Tyrrell Hatton Keeps His Head and Wins His First PGA Tour Title

The win on Sunday in the Arnold Palmer Invitational came in just his second start since returning from surgery on his right wrist. ORLANDO, Fla. — A year ago at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Tyrrell Hatton of England hit a golf shot so crooked and so wayward that he turned to his caddie, Mick Donaghy, and asked, “Have you seen a worse golf shot? ” Donaghy, lugging a bag professionally for more than three decades, stayed mute until Hatton persisted: “Answer the question.

” “No,” Donaghy finally said. Hatton agreed: “That’s terrible. ” Captured on videotape and widely viewed on social media, the exchange had been how golf fans best knew Hatton — unless it was the video he tweeted when his fiancée, Emily Braisher, inadvertently slammed a portable toilet door during his backswing at the Italian Open, a tweet appended with the hashtag #weddingsoff. (Hatton was joking.

) But Sunday, in the final round of this year’s Arnold Palmer event, the entertaining, volatile but charismatic Hatton made his mark on the golf world in a more permanent, arguably constructive way. Resolute in windy, challenging conditions — there was only one round shot in the 60s in the final two days at Bay Hill — Hatton earned his first PGA Tour victory with a gutty, two-over-par 74 on Sunday that left him one stroke ahead of the runner-up, Marc Leishman. Hatton, a four-time winner on the European Tour, finished the tournament at four under par, a wide smile on his face and a ready quip about his notable temper. “I was annoyed and could have easily blown up at times, but kept my head a little bit,” said Hatton, who once joked that his nickname should be Head Case Hatton.

“The hardest thing for me today would be to manage myself. I did a decent job. ” Hatton’s victory over a deep field comes in only his second tournament since surgery on his right wrist in November. On Friday, when asked how he had spent his time rehabilitating from the surgery, Hatton smiled and answered: “I drank a lot of red wine and played Xbox.

That was it. When the cast came off and I was told I could play Xbox, I didn’t hesitate. ” It may not be the customary regimen for a comeback, but it seems to have suited the whimsical Hatton, who entered the event 32nd in the world golf rankings.