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ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

March 6, 2020

Tyrrell Hatton

Orlando, Florida

JOHN BUSH: We would like to welcome Tyrell Hatton, our current co-leader at 7-under, in with a 69 today. If we can get some comments on your round.

TYRELL HATTON: Yeah, pretty happy with my score, although I'm not too happy with how I played on my back nine. I feel like I lost my swing a little bit. So I'm a little bit surprised that I'm currently top of the leaderboard with how it felt during that back nine. But I've got a lot of, I need to thank my putter and my short game for that.

JOHN BUSH: Before questions, just talk a little bit about the difference in the conditions that you faced today compared to yesterday.

TYRELL HATTON: Yeah, the wind was obviously coming from a slightly different direction, so obviously some holes played easier, some played tougher. To give you an indication, the 9th hole, yesterday I was trying to hit a flighted 4-iron into there and today we were hitting a 9-iron. So it's it shows you the difference.

Q. Which hole was that?
TYRELL HATTON: The 9th.

JOHN BUSH: All right. We'll open it up to questions.

Q. Given all the time off with the wrist injury and you haven't played much golf and you played very well in Mexico, you're playing very well here. It doesn't make much sense probably, logically. Do you have an explanation why or do you think that the time off was a benefit to you, a blessing in disguise?
TYRELL HATTON: Well, obviously the recovery from the wrist surgery was, took a bit longer than we all hoped. Obviously you can't rush these things. So we originally, I was hoping to play Abu Dhabi and Dubai and I wasn't even hitting chip shots by then, which was, obviously, frustrating. And then I was planning on playing Genesis and, again, I just didn't feel like I was ready, so I thought that starting my season in Mexico would have been a great test to see how my wrist reacted. Obviously, you're guaranteed four days there and, yeah, no issues playing the full tournament and, which is nice. I didn't have any pain out on the golf course and I could practice the following week how I wanted to in the build-up to this. So I haven't really had that. The back end of last year it was, anytime I was hitting golf shots I was in quite a bit of discomfort. So obviously that's good news, I can kind of play pain-free now. And I had enough time to get my swing ready to be back playing tournaments and it felt like it was in good positions, you just, you never know until you're in competition mode.

Q. Do you think the break helped in any way, a lot of time off?
TYRELL HATTON: No, not really. To be honest, it was probably nice to have an escape from playing golf. It was the longest period I had -- the longest period of time at home for probably the last eight years, so obviously I don't know if that helped anyway.

Q. How much ground did guys who shot in the 60s make up today, just given the conditions? There's not many scores there.
TYRELL HATTON: I mean, it's obviously a tough course. The setup with the fairways are fairly soft and then you've got pretty firm greens. So if you miss fairways you're punished because the rough is so thick. And it's not like you can run the ball up onto the greens from the rough because they are kind of too soft, they don't release. And then equally, if you're trying to pitch a ball on the greens out of the rough, they're just not stopping. So that's obviously quite a challenge.

Q. I'm sorry, just back to the wrist for a minute. What specifically required this? What was it with the wrist that required the surgery and how soon after Dubai did you have it?
TYRELL HATTON: So the following week after DP World I was having surgery on the Friday. It come from falling over at the Masters, actually, during the par-3 tournament when they cancelled it. Was that back in 2017, was it? Yeah, yeah, first Masters, 2017. I was just walking on the pine straw on a side slope and just where my lead foot went there was like a steel rod or something and I just went with the slope and put my hand out and then I ended up having -- I played that, played the tournament, no pain, played the following week, no pain, and then had four days off. So I did no golf Monday through Friday and then tried to hit balls -- sorry Monday to Thursday -- and then tried to play on the Friday at the end of the day and I couldn't even hit a 50-yard pitch shot. And kind of from that moment on I had three steroid injections in 18 months to try and help with the pain and they all kind of lasted about six months and then the pain started coming back and I just it got to the point where my whole the joint was just full of scar tissue. I just had no range of motion and just a really sharp pinching kind of feeling when I was trying to come in and hit the ball. And obviously that was even worse with wedges because you've got a steeper impact with the ground. So, yeah, just had to have the surgery. It was keyhole and, yeah, it went well.

