Hatton Spends £3000 To Re-Book Flight After Making Cut With A 50-Foot Putt

No, your eyes don't deceive you, that reaction from Tyrrell Hatton is really him after holing an eagle putt at the 18th green... You may ask why the Englishman has his head in his hands, especially after something which most would be celebrating. Well, speaking after the third round at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic, all was revealed.

At the tournament, there is a 54-hole cut which, as he played the last, Hatton was very close to being involved in. Double bogeying the 16th, he missed a short birdie putt at the 17th to sit outside the cut line with only an eagle at the last meaning he would make it to Monday's final day of play.

Hatton, who is not one to hide away from emotion, revealed that he "was mentally at home yesterday (Saturday)" as he just made the cut on the two-under number. On Sunday, it was much of the same and, when his second shot finished some 50-foot from the flag, both Hatton and his caddie, Mick Donaghy, could see the journey back home clear as day.

However, as he struck his putt, it rolled end over end and, eventually, found the bottom of the cup, much to both Hatton and Donaghy's dismay! As both shook their heads, Hatton went over to console his caddie, with his bagman's first question being “what were you thinking?” before being followed by “why didn’t you leave it short?” 

Hatton's response, well a two-word rendition of  “I’m sorry,” then included the line “I didn’t think of that until after I hit it.” Perhaps what hurt the Englishman more was finding out that his agent had spent three-grand changing the flights home, with Hatton stating “I’m pretty sad about it.”

Speaking to Golf Digest at the Emirates Golf Club, the 31-year-old explained that “making that cut has just potentially cost me 48 hours at home. I was mentally at home yesterday. I was hoping the guys would make sure I could get home. I just crept in to this morning. 

"That is probably the only 50-foot putt I wish I’d never made in my life. I’m going back to the hotel and hoping there is a very slim chance I can leave, depending on what the guys do. Hopefully it works out my way and I can get home.” Unfortunately, he did indeed make the cut and will now be off early on Monday morning.

It had already been an interesting enough day for Hatton, especially when he found out he was paired with current European Ryder Cup captain, Luke Donald, and the man he replaced, Henrik Stenson. The news even caused Hatton to post a rather humorous meme to his Twitter.

Describing the post as “just a bit of fun,” there was yet more banter thrown around on the first tee. This came in the form of Donald being introduced as the “Ryder Cup captain," which caused Stenson to jokingly state after his round that: “The only thing I would say is that I was surprised I wasn’t announced as the former captain.”

According to Donald though, there were "no problems at all,” adding “you guys like to make it a storm in a teacup. There were no issues. It was just like we were playing a normal round.”