Everything went well for Tyrrell Hatton at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on Saturday.
Hatton shot an 11-under 61 at the Old Course at St. Andrews and had nine birdies and one eagle in the round. The impressive result matched the course record set by fellow Briton Ross Fisher in 2017. Hatton's 61 also marked the lowest score of his career.
“I just took every hole and tried to make as many birdies as possible,” Hatton said.
“I knew it when I holed the putt on 17 — I’d actually shot 10 under here before. I can’t remember if it was 2016, the year I won. But yeah, I really wanted to birdie at the end [and I did]. This was actually my lowest round on tour as well. It felt like I was working harder than usual on that last putt. Nice putt and thankfully it went in. It's a cool day. “
Hatton, who made back-to-back birdies on the final hole at St. Andrews, is arguably two of the greatest finishers in the world. Hatton kept his approach to 3 1/2 feet on the par-4 17th, The Road Hole, which some describe as one of the most challenging holes in golf.
“We got a pretty good number, 171, a little bit uphill. The ball came off the turf with a little spin this week and I just hit it with a grip 7-iron, which was like three-quarters, and it worked out well, ” Hatton said of his approach to hitting the ball. 17.
“The landing time was a little shorter than I thought. I thought it was going to go farther. When it hit the ground it bounced and rolled to two to three feet, which is what you'd expect any day in that hole. “
Hatton is 22 under through 54 holes and is one shot ahead of Belgian Nicolas Colsearts, vice-captain of last year's Ryder Cup. But Hatton isn't worried about his place on the leaderboard. He only worries about himself and how many birdies he can make – a smart strategy heading into day three of the DP World Tour.
“The first leaderboard I saw was on the 17th green, and yeah, I obviously wasn't too worried about what other people were doing,” Hatton said.
“Like I said, I took every hole as it came and tried to birdie that hole. It ended up being a pretty good score.”
He did, leading to Hatton further etching his name into St Andrews lore.
Jack Milko is the golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Get more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jackmilko as well as.
