THE SAUDI INTERNATIONAL POWERED BY SOFTBANK INVESTMENT ADVISERS

February 2, 2021

Tyrrell Hatton

Royal Greens Golf and Country Club

Press Conference

STEVE TODD: Welcome to the Saudi International. You've had some considerable success in this part of the world in the Middle East region. Give us your thoughts about visiting a new country this week and taking your form at the start of this year into this tournament.

TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, it's obviously good to be here for the first time. I went and played nine holes today and that was the first time seeing the golf course. Pretty impressed with what I saw. It's in fantastic shape. Speaking to a few guys before coming here, they said it does kind of get quite windy, so I was expecting the greens to be a little slower than what we are used to. But the services are absolutely perfect and sets us up for a good week.

Q. After seeing you dominate in Abu Dhabi, last week, you started with 4-over and were clearly frustrated with what you did. Do you think you are now at a point of time in your career and with your game where you can just turn it on whenever you need it to?

TYRRELL HATTON: No, I mean, I was trying my best every single day and it's just golf. It kind of works out some days. Other days, it doesn't.

Thursday I felt really flat. I just had not really got enough sleep in the build-up come Thursday. So every night, sort of prior to that, I was just not getting enough sleep and I was just pretty flat. After the round on Thursday, I just had a power nap in the afternoon for an hour and a half and I got seven and a half hours Thursday night, as well.

So Friday, I felt more energised and yeah, I knew I needed to get off to a really fast start and I got very fortunate early in my round, chipping in for eagle on 3, holing the bunker shot on 6, they are just bonuses and that's the kind of thing I needed on Friday, that I really wanted to make the cut and I didn't want to have the weekend off. To go out and shoot a really good round, I was over the moon and just excited to play the weekend.

Frustrated with how the weekend turned out, but like I said, I tried my best every single day, and some days, it works out better than others.

Q. Sometimes when players move up as quickly as you had in the World Rankings, there's questions about do they feel like do they have to justify that move. Do you feel like you have to justify where you are in the world now at No. 4, No. 5, do you feel like you have to justify that, and if not, why not?

TYRRELL HATTON: I don't recall like I need to do anything different to justify I'm there. I've been fortunate to win four times in the last 14 months. And all four of them were big events, so -- and they carry big World Ranking points, and outside of those wins, I've still had a few Top 5s, Top-10s, and just going about my business, just trying to play good golf every single week. And if you're able to do that, World Rankings, take care of themselves.

Q. Just to follow up, another aspect of you as a golfer, at least in the States, is that you would get upset on and off the golf course -- you're past that now, I'm guessing a pat on the back but you seem to be past that now. Do you feel like you are and if you are, how did you get to that point?

TYRRELL HATTON: I wouldn't say I'm passed it. I got better at managing myself, certainly coming down the stretch on Sunday when there's more pressure and stuff like previous my first few years on Tour, I'd probably throw away a couple of tournaments from just getting in my own way.

And that's not to say I'm not going to do that again in the future. I'm only human. I'm only going to make mistakes. Just kind of see how it goes. I try my best to stay calm but then there's always other factor; if I didn't sleep that great the night before natural everyone is frustrated if they don't sleep that good and they are just tired and whatnot.

If I'm in a good place, I feel like I have got better at managing it.

Q. Are you an "Angry Golfer," even when you are not playing golf? You don't seem like that.

TYRRELL HATTON: It depends. I mean, if I'm having a friendly round of golf, then I probably wouldn't get too frustrated. Well, if I was playing -- if I was going through a bad run and obviously you're trying to find a bit of confidence in trying to, you might naturally get a little bit more frustrated because you still can't find it even if you're playing with friends. But generally I'm pretty easygoing if I'm not in a tournament.

Q. This was actually one of my general topics. I'd like to make my readers understand why golf can be so frustrating at times. How do you find this frustration, why golf can be so frustrating in general?

TYRRELL HATTON: Well, some days it can feel so easy and then the very next day you don't feel like you're doing anything different and it feels like the hardest game in the world. When you hit good shots and get a bad bounce, stuff that's out of your control, when you've done everything you think it right and it doesn't go your way, obviously it's frustrating, and that's obviously at every level of the game.

Q. Can it make you like really crazy?

TYRRELL HATTON: Absolutely. It's pretty easy to have a moment of rage out there. I think everyone's experienced it at one time or another.

Q. I just wonder how much of a spur it is when you see the sort of high level of World Rankings that you are going to be playing alongside this week; the fact that there is an extra weight of World Ranking points available because of the quality of the field, and how much that creeps into your head potentially in terms of determining which tournaments you play and when you're at them, you know, in terms of motivations and so forth.

