Tyrrell Hatton recorded a 4-under-par 67 and shares the lead with Scott Vincent after the first round of LIV Golf Andalucia on Thursday in Valderrama, Spain.
Hatton, who was competing in his first event since welcoming the birth of his first child, recorded five birdies against one bogey playing in gusty conditions at Real Club Valderrama, home of the 1997 Ryder Cup.
The 34-year-old Englishman admitted that he is having difficulty getting significant practice time on the golf course given present shifts in priorities.
“Yeah, absolutely different preparation,” he said. “Yeah, once we got her home, it was a lot harder than I expected it to be. I tried to practice every day, and by practice, I mean, I literally hit between 35 and 75 balls. I’ve got a swing studio at the house, so that makes it a little bit easier.
“For the rest of the time, I was trying to be in the house helping Emily. She ended up having a C-section, so her movement was somewhat limited. Just tried my best to be there and support her and obviously look after our daughter.”
Vincent, from Zimbabwe, turned in a bogey-free round while competing in place of HyFlyers GC captain Phil Mickelson.
“It was incredible. I think it’s the best 18 holes I’ve played this year is maybe what I would say,” Vincent said after recording a birdie on sixth, 11th, 12th and 15th holes.
“It was just so tough out there. I was able to execute a lot of the shots how I wanted to, and then when I did get in trouble, I was able to make amazing saves.”
Hatton and Vincent reside one stroke ahead of Thomas Detry (68 on Thursday and alone in third place) and two clear of a five-golfer contingent that includes Sergio Garcia (69) of Spain and Britain’s Cam Smith, who bogeyed two par-3s.
“Well, I’m very happy. Obviously I got a little lucky there on 18, but very, very tricky,” Garcia said. “Obviously Valderrama is already tricky enough, and with these gusty winds, I got two huge gusts on 16 and 17. 16 I hit my 8-iron 120 yards and I tried to keep it down. It doesn’t make any sense.
“Then on the next, I had like 215 yards to carry the water, and I hit it like 200 yards with a 3-iron and I flushed it. It’s a good thing that I hit it a little right.
“Yeah, it’s just tricky. You just have to be very patient. Even sometimes hitting good shots, you don’t get rewarded because of the wind.”
Defending champion Talor Gooch (72) is tied for 19th place.
From the team perspective, Crushers GC shot even-par to seize a two-stroke lead over Korean Golf Club, RangeGoats Golf Club and Legion XIII.
–Field Level Media
