Tyrrell Hatton saves the day for 19-year-old Caleb Surratt with a classy gesture
It didn't take long for Caleb Surratt to feel the rigors of being a professional at just 19 years old. So much so, that he nearly had nowhere to sleep on his first night in Las Vegas. Fortunately for him, teammate Tyrrell Hatton was there to save the day.
It happened when LIV Golf's Legion XIII team arrived at the hotel where they will be staying in Las Vegas. Upon checking in, the front desk clerks surprised Caleb Surratt by telling him that he couldn't rent a room by himself, due to his age.
Fortunately for him, Caleb Surratt was traveling with his team, and one of his colleagues, Tyrrell Hatton, stepped forward to bail him out. Hatton himself recounted the incident during a press conference on Tuesday, February 6.
Here is part of Hatton's account:
"Checking in yesterday, I kind of kept looking over to Caleb [Surratt], and he was looking over at me quite nervous, so once I finished checking in, I sort of wandered over to make sure that he was OK, and as I got there, the lady checking him in said that he needed someone over 21 to be on the reservation to allow him to stay in the room. I had to hand over my driver's license to make sure he had a bed for the night."
In addition to Caleb Surratt and Tyrrell Hatton, Legion XIII is comprised of captain Jon Rahm and Kieran Vincent. The team will be playing the LIV Golf Las Vegas beginning Thursday, February 8.
What did Caleb Surratt play in his professional debut?
Caleb Surratt began his professional career just two weeks ago, with the goal of joining LIV Golf. Up to that point, Surratt was ranked No. 10 in the world amateur rankings and was a sophomore at the University of Tennessee.
His professional debut occurred last weekend at the LIV Golf Mayakoba, where he had an excellent result. At El Camaleon Golf Club, Surratt finished T13 with a score of five under, seven strokes behind the champion, Joaquin Niemann.
The youngster's first and second rounds were of little consequence, with scores of even par and 1 under respectively. However, he had some interesting moments during both days.
During the first round, Surrat started with par on his first four holes, followed by a birdie and bogey. Then came two unlucky holes in which he scored a bogey and double bogey. However, he managed to pull himself together and managed to score three more bogeys to save par for the round.
The second round went similarly. Surratt started well, with two birdies and no bogeys on his first nine holes. However, another consecutive bogey and double bogey could have complicated his day, but he recovered and made two more birdies to score 1 under.
In the third round, Surratt showed his quality, not only by achieving his best score (-4), but also because he again had to overcome two unfortunate holes, this time with a bogey and triple bogey. However, his response was much better than in previous rounds, as he made consecutive birdies on his final five holes.