Tyrrell Hatton says he’s not trying ‘to be funny’ with on-course outbursts - “I definitely didn’t do a middle finger”

Tyrrell Hatton has joined the star-packed field of the 2023 Open Championship, which is underway at the Royal Liverpool Golf Course from July 20 to July 23. The major tournament concluded with three rounds with the fourth scheduled to begin on Sunday, July 23.

Royal Liverpool is hosting the tournament since 2014 and there are only a few golfers in the field who has good experience of playing at the venue. Players have been struggling with their game, especially on the concluding holes.

Tyrrell Hatton became frustrated while playing the 18th hole during the second round of the British Open on Friday, July 21. He made a quadruple bogey on the par 5 before shooting his pretend shotgun down the hole three times in frustration.

Tyrrell Hatton is a big fan of the 18th! pic.twitter.com/8IBY64TPKu

In a recent interview with the media, the 31-year-old golfer opened out about his behaviour. According to the Belfast Telegraph, Hatton said:

“I’ve done that one before on 18. Just a reaction to not being happy – but I definitely didn’t do a middle finger (gesture). I’m not doing it to be funny. I’m just being myself, what comes into my head at that time. That’s it."

“I just had two bad swings back-to-back and that kind of effectively takes us out of the tournament," he added.

It is worth noting that Tyrrell Hatton made the cut despite carding a quadruple bogey on the 18th in the second round.

Tyrrell Hatton's performance at the 2023 Open Championship

Tyrrell Hatton started the 2023 Open Championship with an incredible birdie on the second hole. He made two birdies on the front nine of the opening round on Thursday, July 20, and one more birdie and three bogeys on the back nine. The English golfer wrapped up with a score of 71 after the first round.

He made four birdies, two bogeys and one double bogey on Friday and four birdies and one bogey on Saturday.

Hatton settled in 24th position following the third round on Saturday, July 22, with a score of one under. He will resume his game on the first hole of the Royal Liverpool at 6:45 M ET alongside Corey Conners.

Noticeably, Brian Hatton maintained the lead for the first three rounds at the major tournament. Following the Saturday round, Harman settled at the top position with a score of under 12, a five-stroke lead over his countryman Cameron Young.

Jon Rahm secured the third spot on the leaderboard followed by Tommy Fleetwood, who settled in fourth place alongside Sepp Straka, Antoine Rozner, Viktor Hovland and Jason Day.

Alex Fitzpatrick registered the ninth spot on the leaderboard with Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma, while Rory McIlroy finished in 11th place in a six-way tie with Emiliano Grillo, Nicolai Hojgaard, Matthew Jordan, Thomas Detry and Tom Kim.

Here are the afternoon tee times of The Open Championship round 4:

6:35 a.m. – Alexander Björk, Byeong Hun An
6:45 a.m. – Corey Conners, Tyrrell Hatton
7:00 a.m. – Patrick Reed, Cameron Smith
7:10 a.m. – Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay
7:20 a.m. – Rickie Fowler, Min Woo Lee
7:30 a.m. – Jordan Spieth, Max Homa
7:40 a.m. – Hideki Matsuyama, Romain Langasque
7:50 a.m. – Sungjae Im, Matt Fitzpatrick
8:00 a.m. – Emiliano Grillo, Rory McIlroy
8:10 a.m. – Matthew Jordan, Nicolai Hojgaard
8:25 a.m. – Tom Kim, Thomas Detry
8:35 a.m. – Shubhankar Sharma, Alex Fitzpatrick
8:45 a.m. – Tommy Fleetwood, Sepp Straka
8:55 a.m. – Jason Day, Antoine Rozner
9:05 a.m. – Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm
9:15 a.m. – Cameron Young, Brian Harman

*All time ET