After day one, Hatton voiced his displeasure with the course setup, so the R&A made a slight change to Royal Troon for the second round.
Tyrrell Hatton is never one to shy away from voicing his opinion, no matter how strong it may be.
So after his 2-over 73 on Thursday, a round in which he had 13 pars to start, Hatton criticized The R&A for its course setup, saying that the organization should have catered to the southern wind that wreaked havoc on the players at Royal Troon all day.
“They didn’t put any tees forward,” Hatton said.
“You can’t reach any of the par-5s on the front nine.”
The 6th hole, the longest in Open Championship history, played as a monstrous 623-yard par-5 on Thursday. It yielded only 12 birdies, by far the least of the three par-5s, and played 0.25 strokes above par—the eighth most challenging hole of the day.
But on Friday morning, the R&A announced that it had moved the tees by 20 yards, catering to Hatton’s wish.
Forecasters have predicted that the wind will blow even harder at points on Friday, with gusts possibly reaching 30 miles per hour. Players faced 25-mile-per-hour gusts out of the south on Thursday.
Given that the 6th hole will play into the southern breeze, players would face an even more difficult par-5 if the tees remained in the same place. But the R&A shortened the 6th to 603 yards, making it slightly easier on the players as they will continue to battle brutal conditions on Friday.
“The conditions are difficult,” Hatton added.
“There’s a few holes that are just obviously playing really long. Unfortunately, that’s where it’s going at the moment, where they seem to try to make it longer to make it harder, which I think doesn’t make it the most enjoyable test.”
Hatton also expressed dismay for the 16th hole, the only par-5 on the back-nine.
“Was it 15 or 16, the par-5, you’re hitting a 4-iron off it,” Hatton said.
“Tell me a good par-5 where you’re hitting 4-iron off the tee. There isn’t one.”
A burn crosses the 16th fairway 312 yards from the tee. Since it played downwind, with the southern wind at the players’ backs, many had to take less than a driver off the tee to avoid the penalty area. That forced Hatton to lay up well short of the burn, as he ultimately made par there on Thursday. He did not have a single birdie during his first round.
He did not like the setup of the demanding par-3 17th, which measured 238 yards, either.
“Even though they’ve moved the tee back on 17, which I think is a shame, it’s still with the wind today. You’re hitting 5-iron and hoping it can stay on the green,” Hatton said.
“Rory [McIlroy] obviously hits it a lot higher and further, and he was hitting 7-iron there. It doesn’t change that it’s a tough hole, and it’s still hard to hit that green. I think it’s a good thing that the wind was playing down because they probably would have left the tee at the back if it was into off the left. Then do you want to watch guys hit 3-wood into a green that’s hard enough to hit with 7-iron?”
If Hatton had control of the course setup, he would undoubtedly shorten things.
Carnage will likely ensue with the high winds, but at least the R&A catered to one of his criticisms on Friday, taking some of the teeth out of the par-5 6th. Perhaps that will lead to more birdies. Perhaps not. Either way, the R&A listened.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
