Hatton reflects on stellar 2016

Joy Chakravarty 19:08 17/11/2016
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  • Hatton has enjoyed a brilliant season.

    With the spotlight at the DP World Tour Championship firmly on the four players on top of the Race to Dubai who have a chance to become European No1, you’d think the man next in line – No5 Tyrrell Hatton – would be slightly frustrated his breakout season wasn’t good enough to contend for the biggest honour on the Tour.

    However, the soft-spoken 24-year-old from Marlow is anything but disappointed. It has been a brilliant season, one in which he won his maiden title – the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews – and recorded top-10s in the Open Championship and the PGA Championship.

    Asked if he was frustrated not to have a shot at No1 despite coming so close, Hatton said: “For me personally, no.

    “I think it has been such a great year…to get my first win and to do so at the Home of Golf was very special.

    “If you had told me at the start of the season that I’d be fifth in the Race to Dubai, playing the final event, I would have been absolutely over the moon with that.

    “I am happy with my position and hopefully, I can play well this week and not drop any places. It would be very nice to move up though.”

    Hatton has twice made it to the season-ending championship, and finished tied sixth on debut in 2014 and tied 13th last year. It’s a course he clearly likes.

    “I have done very well here in the past. Hopefully, I can improve on that this week,” added Hatton.

    “I have been playing very well in the final series, it’s just that the putts haven’t dropped. I have done some good work today on the putting green and I feel like I have found something there. So, yes, time will tell, but I am looking forward to the week.

    “It’s just that the course suits my eye. The greens are just perfect, some of the best that we putt all year.  But I just generally like it out here in Dubai. I feel very comfortable here. I think just having that frame of mind helps me play good golf in this city.”

    Hatton spent some time at the golf course recently when he was on his way to play the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai.

    “I was just practicing down at the European Tour Performance Institute. It’s a long flight to China from England and it breaks up the journey quite nicely for me. The weather was certainly better out here than back home,” he said.

    “So, I took up the opportunity to break up the journey and practice for a few days here. It is definitely something that I will be doing more often and hopefully, it will stand in good stead for me this week.”

    Hatton is schedule to tee off with South African Branden Grace at 12:20.

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