Never let it be said Tyrrell Hatton lacks passion for the Ryder Cup and other drinking vessels. That much became apparent through a wild series of recollections on Wednesday when he vividly described the bedlam of the night he qualified for the European team.
It occurred roughly a month ago, when he was called by Luke Donald to confirm he was mathematically sure of his place at Bethpage Black. What followed led to a hasty payment for a destroyed hotel bed after a bender with his LIV team-mate Jon Rahm.
Hatton outlined all of the grisly details in between during an otherwise sedate press conference to preview this week’s BMW PGA Championships. Like one of his on-course eruptions, there was little warning.
‘That was a very nice phone call to receive,’ he said. ‘Jon had just won the individual title (in the LIV rankings), so we had a bit of a tear-up. That was aggressive. I won’t go into details of the state I woke up to.’
Except, he did. In so much as he could remember, the Sunday night celebrations in Indianapolis involved around six glasses of wine, Disaronno Sours at Rahm’s request until the bar ran dry, and various other concoctions including margaritas and ‘a strawberry vodka thing’. At some stage, Hatton took a nap on the table.
By his description, ‘it was funny at the time’, but less so the next morning.
Tyrell Hatton’s Ryder Cup inclusion led to a hasty payment for a destroyed hotel bed and falling asleep in his own vomit after a bender with his LIV team-mate Jon Rahm
Sunday night celebrations in Indianapolis involved around six glasses of wine, Disaronno Sours, and various other concoctions
‘When I got back into the room, I fell across the bed sideways, and face down,’ he said. ‘When I woke up, I walked to the bathroom, looked in the mirror, and I had sick on my face, in my beard. How I set an alarm to make a flight in a few hours’ time, I don’t know.
‘Waking up in a slightly more sober state was horrendous, and having to clean up that – I mean, I ended up calling (his wife) Emily, saying ‘I don’t know what to do.’ I was rushing to make the room somewhat acceptable before leaving.
‘I ended up stripping in the bed, leaving some cash and a note, saying I was ‘really sorry, I was sick in the bed in the night, please throw it in the trash. I don’t ever want to get to that state again to be honest.’
Time will tell what state Hatton might bring upon himself if Europe win against the odds on foreign soil a fortnight from now. That will be a formidably tough task in what is expected to be a hostile atmosphere in New York and in a competition where the home team has won by wide margins in each of the past five editions.
An extra variable in the local mood this time will be the presence of President Donald Trump on the opening Friday. Given the carnage caused by his appearance at the US Open men’s singles final, which was delayed by half an hour to accommodate heightened security, fears of unnecessary drama on the first tee are well founded.
In response, Luke Donald has called on organisers to learn the lessons of what happened at Flushing Meadows. He said: ‘We were told that he’s coming. We don’t know the details yet and I think the tours are talking with The PGA of America to get more information. I guess he will want to be on the first tee.
‘Again, we understand that he’s coming and both teams will be ready for that. There was some delays at the tennis and I think we’re probably all aware of that, but hopefully they have learnt from that.
‘It’s a big process, obviously, to get a president to come to an event – there’s a lot of security and everything. It takes some work and the PGA of America’s job is to make sure it’s seamless. I think the crowd is probably going to be loud no matter what.’
