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ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL PRESENTED BY MASTERCARD

March 7, 2020

Tyrell Hatton

Orlando, Florida

MARK WILLIAMS: We would like to welcome our leader, Tyrrell Hatton to the interview room here at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. Difficult day. Over-par round but still a very respectable round of 73 and you're two ahead going to the final round ahead of two past champions hear, Marc Leishman and Rory McIlroy. Just some thoughts on the day and how difficult it was.

TYRELL HATTON: Yeah, obviously it was extremely tough out there. You could be made to look pretty silly at times without hitting too bad a golf shot. It was just amazing how much firmer the greens got throughout the day and they really tucked away some pin positions as well. So you can see when the scoring's as high as it is the course setup was extremely tough.

MARK WILLIAMS: That birdie on the last hole, one of only three I think today on that final hole. How important is that for you heading into tomorrow?

TYRELL HATTON: Yeah, I was very happy that dropped. I think even though I tapped that putt it was probably going about 8 feet past. It was scary how quick that thing was. So I don't normally fist pump on a Saturday. I think it was more shock that the ball actually went in the hole and very relieved.

MARK WILLIAMS: We'll take some questions, please.

Q. A, did you enjoy that? And B, was there at any point during the round did you ask yourself what they were thinking when they set some of the pins today?
TYRELL HATTON: I don't think anyone enjoyed that today (Laughing.) It was just, it was just so hard. Yeah, I mean, the course setup was, it was interesting. Some of the pins that they put out you just, you know, most of the holes were like crosswinds, so it was just so hard to get close. And when the greens are as firm as they are, you just, you've kind of got no chance getting anywhere near some of the pins. And we played two par-3s today that were, I think 220 yards into the wind, which for me personally I've never really enjoyed par-3s that are that long. I don't think anyone does. You look at the best par-3s in the world and they're all, you're hitting 8-iron in or less kind of thing. But everyone's got play it. It's tough and you just got to try and do your best.

Q. What did you hit? What clubs on 2 and 17?
TYRELL HATTON: I was hitting my 7-wood. No judgment, by the way, of me carrying a 7-wood. It's a great club.

Q. It was so bloody cold out there you must have thought you were playing golf in Scotland?
TYRELL HATTON: I know. I said to Mick, This is actually like a summer's day back in Scotland. I was quite happy I actually packed the jumper today. But it's amazing how much the temperature dropped and how short the ball was traveling at the end.

Q. In mentioning Scotland, you've won back-to-back Dunhill Links trophies, and of course on three links golf courses. But given the toughness of those conditions and winning those two events back-to-back, can that help tomorrow if the conditions stay the same?
TYRELL HATTON: Probably -- I mean, look, you take confidence from winning, without doubt, but they're two completely different golf courses. I mean, Dunhill we play with absolutely no rough, and then the rough here is, it's tough. So it's going to be a challenge tomorrow and hopefully I can play well and we'll see what happens.

Q. I know it's only one shot, that last one at 18, but does two shots feel a little better than one? I mean, we're splitting hairs, but there is a difference.
TYRELL HATTON: Yeah, it's nice to have a two-shot lead going into the final day, but you still got 18 holes to go. I think today proved that you can have -- I mean, there's doubles and triples just around the corner, so that two-shot lead can go extremely quickly. Just got to see what happens. It's, 18 holes is a lot of golf, and I'm sure it will be interesting to watch tomorrow.

Q. Do you mind sharing in excruciating detail the most difficult shot you faced today that the people at home would have absolutely no idea is that difficult?
TYRELL HATTON: Oh, well, one that springs to mind actually, is the chip shot that I played on 15. All I could think about was duffing it in the bunker because my feet are in the bunker. I'm gripping right at the bottom of the grip. I've got my hands like pushed way higher than I would like and I've got the face wide open. So it's, you're kind of looking at it like, I could shank this or I could literally duff it like 5 feet in front of me. So to end up having, I think it was about a 7- or 8-foot par putt I was over the moon with.

Q. One quick last question from me, but what have you been doing well do you think over the three rounds?
TYRELL HATTON: Sorry?

