Tyrrell Hatton's sympathy for Rory McIlroy after Open course criticism
Tyrrell Hatton was left frustrated by the setup of the Royal Troon course after battling to a two-over-par 73 in the opening round of The Open Championship on Thursday
Tyrrell Hatton didn't hold back in his critique of the Royal Troon course following his opening round of The Open Championship. Despite a solid start by paring the first 13 holes, Hatton ended up recording a two-over-par 73 under the challenging west coast Scotland conditions.
Despite being one of the more consistent performers early on, Hatton suffered a setback with consecutive bogeys on the 14th and 15th holes. However, he managed to regain composure and pare his way through the final three to mitigate further blows to his scorecard.
Hatton was vocal in his criticism afterwards, particularly regarding the tee box placements that, in his opinion, stretched the course unnecessarily in the blustery conditions, posing an extra challenge even for top players like Rory McIlroy. "There's a few holes that are just obviously playing really long," the English golfer expressed.
"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. They didn't put any tees forward. You can't reach any of the par fives on the front nine.
"Was it 15 or 16, the par dive, you're hitting a four iron off it. Tell me a good par five where you're hitting 4-iron off the too. 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 five 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 three wood into a green that's hard enough to hit with a seven iron? " Hatton said after carding an opening 73, placing him eight shots behind the leader, world No. 272 Dan Brown, who stunningly topped the leaderboard with a six-under 65 on his Open debut.
Meanwhile, things looked grim for Rory McIlroy. Facing a ten-year drought for a major title, Rory's struggle intensified as he charted a disheartening seven-over-par 77 in the first round, leaving him trailing far behind the frontrunners.
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