2021 Open Championship: Tyrrell Hatton Flips Off Fan, Snaps Iron

Tyrrell Hatton is the 10th-ranked player in the world. But as he proved again on Friday at the 2021 Open Championship, his mental state is preventing him from being ranked even higher.

Hatton shot a 2-over par 72 on Thursday and figured to need to make up some ground on Friday to get inside the cut line. He would hover at, or near, the projected cut line of 1-over par all day long.

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His day stared pretty quietly. Hatton parred the first seven holes of his round to stay at 2-over par. However, he suffered his first bogey of the day on the par-4 eighth hole.

Hatton did bounce right back. On the par-4 ninth hole, he recorded his first birdie of the day, leaving him with an even-par 35 on his front nine.

It looked as if Hatton was making a surge, as he birdied the par-4 10th hole to get to 1-over for the championship. However, that quickly slipped away when he double bogeyed the par-3 11th hole. He also appeared to flip off a member of the gallery while making his double. At that point, his hopes of making the weekend were fading away.

Hatton needed to make something happen with just seven holes left to play.

To his credit, he did mount a rally. He birdied the par-4 12th hole, parred the 13th, then birdied the par-5 14th hole. He was back to 1-over for the championship.

Hatton would par 15 and 16 but dropped a shot at the 17th with another bogey. He was 2-over par with one hole to play, likely needing a birdie on the 18th to make the weekend.

He drove it into good position but his iron shot was less than ideal. Hatton hated the shot so much that he snapped his iron in half before handing it back to his caddie.

Hatton would go on to make par and, likely, will miss the weekend with a 2-over par total.

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The bigger issue here is Hatton’s temper and demeanor. Until he can get that under control, he’s not going to make the leap to become an elite player. A prime example of that is Jon Rahm, who has been able to control his emotions. That has translated into Rahm becoming one of the world’s very best.

Hatton is not to that point yet and he may not ever be if he’s not able to control his emotions.

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