What's in the Bag: Tyrrell Hatton

Tyrell Hatton sealed a maiden European Tour title by winning the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on Sunday. Hatton’s fine performance throughout the tournament featured weekend rounds of 62 and 66 on the Old Course at St Andrews, with the former equalling the course record at the Home of Golf.

Hatton finished on 23 under par to hold off compatriot Ross Fisher and South Africa’s Richard Sterne, who both finished in a tie for second on 19 under.

As with most victories on tricky links courses, it was consistency that was key for Hatton. He placed 15th in driving accuracy for the week using a combination of his Ping G driver (9°) and his Taylormade M2 fairway wood (16.5°) to give himself chances from a majority of fairways.

While driving accuracy is a good indicator of a consistent swing, good scoring can only be achieved with effective approach play that takes advantage of the position off the tee and Hatton was particularly impressive over the weekend with his play from the fairways. He hit 83.3% of greens in regulation which placed him 9th for the week in those rankings. Using his Ping iSeries irons Hatton was impressive in his play under pressure and was able to forge an unassailable lead on Saturday afternoon.

Bunker play on these Scottish links can be particularly challenging. Hatton was relatively solid on this front. Using a combination of his 54° and 60° Titleist Vokey SM6 wedges he was able to make 66.7% of his sand saves despite dropping a shot from a bunker on his penultimate hole of the tournament.

Using a Ping Vault Oslo putter, Hatton was on impressive form on the greens. He managed to hole some quite brilliant putts under pressure during his final round including a 20ft birdie on the 9th to come out in 32. Afterwards the 24 year old said, “I had a new putter in the bag this week and it worked really well, I'm just so happy.” With an average of 30 putts per round, Hatton has a right to be pleased with his flat stick display.