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Event: Alfred Dunhill Links Championship
Date: October 5-8
Location: St Andrews, Carnoustie & Kingsbarns
TV: Sky Sports Golf – Thurs, Fri & Sat: 1pm-5pm Sun: 12.30pm-5.30pm

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Tyrrell Hatton has defended his antics during the final round of the British Masters which left one European Tour veteran telling him to ‘grow up’.

The 25-year-old was visibly frustrated over the weekend at Close House, with Sky Sports commentator Mark Roe calling him out for inflicting some red-mist damage on the 15th green.

But it was fellow Englishman Gary Evans who shared his disapproval of Hatton’s behaviour the most, taking to Twitter to brand his body language ‘a disgrace’ among other things.

https://twitter.com/garyevansgolf/status/914511233201639426

Hatton ended up finishing T8 in north-east England and, asked ahead of his Alfred Dunhill Links Championship defence whether he had a response to Evans, he said: “No, not really. Look, I’m a passionate person trying to do my best to win a golf tournament. Occasionally that spills over.

“I’m human. I’m going to make mistakes from time-to-time – nobody’s perfect.

“Everybody goes about their way differently. That’s not to say one way is right and the other is wrong. I’m just trying to win and in the heat of the battle you sometimes do the wrong thing and that’s just how it is.”

Hatton’s four-shot victory over Ross Fisher and Richard Sterne last year – which included a course record equalling 62 in his third round at the Old Course on the Saturday – was his first and only European Tour win to date and he arrives in Scotland confident after a dismal few months.

“It’s great to be back,” added Hatton, who went from mid-March to last month’s Omega European Masters without a single top ten. “The 12 months has gone by pretty quick and my game feels in good shape after a horrible summer.

“I’m feeling a lot more comfortable with my game. I’ve given myself a lot of opportunities in the last two weeks. I’m hitting good shots and holing putts and when you do that, you’re going to be up there.”

Hatton, once again, will be partnered by Fifty Shades Of Grey actor Jamie Dornan and will get his title defence underway at 11.12am tomorrow on the Old Course.