PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Not everyone loves the way the Open Championship structures its tee times, sending every group off the 1st from 6:26 in the morning until after 4 p.m. — but Tyrrell Hatton sure seems to. Because Hatton loves himself a pint or three.
The 33-year-old Englishman was regaling the press Friday afternoon after a second straight round in the 60s when a few non-Open topics came up. First: that he had been spotted Wednesday night playing a cute little par-3 course just two miles from Royal Portrush.
Hatton and five of his mates made the most of idyllic conditions and ripped around Ballyreagh Golf Club — a 1,300-yard, par-27 on the coastline. To see a player spending his quiet hours before the Open by playing more golf was a delight for us, and it sounded like for him, too.
“It was great,” Hatton said. “It was nice to go out there. We played, I think, in a six-ball, and it was nice to just take your mind off part of the stress of this week. It was nice to actually go out there and almost feel like a kid and just enjoy it. I feel it’s easy to miss that when you’re just going tournament to tournament.
“Yeah, it was really fun. It was a beautiful evening. I went and had three pints of Guinness afterwards, so that kind of made the evening a bit better.”
That’s a quick and proper transition from child to adult.
Hatton is hardly the first pro who has talked about that tournament-to-tournament grind lately, and how players have to force themselves to take their mind off the competition when they’re outside the ropes. He’s also hardly the only pro enjoying a pint or two in the land where Guinness is as present as water. Most of Team Canada — Corey Conners; his caddie; Nick Taylor’s caddie; and reps from Canada Golf — enjoyed ceremonial pints at the Harbour Bar Tuesday night. Jon Rahm stopped in for dinner (and a photobomb, too). Defending champ Xander Schauffele had himself one of the dark drinks on Monday night during an event at the main pub in town.
Hatton didn’t say whether he’d been down to the Harbour Bar, but he has been imbibing enough to know the optimal amount of Guinness one can consume before it starts to become a hindrance. After tallying five under through 36 holes — earning himself another late tee time in the process — he was asked if a few more pints were in his future.
“Would be rude not to,” Hatton said. “I think three is the magic number.”
Your correspondent here would have to agree. And the good thing is, in this country, many pubs even offer a half-pint of the national elixir. They call it a Baby Guinness. As we move toward the weekend, it could be exactly what Hatton needs to look in to.
“If you go past three, you kind of,” he said, trailing off. “Yeah, two to three. Because you’re definitely not close to a hangover and you still feel like you’ve got — hopefully I’ve got a late tee time tomorrow so I can have a lay-in, as well.”
