Tyrrell Hatton had to know the question was coming. In fact, it wound up coming twice. And yet he still couldn’t give a definitive answer. Or, more likely, he didn’t want to. Again.

The 33-year-old Brit has drawn plenty of headlines in recent years based on his opinions of Augusta National. He’s called the course’s fairness into question on numerous occasions, and going as far as to mimic firing a gun at the property while making a triple bogey on No. 13. And that was just during the 2022 Masters.

There are love-hate relationships and then there are hate-hate ones, and Hatton vs. the Masters venue might be a fiercer rivalry than the PGA Tour vs. LIV.

But surely after finishing T-9 last year on the strength of a Sunday 69 and then matching that score in Thursday’s first round to put himself in realistic contention here for the first time, those hard feelings had to be a thing of the past. Right? Not so much.

“I don’t know,” Hatton said when asked if he’s coming around on the course or figuring it out. “Ultimately, I’m still just out there trying my best. It’s been nice to have another good round today. I haven’t seen the forecast, but is it meant to rain tomorrow? … Fingers crossed the rain stays away. The course is in great shape. The greens are for a Thursday pretty rapid already and pretty firm in places. I imagine if the rain stays away then the scoring has the potential to get a little bit worse. That just shows how hard it is around here.”

OK, so maybe he’s softening a bit on the place. But moments later, he was asked about the topic even more bluntly. Are you starting to like this course?

“Do I like any golf course?” Hatton responded, drawing laughs. “It’s just so hard. It’s like, you love being here and it’s very special, but at any moment you can just hit a shot and it just does your head in. I just need to keep hitting perfect shots.”

Fair point, Tyrrell. Your harsh course critiques haven’t been kept to Augusta National. But there he was smiling at a place that’s given him fits. And after a recent stretch of golf that’s given him fits with nothing better than a T-19 in his last four LIV starts.

“If I’m honest, not great,” Hatton said of his form coming into this week. “The last two events on LIV, I’ve needed a really good Sunday to even earn points, and that’s not really a place I want to be competing out on a Sunday.”

“Yeah, I’ve struggled a bit,” Hatton continued. “I feel I’ve put a new driver in play this week with a different shaft, and yeah, that’s been a little bit better for me. Seeing the ball come back to the right again, which is nice. That’s my natural shape. Standing on certain holes and being able to trust that better has been good, and I think that was one of the keys for me today.”

On the day, Hatton hit 11 fairways to go along with 13 greens, while making four birdies to one lone bogey on 17.

“Naturally I’m disappointed with making bogey on 17,” Hatton said. “I don’t feel like I did a huge amount wrong there. But I think that’s kind of this place, as well. You don’t really have to do anything wrong to drop shots.”

OK, so he’s definitely still not a big fan of the course. But that doesn’t mean they can’t keep getting along.

Main Image: Stephen Denton