Tyrrell Hatton lobs ball into Belfry lake after ‘annoying’ finish on DP World Tour return but impresses in quest for Ryder Cup

Tyrrell Hatton made an impressive start to the Betfred British Masters but his infamous temper did strike on the final hole of his opening round.

Hatton is playing at The Belfry this week as he looks to secure the necessary points needed to make Luke Donald’s 2025 Ryder Cup team.

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The 32-year-old made a fine start to his round at the iconic Brabazon Course, sitting four-under par ahead of facing the tricky 18th hole.

After driving into a fairway bunker and then hitting his approach into another sand trap, Hatton had to settle for a closing bogey.

And his frustrations got the better of him as he launched his ball into famous lake that surrounds the final hole at the Brabazon.

Hatton said: “I’m not going to change at 32. If I’ve not changed in 10 years, then I don’t think I can change. I’m just reacting to things in the moment.

“There are times when I wish I didn’t say certain words and some things come out that you wish you could take back, but at the end of the day it’s just a reaction. I guess I can’t apologise for being myself.

“I played some pretty good golf today, missed pretty much every putt I looked at and don’t think I could have scored much worse to be honest.”

Asked about the frustration of missing his par putt on the last, Hatton added: “You’d rather hit it out to 20 or 30 feet and two putt. You hit an unreal bunker shot and then miss from three-and-a-half feet, it’s annoying.”

Hatton responded well to his disappointing end to Thursday’s opening round by starting Friday on fire.

The Englishman, a six-time winner on the European Tour, birdied four of his opening eight holes to vault to the top of the leaderboard.

Europe’s returning Ryder Cup captain Donald is also playing at the Belfry this week and will be encouraged by Hatton’s form.

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Now on the LIV Golf tour, Hatton is looking to play the required number of DP World Tour events and gain the all-important points to make the team that will head to Bethpage Black to face Team USA next September.

Discussing his plans, Hatton told talkSPORT before the British Masters: “I always wanted to come back and play the events that I could. And obviously this week fell into a break in the schedule with LIV.

“The tour know what events I’m trying to play and we’ve been pretty honest with them from the start. Even in the week before I signed with LIV, they kind of know my position and how I feel about the tour.

“I wanted to play when I can and this is the first one that I could since the Desert Classic.

“It’s really nice to see some faces I haven’t seen for a while and just catching up with certain guys. It’s good to be back playing here.”