PALMETTO CHAMPIONSHIP AT CONGAREE

June 9, 2021

Tyrrell Hatton

Congaree Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll welcome Tyrrell Hatton into the interview room at the Palmetto Championship at Congaree. Tyrrell is making his 15th start this season on the PGA TOUR and has three top tens to date. Tyrrell, if we could just get an opening comment from you ahead of the start of Congaree.

TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, looking forward to kind of getting back at it this week. The schedule's been a little bit sort of on and off recently, and I like what I see so far. I'm playing the front nine later on in the Pro-Am. Yeah, it's a pretty cool place.

THE MODERATOR: If you could elaborate a little bit on the golf course. I know we've heard a lot of players say that this is not the usual type of course that you see on TOUR. Just your thoughts on what you've seen so far.

TYRRELL HATTON: Visually, I think it's great. Obviously, from chatting to a few guys at the start of this week, I know that they'd like the course to be a little bit firmer than it is. Unfortunately, you can't control the weather, and I think they've had quite a bit of rain the last week or so.

Yeah, the course is pretty soft. I imagine scoring will be pretty good, and from my point of view, hoping that I can go out and play well, but I like what I see so far.

Q. It's about a week and a half since you posted your wedding pics on social media. Just wondering how the day was. Was it a life-changing moment for you?

TYRRELL HATTON: It was a cool day, a little bit different than how we initially planned it, but with COVID and everything, it was just me and Emily. It was funny, like we -- the day wasn't very smooth. Our driver turned up an hour late, so that meant we arrived half an hour late for our ceremony, and then -- because we wanted it in the Blue Ridge Parkway and we wanted to hike up and have some nice pictures.

Unfortunately, after finishing the ceremony, it absolutely pissed down with rain, and we then had to drive like two miles down the road, pulled over in a lay by, and we had our wedding pictures on the side of the road (laughter).

So, yeah, not quite as magical as you'd plan it, I guess, but it was still pretty special.

Q. Congratulations as well. Obviously, you look very happy with it all. As I said, does it change you at all being a married man?

TYRRELL HATTON: No, I don't think so. It might have changed my waistline because I certainly drunk my body weight in beer up in Asheville. I need to get back in the gym and sort myself out.

Q. How's the recovery from that day been? Where would you say your game's at coming into this weekend?

TYRRELL HATTON: I started practicing again last Wednesday, so I've had a few days to kind of try to get back into it. Naturally, I think I'll be quite rusty.

I would say the last month and a half has been a little bit awkward for me really, with I started to feel like I was playing really well again at the Zurich Classic when I partnered with Danny Willett, and then getting the COVID test, the positive result the following week in Tampa was a surprise, and I felt like I was going to have a really good week there. All of a sudden, it's two weeks off, and my next event's the PGA. Again, rusty at the start, and as the week went on, it felt like it got a bit better, and I've just had two weeks off again.

So naturally, going to be quite rusty, and just hoping that I can hit some good shots to find some momentum out there.

Q. Just when you've been kind of away from things, how much attention have you been paying to what's been going on between Brooks and Bryson? Obviously, we're speaking to Brooks a little bit later on. Just particularly from the standpoint of, I suppose, a little disharmony in the American camp is good from a European point of view, isn't it, when it comes to the Ryder Cup?

TYRRELL HATTON: There's a lot of time between now and the Ryder Cup for things to change. I hadn't really followed it too closely, if I'm honest. I've obviously been fairly busy myself the last few weeks. Yeah, it's one of those things, I guess.

Q. If you're playing all the way out at the U.S. Open on the West Coast, and let's just say you're maybe outside of the top 40 come Sunday, how hard is it to stay focused on your round on Sunday when you know you've got all that travel ahead of you?

TYRRELL HATTON: You're still out there trying your best. You always want to finish as high as you possibly can, and I think, even when you make the cut and you're kind of struggling and you don't really have a chance to win, I think if you can try and find something and get some momentum and take that positive through to your next event or even just a certain feeling in your swing and you feel good, there's always something to play for.

There's always FEDEX points, world ranking points. It's amazing how a one-shot difference over the course of the year can have a huge impact. So you always have to just keep going and try your best.

Q. So far from what you've seen of Congaree, does it have kind of a European style feel to it? And then also, is there any stretch of holes where you think you might have to have a little aggressive thumbs up or maybe even a little helicopter twirl into the marsh?

TYRRELL HATTON: Knowing me, there's a good chance of both happening. Like I said earlier, it's a shame that it's playing as soft as it is. If it was firmer, then certain sort of shots would be required more. You wouldn't necessarily be hitting driver quite as often, I don't think. But it's a good setup, and we're all going to have a good week here.

Q. Congratulations on the wedding despite all the expected mishaps.

TYRRELL HATTON: Thank you.

Q. It wouldn't have been you if it had all gone smoothly, would it?

TYRRELL HATTON: Definitely not. There's always something that's got to happen.

Q. I just wonder, playing this week, from what we see, the two courses, the setups could hardly be any different between where you are now and Torrey Pines. Were you tempted at all to go up there early rather than play, or did you just feel you needed to get some competitive action inside you?

TYRRELL HATTON: No, I always wanted to play the week before the U.S. Open. Me and Emily had planned to get married that Thursday of Colonial anyway, so I wanted to make sure that I had some competitiveness in me before getting to the U.S. Open. Obviously, I've never been to Torrey Pines, and I'm excited to play there.

Obviously, this week, sort of fully focused on trying my best and trying to take something, get some momentum going and see how we get on.

Q. I wonder if you had any memories of Tiger winning in 2008, and from your own point of view, have you ever had a victory where it's been in unlikely circumstances through injury or mental fatigue perhaps?

TYRRELL HATTON: I guess from my own sort of struggles with injury when I had an issue in my wrist, winning in Turkey that was, I guess, a little bit of a surprise, the sort of discomfort I had certainly on the range and certain shots during the course of the round.

But I think, obviously, the replays from Tiger holing the putt on the final green in 2008 that we've seen on numerous occasions, and I think certainly when we've watched that clip in the last year and a half, you certainly miss the fans quite a bit with the noise that they made there.

Q. As the scene stealing star of the angry golfer bit, I was wondering how angry did you get on your wedding day when all these mishaps started?

TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, obviously, it wasn't ideal. I think the most frustrated I got was when we were actually in the car driving there because the fact that he pitched up an hour late and then was driving under the speed limit and we had lorries that were taking us. I politely asked him to use the right pedal and press a little harder to try and make up a little bit of time.

Q. I'm just curious, as you did steal the angry golfer bit -- you were by far the best guy in that -- has that led to anybody else, not just in the European Tour, but anybody approaching you or your agent to do something else?

TYRRELL HATTON: Well, Gibbo from the European Tour asked me to just be myself and be awkward, so I'm normally pretty good at that. I didn't have to try anything different there. There's been quite a number of guys that came out on TOUR and said they found it hilarious. Obviously, the video went down really well, and it was fun to be a part of.

Q. I wonder how much you're looking forward to the Euros as well and what you think England might be able to do.

TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, absolutely. It will be fun to watch it on TV. Hopefully, they can go through to the final, I think. They'll certainly create a good atmosphere if they do.