No one in professional golf believes in themselves less than Tyrrell Hatton. Well, at least if you listen to Tyrrell Hatton tell it. Through the years, we’ve seen Hatton take out his angst on plenty of targets—clubs, tee markers, airlines and seemingly every golf course on earth—but the biggest bullseye has always been on his own chest. In that regard, there doesn’t seem to be much change in the weather at Royal Birkdale this week, where Hatton was asked about the state of game of his game in the build-up to the 154th Open Championship. On a 1-10 scale, Hatton gave himself a five and didn’t stop there.

“It [Hatton’s golf game] felt horrific last weekend in Scotland. It’s been a bit of a scraf [semi-intelligible British slang, someone help me out here!] show in practice. So yeah, five,” Hatton told Sky Sports during his practice round on Wednesday.

“I’ll see you last group Sunday!” replied the Sky reporter.

“Yeah good one,” Hatton shot back. “I’ll be on the sofa watching it [laughter].”

How much of this Hatton actually believes and how much is gamesmanship, we’ll never know for sure. The truth is it’s probably a bit of both. But there is some reason for hope, even if Hatton isn’t buying it.

Last week at The Renaissance Club, where Hatton says his game was middling at best, the Englishman finished T-17, closing with rounds of 66-67-69 after an opening-round 70. If Hatton somehow manages to dial it up to an eight or nine this week, look out. The Claret Jug might just be coming home.

 

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