‘Struggling’ Tyrrell Hatton shares why he didn’t feel ‘comfortable’ despite shooting 66 in his first round at Abu Dhabi

Add as preferred source on Google

Tyrrell Hatton was left annoyed during his opening round at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, where he enters day two T13 in the leaderboard.

Hatton carded a six-under 66 at Yas Links, finishing two shots behind a handful of early leaders in the United Arab Emirates.

Kazuma Kobori, Richard Sterne and Adrien Saddier are all eight-under after round one of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

And they are joined by Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry, who alongside Hatton helped Europe win the Ryder Cup in September.

Fleetwood loved being paired with Lowry, with Hatton having played with Rory McIlroy and Marco Penge at the DP World Tour event.

Tyrrell Hatton didn’t feel ‘comfortable’ despite first round 66 in Abu Dhabi

The LIV Golf star has since analysed his opening round, saying: “I feel like I obviously scored very well, considering how I felt, how I played.

“Certainly didn’t feel like I had my best stuff but my wedges were good, and holed some really nice putts. So that was key to today’s round.”

And when asked what his frustrations were throughout the day, he replied: “I didn’t feel very comfortable. I felt very disconnected. I think I’m still struggling a bit with jet lag, or use that as an excuse, anyway.

“Yeah, just didn’t feel very comfortable with the swing and strike, and dispersion was not what I’d like to see. Hopefully better tomorrow.”

READ MORE: Rory McIlroy shares what went wrong in ‘bad’ opening round at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship

Tyrrell Hatton’s stats from his Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship opening round

Hatton was often frustrated during his opening round at Yas Links, but he did manage to bow out with a stunning up and down on the 18th.

His third shot from just off the green on the par-five bounced once before stopping just inches from the hole, with a birdie putt secured.

Discussing that finish, he said: “Yeah, the lies around here are pretty tight, and to be honest, that one felt a little bit too tight. I wasn’t sure about the strike.

“Yeah, I could have played the safe option and just tried to bump it down the slope, and then I said to Hugo [Dobson], I’ll go for it.

“I was sort of hitting those shots last week over at Lake Nona and I’ve played a few of them so far this week pretty well. Yeah, just went for it and it came out perfect.”

It was a great decision from the Englishman, who carded seven birdies in total along with one bogey and 10 pars.

Hatton particularly shone on the greens, ranking in the top 10 for putting average and putts per GIR in round one.