Tyrrell Hatton’s lack of love for Augusta National has been well-documented with the British star going as far as to mimic shooting the storied course a couple years ago. But on Friday at the Masters, Hatton unleashed a bit of friendly fire towards one of his LIV golf colleagues.
Augusta National is never an easy track – or walk – and those competing in one of golf’s biggest events have always taken their time. But windy conditions the first two days of this year’s tournament have slowed the proceedings more than usual with some threesomes taking more than five-and-a-half hours to finish their rounds.
That being said, Hatton was particularly upset at the pace of play by the group in front of him. A group that happened to include LIV golfer and 2018 Masters champ Patrick Reed.
Although Hatton didn’t name Reed – or Reed’s playing partners, Sungjae Im and Kurt Kitayama – he called them out for their “brutal” pace. He also wasn’t pleased with how Masters tournament officials handled the situation.
“Yeah, the lads in front have been so slow,” Hatton said. “It’s pretty poor from the officials that it took 32 holes to put them on the clock. Yesterday they’d lost a hole and a half, and then they weren’t any better even this morning, and then for the second round they were just brutal. Fine for them; they’re not waiting on any shot that they hit. But for us, we stood in the fairway, we stood on the tee. It was really hard to get a rhythm, so it was disappointing that it took 32 holes for an official to go, oh, we’ve put the group in front on the clock.”
But the fiery Brit wasn’t done.
“I said to someone walking up 8 – we stood on the eighth waiting to hit our second shots in, and they’re still putting out, and the lads in front of them have teed off 10,” Hatton continued. “It’s a small field. It’s not hard to really keep up with the group in front. I understand if you’ve had a tough hole, but when it’s just like every hole, then it’s a bit more frustrating.”
Hatton shot a second-round 74 to comfortably make the cut at two over, while Reed sits at even par heading into the weekend. Hatton did acknowledge that the course plus the conditions were inevitably going to result in a slower pace of play.
“Yeah, the last two days the rounds are going to take longer here because of the conditions we face,” Hatton said. “That’s just the reality of it. It’s such like a brutal golf course, so you have to be so exact. You’ve got no margin for error. Rounds will just take longer here.
On the bright side, as evidenced by the photo above, at least there’s good food to wait here while you’re waiting.
