AUSTIN, Texas – Late into Tyrrell Hatton’s warmup, prior to his Day 1 match at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, he took what he called a “75 percent 6-iron” swing “just for rhythm” and recoiled.
The Englishman explained that he immediately felt a sharp pain in his right hand following the swing, and he went to the PGA Tour trainers for treatment. He took Advil and was able to play with limited pain, but he admitted afterward that it wasn’t easy.
“It was not ideal 20 minutes before my tee time,” Hatton said. “It was all fine with the different movements, but it was only when, in the middle of my backswing when the grip went into the hand, that the pressure made some really sharp pain and through impact.”
Matches and scoring from the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship
Hatton said there were only a few shots that “really hurt” but he lost his opening match to Ben Griffin, 3 and 1.
“Hopefully it will just be a weird thing, and I’ll wake up tomorrow and it’ll be fine,” Hatton said. “I don’t want to say I’m not too worried about it, but hopefully it will be a bit easier tomorrow.”
Hatton, who finished runner-up two weeks ago at The Players Championship, is scheduled to play Lucas Herbert in Round 2 at Austin Country Club.