Q. What have you been doing well, do you think? What's been good about your game over these three days?
TYRELL HATTON: Well, I think, well, I don't think I holed as many putts today -- well, that's a stupid comment because obviously how I finished the round -- sorry. Gosh, I'll show myself out. No, obviously I've putted well the last three days, so, and my short game's been really good when I've been in, and I've been in some interesting positions the first three days. So you're going to rely on your short game quite a bit in weeks like this when it is, the conditions are this tough, and hopefully my short game's good tomorrow. But I do feel like my long game hasn't been that great. I still felt like I was struggling out there today. Although with my warm-up I felt a little bit more comfortable but then kind of stand on the first tee and just blaze one out right, which is not a shot that I was hitting on the range. And then I kind of continued that for the round. And my bad shot the first two days was a pull draw and I never hit, I mean, I can't draw it even if I want to, so for me to hit a pull draw it just is pretty tough. So it's kind of been opposites, although, obviously, I shouldn't complain too much because the position we're in.

Q. Just curious on, I'm sure it was probably just a bad putt you hit on 9, but when you play away from flags, which might be the smart play, is it still difficult when you've got 25, 30 feet just to 2-putt because of the speed of the greens and the wind and everything else?
TYRELL HATTON: So 9 was interesting, actually, because I mean, the second shot's gone quite a bit shorter than we hoped. It just came out a bit spinny out of the semi-rough, which, because it was such a good lie, I thought that I could hit a really good 9-iron and obviously the wind's going to carry it on. It should have carried that bunker no problem. But, yeah, I hit a terrible bunker shot and then I actually thought I hit a decent putt and there was a big gust, sort of halfway down, and that kind of pushed the ball what, about 4, 5 feet past. And then I said to Mick after that putt missed, I hit a great putt there. So I mean, I tapped the ground, obviously, you can't see everything, but I felt like it nudged a little bit to the right and I think I misread it a little bit as well because I had it as straight, and I hit a good putt and obviously we have lipped out on the right side. So that just shows how easy it is to make mistakes around here. Feel like I hit good putts and you walk off with 6.

Q. Speaking of how easy it is to make a number out here, what does that say about the leaderboard? Who is still in this thing? How many people?
TYRELL HATTON: It's pretty packed, isn't it? There's a lot of guys that will obviously start tomorrow with, they have got a chance to go out and win a tournament. It's, tomorrow's going to be a tough day, and like I said earlier, two shots can go pretty quickly, so for me there's nothing to get excited about at the moment. I've just got to go out there and hopefully grind out another good score and then -- and try my best and see where we end up at the end.

Q. How much tougher could this course play than it did today? And where would you see, you know, anything that could be changed to make it tougher?
TYRELL HATTON: I would hope that they don't make it any tougher, to be honest, especially with the wind conditions. It will be interesting to have played this week if it was flat calm, with obviously the greens kind of baking out anyway, how the scoring would be. But, yeah, I feel like they have narrowed the fairways a little bit this year. It certainly feels that way when you stand on some of the tees, because I always thought that this place was fairly wide, but with how thick the rough is, it's a challenge and you, ideally you need to be hitting fairways because you can't score from out of the rough here.

Q. With the realization that no one's on the leaderboard that was under par today, would you consider playing somewhat defensively tomorrow understanding that someone would have to really shoot a number to even catch you?
TYRELL HATTON: No, I think you just got to go out and play and see what you get. And I feel like I'm a fairly aggressive player anyway, so you just, there's no point changing how I play to try and keep a two-shot lead going that could, that can go very quickly out here. I've just got to go out and play my best and hopefully that will be good enough.

Q. I don't know if you're a hand slapping fist pumper going from green to tee, but with all the talk about the coronavirus, have you changed any of your habits?
TYRELL HATTON: I'm not normally -- I'm quite a shy person, so I'm like, I'm generally like kind of -- I don't often put my fist out or -- and it's not me being rude or custard pie on anyone, it's just, I'm kind of just shy and that's not kind of what I do. Obviously, it's unfortunate the position that the world's in at the moment with that. And obviously we all hope it kind of gets better quickly.

MARK WILLIAMS: All right, thanks Tyrell, good luck tomorrow.

TYRELL HATTON: Okay. Thank you.

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