PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA | Sitting exactly where he started the final day at 5-under par when he made the turn Sunday, Tyrrell Hatton made seven birdies coming home in 29 to post 12 under in the clubhouse. The animated Englishman became just the third player in 40 years to finish with five consecutive birdies at Sawgrass as he made a valiant chase of newly re-crowned world No. 1 Scott Scheffler.
“I mean, considering where I was at the start of the back nine, I was probably tied 34th or something like that, so if you had said that you would finish second in the tournament or tied second and you don't have to play the back nine, I think you would take that,” Hatton said of his solo second-place finish worth $2.725 million, the biggest check of his career.
The volatile Hatton was scuttling along until he made a birdie on the long par-3 eighth to show a spark of life. But then he made a mess of the par-5 ninth after hitting his drive in the water and taking a bogey that surely ended his relevance.
“I was just trying to be a little bit more aggressive … I was 1 under for the day to that point,” he said. “Yeah, just trying to make something happen. Obviously not a very good swing into the water and ended up making a good 6 after I managed to miss the green from about 50 yards.”
Even draining a 20-footer for birdie on 10 seemed innocuous enough considering he failed to back it up with a birdie on the par-5 11th. A birdie on the short drivable par-4 12th lifted him to 7-under yet still far behind co-leaders Scheffler and Min Woo Lee at that point before missing a 10-foot birdie chance on 13.
“So I'm playing catch-up to a lot of guys that have played quite a bit of golf already. So, yeah, I'm just out here trying to earn as many points as I can and try and set myself up nicely for next year.”
TYrrell Hatton
It was Hatton’s Sunday running mate Max Homa who was making more noise at that point with a birdie-eagle-birdie run on 10, 11 and 12 to reach 10 under and push the leaders. But when Homa stalled, Hatton got busy.
He started throwing darts at the pins to set up five straight birdies – to 9 feet from the fairway bunker on 14, 5 feet after a 307-yard drive on 15, a one-handed 5-iron to the par-5 16th, a knockdown wedge to 3 feet on 17 and cut 4-iron off the pine straw to 11 feet on 18.
His fearless finish with nothing to lose and a whole lot to gain made for a little compelling theater on a day when Scheffler mostly sucked the life out of any drama.
“Yeah, just pretty mad 2½ hours in the end, I guess, from standing on the 10th tee,” said Hatton, who even flashed a rare smile on 18. “So really happy with how it's played out. Yeah, good day's work.”
Scheffler made a run of his own to slam the door with five consecutive birdies from Nos. 8 to 12 to prevent Hatton from becoming the first English and sixth European winner of the Players.
The value of Hatton’s finish is counted in more than dollars. It vaulted him comfortably into the top 50 on the PGA Tour’s season-long points list, which is key to entry into next season’s most lucrative designated events.
“So I'm playing catch-up to a lot of guys that have played quite a bit of golf already,” Hatton said of the FedEx Cup race. “Obviously some of the European lads are in the same boat where we play DP World stuff at the back end of the calendar year and we miss some events over in the States. So, yeah, I'm just out here trying to earn as many points as I can and try and set myself up nicely for next year.”
Scott Michaux