THE 152ND OPEN

July 18, 2024

Tyrrell Hatton

Mixed Zone

Q. Tyrrell, 16 pars, 2 bogeys.

TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, it was a tough day, and conditions were tough to deal with. For the most part, I did pretty well. My ball striking day was pretty awful. It's one of the worst rounds I think I've had this year, in terms of how I think I've hit the golf ball.

It wasn't a fun experience. Yeah, we'll try and do better tomorrow.

Q. (No microphone)?

TYRRELL HATTON: No, I didn't -- I holed a couple of par putts, but I think the greens are pretty hard to hole putts on. They seem pretty inconsistent speeds as well. And they don't roll great. So it's not a good combination.

Q. Were there any conditions that surprised you?

TYRRELL HATTON: No, not really. I mean, it's funny like the practise days, the course couldn't have played any easier. Then it's the start of the tournament, and it's just playing, I guess, how you in some ways expect an Open to play.

Yeah, it's certainly a tough test out there with the conditions.

Q. It's been such a great run for you. Are you surprised (no microphone)?

TYRRELL HATTON: No, not really. I think I was hitting balls on Tuesday and we videoed one of the swings, and it was like miles out from where I would expect to see it. That was a little bit of a shock.

Yeah, I tried all of yesterday to get it back to where it kind of should be, where I've played pretty good golf in the past. Yeah, going out there with trying the same feeling, it's not nice going out there with a kind of swing thought. I've always played pretty freely or tried to, but it was so far out that I had to try really hard to get it back to where it was. Obviously today it didn't really work.

Q. The scoring in general wasn't great. If there was one explanation for that, what would it be?

TYRRELL HATTON: I don't think you can put it down to one thing. I think it's a combination of different things.

Yeah, the conditions are difficult anyway. There's a few holes that are just obviously playing really long. Unfortunately, that's where it's going at the moment, where they just seem to try to make it longer to make it harder, which I think doesn't make it the most enjoyable test.

Q. Is that non-prevailing wind an issue as well? You guys aren't used to playing this golf course, you don't play it much anyway, but when the wind turns like today?

TYRRELL HATTON: I think the forecast -- isn't it meant to be this way for the whole week now?

Q. Yeah, it's just not normal is all.

TYRRELL HATTON: We played the practise round on Monday and Wednesday with this wind. We've had a few days.

Q. I'm trying to give you an out here.

TYRRELL HATTON: It's still hard. They didn't put any tees forward. You can't reach any of the par-5s on the front nine. Was it 15 or 16, the par-5, you're hitting a 4-iron off it. Tell me a good par-5 where you're hitting 4-iron off the tee. There isn't one.

Even though they've moved the tee back on 17, which I think is a shame, it's still with the wind today, you're hitting 5-iron and hoping it can stay on the green. Rory obviously hits it a lot higher and further, and he was hitting 7-iron there. It doesn't change the fact that it's a tough hole, and it's still hard to hit that green.

I think it's a good thing that the wind was playing down because they probably would have left the tee at the back if it was into off the left. Then do you want to watch guys hit 3-wood into a green that's hard enough to hit with 7-iron?