell it — and the PGA Tour microphones are always rolling — he’s erratic, unsettled, and responsible for some of the worst golf shots in the history of the game.

In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Hatton has been a model of consistency over the last year, playing numerous events on both sides of the Atlantic with equally impressive results.

In just 14 events on the PGA Tour since the start of last season, the 29-year-old Englishman has seven top-10 finishes, including a victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He’s been just as good on the European Tour, winning the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, a tournament he started attending when he was just six, just last month.

But as consistent as Hatton’s game has been over the last calendar year, his reactions and emotions continue to be wildly unpredictable. Hatton has converted fans through his hilarious antics — often skewering himself after a bad shot or making subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) gestures during his typically steady rounds.

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“I guess it has its positives and negatives. It can be an issue if you start getting a fine, which is never good,” Hatton said with the wry smile that often accompanies him on the course. “But generally like it’s just a reaction. I kind of wear my heart on my sleeve, you know how I’m feeling, so I don’t try and hide that. I don’t see it as being an issue.”

.@TyrrellHatton at the 1996 @BMWPGA.#BMWPGA #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/jLGESIINWU

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) October 11, 2020

During Thursday’s opening round of the Vivint Houston Open, for example, Hatton pushed a ball on No. 4 (he started on the back), then angrily swung his club and talked his way down the fairway while motioning that he couldn’t get through an opening. After a tough break created a bad lie meaning he couldn’t control his chip, he still saved bogey with a testy putt.

Then on No. 7, after a poor tee shot and a flub from the deep rough led to a triple-bogey, Hatton gave the ball a thumbs up as he walked up before tapping in. Not exactly the reaction you’d expect from an emotional player who had just gone from 1-under par and just off the lead to 2 over and perhaps fighting to make the cut.

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He later finished with a 71 after sinking an 11-foot par putt on the day’s final hole. Not spectacular, by any means, but certainly within striking distance on a course that didn’t yield many birdies in its return to the PGA Tour after 57 years.

Hatton is many things — sarcastic and self-deprecating come to mind — but at his golfing core he’s a tremendous ball-striker who seems to maintain his focus, even in the face of adverse conditions.

Amazing win at Wentworth for @TyrrellHatton, who should be mic’d up every time he tees it up. pic.twitter.com/ELWAhsjeMa

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