In golf, there’s a very fine line between self-deprecation and self-loathing. Tyrrell Hatton is among the all-time greats at straddling this line whenever he hits what he deems to be a poor shot.
On Thursday at the DP World Tour Championship, Hatton began his opening round two-under through the first three holes, having made back-to-back birdies at the par-5 second and par-4 third holes. At the par-3 fourth, the Englishman must have despised how he struck the golf ball, because he only followed through with one hand and then gently flicked the club forward in disgust, a Hatton staple.
He then proceeded to put on a masterclass in sh-t-talking. Who was he sh-t-talking, you ask? Himself, as is tradition.
“That deserved to actually plug and never be seen again,” he said when the ball found a greenside bunker. “That’s actually disgusting.”
Incredible. Of course, most of us watching would take that as our “miss” and be thrilled. But for Hatton, anything slightly off-line or somewhat poorly struck is cause for a half-minute self-own session. An artist at work.
This joins such classics as, “No, answer the question,” from Bay Hill in 2019:
And, “That was worth the wait, wasn’t it?” which Hatton said to himself after badly missing a par-5 green in two at the Palmetto Championship in June:
He gets stuck into other people, too, like his own wife:
Sometimes, Hatton doesn’t need to say anything at all to get his point across:
The man is building quite the highlight reel of anger. And, as is often the case, he played pretty solidly other than the fourth hole. He shot a two-under 70 with five birdies, that bogey and a double-bogey at the front nine’s other par 3, the sixth. If anybody has video footage of that one, that’s something we’d all be interested in.
