Tyrrell Hatton: Slow Play Warning Was ‘A Disgrace’ Involving Phil Mickelson

Tour player Tyrrell Hatton was raging regarding a recent slow play warning. Not because he was fingered, but that he and Shubankhar Sharma were cited–and not Phil Mickelson.

“So Sharma had been, he wasn’t that slow, to be honest. But I feel like Phil was taking quite a lot of time on certain things,” Hatton said. “You’ve got four holes left to play, it’s sort of crunch time. And we’ve all hit good tee shots up 15, and one of the officials drives over and says, ‘Phil you’re exempt, but Tyrrell and Sharma I’m going to start timing you.’

GolfChannel’s Will Gray has the details via Sky Sports. 

Can you believe what this referee’s just done? He’s said that me and Sharma are on the clock.’ I said to him, in the circumstances, that’s a disgrace.”

A PGA Tour rules official told GolfChannel.com that the situation outlined by Hatton is within the rules, whereby once a group receives a formal warning the individuals in the group can then be “observed” individually to determine if further action is required.

The section of the PGA Tour rule book pertaining to slow play reads: “Once a group has been warned, the Rules Committee (if available to do so) will monitor the pace of individual players in the group to determine if any players should be timed individually, as opposed to the entire group, in the case the group does not regain its position on the course.”

Hatton eagled the 15th hole in the immediate wake of the warning, but he admitted to being unnerved by the presence of the official with stopwatch in hand near the 16th green when he raced a birdie putt more than 10 feet past. He ended up one shot out of a playoff, where Mickelson beat Justin Thomas for his first win in nearly five years.

“It was quite frustrating for me,” Hatton said. “Obviously I’ve grown up watching golf, and Phil’s been around a helluva long time, and I’m trying my best to beat him. But I just found that slightly off-putting and it was sort of, when I came away from the tournament, it’s frustrating that that actually happened.”

Thinking it might be a good watch if Tyrrell and Phil match up at the Ryder Cup later this year.