Dubai: Englishman Tyrrell Hatton has everything to play for to cap a dream rookie year on The European Tour at the DP World Tour Championship on Sunday.
Hatton, who turned 23 last month, finished the penultimate day of the season-ending tournament with four-under 68 for a three-day total of 206 to put himself within four shots of leaders Rafa Cabrera-Bello and Henrik Stenson.
After turning professional in 2011, this is the Englishman’s first year on the Tour as he lies 46th on the Race to Dubai. His earnings on debut currently total up to 781,280 euros after playing in 29 events on the Tour so far. His best performance was tied runner-up at the Joburg Open in February, followed by a joint third place at the Omega European Masters in September.
In Dubai, Hatton has been one of the strong finishers but only on the front nine holes. On Friday, he reeled off birdies on the first four holes, something he replicated on Saturday, and then failed to cash in on the momentum on the back stretch.
“It’s the same old story I guess. I seemed to play in the first four holes quite well the first three days, and then I just can’t keep the putts dropping, really. It’s quite frustrating, and I had a good chance on 18 to get to 11, but just missed. Hopefully I’ll have a better back nine tomorrow,” Hatton related.
“It’s weird to think that it’s my name next to theirs [Stenson, Rose and McIlroy], but obviously I’ve got my job to do. So I’ll just keep playing and hopefully have a good one tomorrow,” he hoped.
“Obviously I’ve been playing well and I just got to try and keep that going, and if I’m in contention tomorrow afternoon, there will be a bit more pressure but hopefully I’ll do well under that.”