TYRRELL HATTON: Obviously this week, we've got huge World Ranking points on offer. It's an added incentive, I guess. A little bit more motivation. But also we've got Ryder Cup points to play for. So there's plenty of things this week that you're motivated for, and it will certainly be a great event to have a really good week. Obviously I'll be trying my best to do that, and looking forward to getting started on Thursday.

Q. Just as a follow-up, in terms of how you pace yourself, you had the perfect start to this one with obviously a victory in Abu Dhabi, are you now just trying to find the form of Abu Dhabi again, or is it more sophisticated in that in terms of how you progress your game through a run like the three tournaments you're on at the moment?

TYRRELL HATTON: Obviously to start the year off with a win was incredible. But then I tried to take that into last week into Dubai. Tried to have the same feelings in my golf swing and stuff like that. It didn't quite, I guess, work out how we would have liked it to, but after round one, I was just happy -- well, after round one, if you had told me I was playing the weekend, I'd be quite happy with that.

To finish tied 22nd after I think we were 115th after round one, you could argue that it was a pretty successful week in the end. And my game feels good. I hit it fairly nicely to have had in the practise, even though it's pretty light-hearted in rounds practise, you still want to hit good shots and get good feelings. And if it does get windy here, I feel like I can control my ball flight pretty well. So I'll have confidence from that, and fingers crossed I can play well here.

Q. Three years ago this time, you were a Ryder Cup contender and made the team in Paris and obviously a winning team. The likes of Bob MacIntyre and others are in those shoes at the moment. What sort of advice would you have for these guys as they try to achieve that goal of a first Ryder Cup?

TYRRELL HATTON: Well, I mean, when I look back at that year, I thought I did really good job of not thinking about The Ryder Cup. It might sound weird to say, but I -- it never crossed my mind when I was out there on a Sunday or, you know, worried about if I had a bad round on the Saturday that took me out of contention going into the final round. I wasn't worried about what potential Ryder Cup points I could lose.

I would just say try your best to not put too much pressure on yourself and try to not think about The Ryder Cup and just play, play your own game, play the tournaments that you were going to play. You play good golf; you'll make the team.

And I can certainly say, if you make the team, it will be -- it's an unforgettable experience.

Q. Do you feel Bob has the type of demeanor that can handle the stage like did you in Paris?

TYRRELL HATTON: Absolutely. He's a fantastic player. I saw social media, he just moved inside the Top-50 now, that's -- how old is he?

Q. 24.

TYRRELL HATTON: 24, yeah. So 24, breaking inside the Top-50 is so impressive, and I'd like to think that everyone out here on The European Tour would probably expect him to go from strength-to-strength. Another good result for him last week and certainly going to help his confidence. I guess we wish him all the best.

Q. Obviously you showed your brilliance with the 64 in Dubai after your triumph in Abu Dhabi. Do you think you can go on and do that in Saudi?

TYRRELL HATTON: Well, yeah. There's no reason why I can't go out there this week and post some other good scores. As I said, my game feels like it's in a pretty good place. Although I haven't seen the back nine yet, I'll see that tomorrow in the Pro-Am. I'd like to think I can go out there and play well on any golf course. So I'll go out there and try my best and just we'll see what happens.

Q. You played with this young Japanese chap, Takumi Kanaya, on the final day. Back in Asia, we have high hopes for this chap. He won the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship and he's really a good player. What did you make of him, and although I know you were in the middle of your own battle, but what did you see in him that day?

TYRRELL HATTON: He was very impressive. He didn't really do anything wrong in Sunday's round. You know, conditions got fairly tricky out there and he controlled his ball really well. I think he shot 3- or 4-under that day and it was a pretty easy 3- or 4-under for him.

So yeah, it was probably a nice way to start.

Q. Do you put -- I don't know if you put more pressure on yourself, but do you take more out of this week because there's so many good players here this week, I think there's 20 of the Top-50, this is the best World Ranking European Tour event outside of the majors and World Golf Championships since 2019 I think at the BMW.

TYRRELL HATTON: Okay.

Q. So do you take more out of what you have to take out of this week because it's such a good field?

TYRRELL HATTON: No, I mean, I treat this week the same as how I would treat any other tournament, and that includes the majors. Yeah, it's a world-class field this week and it's great to be a part of. If I play well, then I'd like to think I'll give myself a good chance at winning on Sunday, but I obviously need a lot of things to go my way, as well.

For me personally, I've proved that I can win tournaments with world-class fields, so it doesn't really -- it's not intimidating if you kind of get what I mean. You just go out there and give it your best and see what happens.

STEVE TODD: Thanks, Tyrrell. Thanks for joining us. Good luck this week.