Tyrrell Hatton doubles down on hate for the hole in Abu Dhabi

The 18th hole at Yas Links offers the opportunity for fireworks on Sunday as the penultimate event of the DP World Tour season draws to a close. We can only hope those fireworks involve Tyrrell Hatton.

Not for his own psyche of course, because Hatton hates that hole. But mainly because it is so rare in this sport for players to overcome emotions – or succumb to – hatred of a hole. Partly because players so rarely share their distaste for golf course design out loud during a tournament.

But that’s what Hatton did Saturday after his third round: a brilliant 64 that, predictably, ended in a bogey at the par-5 finisher. Hatton had made a double bogey on that hole to end his second round and stoke the fire.

“Then, yes, my least favorite hole in the Middle East,” Hatton said of the 18th. “That has a good competitor for the last hole next week [at Jumeirah Golf Estates]. It wasn’t the best shot, the second shot was in. It was a perfect tee shot. And yeah, I don’t know how a ball sticks in a 7-wood, but I mean, the sand is so bad, which is unbelievable; we are in the desert.”

There is more than one piece of gold in that complaint. Firstly, Hatton doesn’t appear to be a fan of the bunker sand at Yas Links as his second shot on the 18th appeared to have hit the bunker despite coming with a lower spinning 7-wood. But back to the beginning…

Hatton hates the 18th hole enough to call it his least favorite hole in the Middle East – a region where he plays a lot of golf every year, between about four DPWT tournaments and at least one LIV event. The hole has a bunker cut approximately 280 yards down the center of the fairway. Behind it the fairway is around 360 meters.

With a winding water hazard on the left side of the hole and a not very wide path to the green, there isn’t much for a comfortable layup position, forcing players to pull the driver and, as Hatton discovered Friday, occasionally end up in the centerline bunker. That will upset everyone, just like Hatton did three years ago.

“That has to be one of the worst par-5s I’ve ever seen in my life,” Hatton said at the 2022 HSBC Championship in Abu Dhabi. (He had just made a quadruple-bogey 9.)

When forced to explain himself, he uncorked:

“What’s wrong with that? Where do you start? There shouldn’t be a bunker in the middle of the fairway, and the distance to a forward tee shouldn’t be more than 600 yards. As a pro, if you make a good drive, you should at least have a chance to get to the green in two, otherwise the hole becomes a par 3, and that is if you play it right. Hardly anyone will get there in two if the wind is even slightly against you.”