Austin, TX ..
Tyrrell Hatton found himself handed a two stroke penalty and bundled out of the event in breaching a ‘tournament rule’ on day three of the WGC – Dell Match-Play Championship in Austin, TX.
The High Wycombe golfer was on the first green in a three-man sudden death play-off to decide who in their group goes through to Saturday’s quarter finals on the Austin Country Club course in the Texas capital.
Hatton sent his birdie attempt to just two feet short from the hole but in addressing what was his fourth shot he accidentally knocked his ball forward albeit by one centimetre.
England’s Tyrrell Hatton disappointed to have been eliminated from the last 16 in the WGC – Dell Match-Play Championship.
The ‘rule’ in place this week allows a player to replace his ball without penalty but Hatton’s sin was to not to replace the ball and in walking off with what he thought was a par ‘4’, and to remain tied with Spain’s Rafa Cabrera-Bello and American Charles Howell 111, soon turned into a double bogey ‘6’.
Under the sudden-death procedure it meant Hatton was eliminated posting a score two strokes more than his playing partners
A rules official was waiting for Hatton to ask whether or not if he’d replaced his ball after it had rocked forward.
“At the time I said to the ref I didn’t, and that I just knocked the ball in,” said Hatton.
“I had missed my birdie putt and I simply stood up to just putt out but then when I put my putter down I knocked the ball a centimetre forward
“He said if you’d replaced the ball it wouldn’t have been classed as a stroke, obviously I hadn’t replaced it so I’m going home.
“It’s pretty disappointing, as it was the easiest putt I had all day into the last 16”
Hatton, and competing in the event for a first occasion, was returning to his Florida base to continue preparations for his maiden Masters appearance staring on 6th April.
In the end, it was Howell 111 who won with a birdie at the fifth extra hole to now advance to the last 16 in the $US 9.75m event.