Q. So much has been said in the past week about just what it means to Europeans to win on the PGA TOUR. I'm just curious, you haven't won out here yet. What would a win on Sunday mean for you to get that first PGA TOUR victory?
TYRELL HATTON: Well, that would obviously be amazing. The kind of next step in my career. Obviously I want to be playing both tours for a long time. I've been fortunate to win a few times on the European Tour and obviously I'll be trying my best this weekend to win over here. And then obviously it just, it would make things a bit easier if you kind of, you know where you're at for the next few years, with the exemptions. So we'll just see what happens.

Q. Do you side with the guys who kind of got ticked off about Paul's comments?
TYRELL HATTON: Everyone has an opinion.

Q. What's yours?
TYRELL HATTON: I mean, I heard the comment, but it sort of doesn't make any difference to how I go about playing, how I feel about trying to win on both tours. So obviously everyone's out there just trying their best to win and everyone will continue to do so.

Q. You did well around here your first time playing it, didn't you?
TYRELL HATTON: Yeah, finished tied 4th, I think in 2017.

Q. What did you make of it? I don't want to get all romantic and say love at first sight, but is this something that really appealed to you when you saw it?
TYRELL HATTON: The course?

Q. The milkshakes?
TYRELL HATTON: The milkshakes are very good, yeah. I don't know, golf's a funny game. You can't pick and choose your good week. They just happen. I think everyone's good enough out here that when they have their good weeks they're going to be contending. And 2017, here at Bay Hill, obviously was a good week for me and it was, that was a really important week. Obviously had a great week, I think the week prior at, was it the week prior? At Honda, yeah. Obviously I was just coming over here to try and earn my temporary status. I finished tied 4th at Honda and then it was nice to finish tied 4th here and that kind of gave me more playing opportunities, which really helped me kind of get my status over here.

Q. Do you feel like not having won on the PGA TOUR is something lacking on your CV at this point?
TYRELL HATTON: Yeah, when you look back at the end of your career you would like to win on both tours, obviously, you would love to win WGC's and Majors. That's the goal for everyone and I'm no different from that.

Q. And can you give a little color of what you did while you were injured, while you were home all that time?
TYRELL HATTON: I drank a lot of red wine and played Xbox. That was it. When the cast came off and I was told I could play Xbox, I was, I didn't hesitate.

Q. Cabernet guy or Merlot?
TYRELL HATTON: You know what, being out here in the States more, the Napa Cab Sauv, that was dreamy (Laughing).

Q. So you are going to play the Safeway Open this year, then, is that right?
TYRELL HATTON: I've heard it's a very good week. I might look at adding it to the schedule (Laughing.)

Q. Kind of an odd question, but what you said a minute ago was interesting about you can't pick and choose what your good weeks are going to be. In the six, seven years or so you've been on big tours. Is there a course that you -- or a tournament, take your pick, that you really like so much that if you could win anywhere, you would win here, and has it frustrated you if you haven't been able to do it?
TYRELL HATTON: No, it hasn't frustrated me. I would say the, there's one event for me that kind of stands out because, and that's the tournament at Wentworth. I've been going to that event since I was a kid, so to kind of then be inside the ropes playing the tournament, that would be pretty special to win that. But I wouldn't ever kind of come back, come away from a week and be like disappointed you haven't won. Golf's funny, where I think you have -- apart from Tiger, obviously -- you have the lowest win rate percentage compared to kind of any other sport, I think.

Q. How have you done at BMW?
TYRELL HATTON: I was in the final group, I think in 2015? 2016? On Sunday. And no surprise to you, I lost my head a little bit (Laughing) and, actually, to be fair that was frustrating coming off on Sunday because I was too impatient. I didn't get off to like a really fast start, which is kind of how I felt I needed to get off. And I look back at that week and if I had shot 2-under on Sunday I think you win the tournament, which when you're out there is kind of hard to imagine that 2-under's going to get the job done on Sunday. But it's just, it is what it is.

JOHN BUSH: All right. We appreciate your time, Tyrell. Best of luck this weekend.

TYRELL HATTON: Thank you.

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