Tyrrell Hatton rues disappointing finish to second round in Dubai
Friday 17 November 2017 11:37, UK
Tyrrell Hatton admitted missing out on the course record was a "bitter pill to swallow" after he raced to the top of the DP World Tour Championship leaderboard on day two.
Birdies at 16 and 17 got Hatton to 10 under for his second round at the Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai, and a four at the last would have earned him a 61 which would have broken the Earth Course record by a shot.
The Englishman found the fairway with his drive at the 620-yard 18th, but he dumped his second into a bunker and needed two attempts to splash out before he two-putted for a disappointing bogey-six - his only blemish of the day.
Hatton's 63, however, was good enough to claim the clubhouse lead on nine under, and he said: "Obviously if you said at the start of the day I would shoot nine under, I would be over the moon, but that was a pretty bitter pill to swallow on 18. That hole seems to hate me, hopefully one day I'll actually play it well.
"I was in between clubs for the second shot and tried to take the shorter club and hit it harder and didn't make a great swing. Then obviously you don't expect to be plugged in the face in a bunker like that, so that was disappointing. But I played great and gave myself lots of chances.
"Overall, I'm really happy with today, but obviously my head is a bit all over the place after 18," added Hatton, who struggled to get to grips with a new putter in his opening 72 in which he was also hampered by back pain and blisters.
"I was using a different putter, although it's the same sort of shape I've been using. I think it was a slightly different weight and I wasn't comfortable with it, and along with my own body not feeling too great with my back cramping up. It was sort of a long day," said Hatton as he reflected on a tough Thursday.
"It was nice to hole putts again, that was a big thing today. If I can keep putting like that for the rest of the tournament, then hopefully on Sunday, I'll give myself a good chance.
"But I felt a lot better today. Yesterday I was struggling with cramps in my back and a horrific blister on my foot. It's just the blister now, so a spoonful of cement at dinner and I'll be all right tomorrow."
Hatton carded eight birdies and holed out from 144 yards for a spectacular eagle-two at the par-four fifth, and he added: "It was a grip-down nine-iron just slightly into the wind and it pitched about two inches past the hole and I think it just hopped back in. I didn't see it drop as the second shot's uphill, but nice to get a bit of momentum early on.
"Obviously it's been a good run of form recently, and I can take confidence from the back-to-back wins. The game feels really good, the only thing that's let me down recently, even though I finished top 20 in my last three starts, I just haven't been holing putts.
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"My long game has been pretty good and I give myself chances, but when you're not really making anything, you can't build a score. So that was really nice today to see some putts drop again and get the confidence back."
