Tyrrell Hatton wins Arnold Palmer Invitational in swift riposte to Paul Azinger's scorn
Paul Azinger, eat your heart out. A week after the former US Ryder Cup captain questioned whether the young Englishmen from the European Tour have “what it takes” to win on the PGA Tour, so Tyrrell Hatton provided an emphatic answer at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
This was some response for his country and his continent. It is hard to remember a regular tournament on the US circuit when the conditions were so tough and the garlands so difficult to earn. But Hatton, the 28-year-old from Buckinghamshire, showed his mettle to claim the £1.25m prize, fending off players of the quality of Marc Leishman and the previous week’s winner in Im Sung-jae, as well as world No1 Rory McIlroy.
So much for “that European Tour” as Azinger referred to it live on air, in his ill-advised rant when Tommy Fleetwood failed to convert his 54-hole lead at the Honda Classic the previous Sunday. With four European Tour tiles under his belt, Hatton knew exactly how to survive the glare in Orlando.
“It's an incredible feeling to win at such an iconic venue and with obviously Arnie's name to it,” Hatton said. “It’s an amazing feeling and it's very surreal to win this week.”
With the Bay Hill gusts swirling, the rough thick and juicy and the greens drying almost to the point of insanity, Hatton shot a battling 74 for a four-under total and a one-shot victory over Leishman (73), with 21-year-old Im in third (73) on two-under and McIlroy (76) in fifth on level par.
After a nervy start, Hatton seemed impervious to both the pressure and the harsh nature of the challenge when he recovered to play the first 10 holes in level par. But then he located the water off the 11th, resulting in a double bogey, and suddenly this very expressive young man began to throw his arms around and berate the gods.
Yet Hatton has proved before that he can lose his temper at the same time as retaining his golfing cool and with a remarkable exhibition of gumption, he parred the last seven holes to claim the win that takes him back into the world’s top 25. What a remarkable few months it has been for Hatton.
Hatton won the Turkish Airlines Open, on “that Tour” in November and then revealed he required a wrist operation that would delay his start to the 2020 season. Wrist complaints are notorious in golf and there were fears of what this could mean to the Ryder Cup player. However Hatton returned at the World Golf Championship in Mexico two weeks ago with a tie for sixth and then followed it up with this career highlight. The manner in which he parred the brutal 18th promises so much for his future.
It was yet another Sunday on which McIlroy fell short, but surely his staggering consistency is the story with his Players Championship defence looming on Thursday and the Masters just four weeks away. This was McIlroy’s seventh successive top-five finish on the PGA Tour and only Tiger Woods can also claim such a run in the last 20 years.
“I mean, it's aggravating but at the same time like I just have to keep telling myself the game's there,” McIlroy said after a round featuring two double-bogeys. “I didn't have my best stuff again over the weekend, but I just keep knocking on the door.”
At the Qatar Masters, David Drysdale saw his long wait for his first European Tour title continue in excruciating fashion as he lost on the fifth extra hole. In his 498th Tour event, in his 25th year as a professional, the Scot looked almost certain finally to break his duck - and what a popular win it would have been, particularly with his wife, Vicky, as caddie.
But on the first hole of his sudden death play-off with Spain's Jorge Campillo, Drysdale had to watch as his rival holed a 25-footer for birdie. Drysdale displayed his own resilience by holing his own eight-footer to keep it alive, but eventually Campillo prevailed with a 20-footer. This was Drysdale’s fourth runners-up finish on Tour, but as some consolation he picked up £150,00.
