{"id":1093486,"date":"2026-07-16T20:22:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1093486\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T20:22:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T20:22:19","slug":"tyrrell-hatton-won-over-the-open-crowd-with-liverpool-fc-bag-then-laid-down-early-marker-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1093486\/","title":{"rendered":"Tyrrell Hatton won over the Open crowd with Liverpool FC bag \u2013 then laid down early marker \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Their names were greeted with applause. The reception was polite for the two Americans, defending champion Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau, and a bit more effusive for Tyrrell Hatton. That may have been because his Legion XIII tour bag boldly flaunted the red of Liverpool FC<\/a> with \u201cYou\u2019ll Never Walk Alone\u201d printed into its fabric. <\/p>\n

Or, maybe, it was a form of sympathetic bonding towards Hatton from those gathered in the grandstand around the first tee box. This was, of course, the morning after the night before, when England\u2019s World Cup dreams floundered.<\/p>\n

At least Hatton had his own dreams to chase, even if a wayward drive down the right side of the first hole seemed a little ominous. His play of the first involved walking most of the way up to the green and then retracing his steps back over the hills before playing an exquisite approach to 10 feet to set up an opening birdie. It was a first glimpse at Hatton\u2019s way of getting the job done.<\/p>\n

Squinting eyes from those behind the ropes sought to distinguish the symbolism of the three tour bags hauled by the respective caddies.<\/p>\n

While Hatton\u2019s bag was clearly a nod to Liverpool \u2013 with the European Cup below his name \u2013 the other two were eye-catching in their own rights. DeChambeau\u2019s bold yellow bag mimicked the colouring of the giant leaderboards dotted around the course. It also blended in with the \u201cQuiet Please\u201d holders of the accompanying marshalls, as well as the bibs worn by the caddies.<\/p>\n

World No 1 Scheffler\u2019s TaylorMade bag carried an array of messaging, with multiple symbols. Royalty. Fish and chips. A merry-go-round.<\/p>\n

The three \u2013 two from LIV<\/a>, one from the PGA Tour<\/a> \u2013 were comfortable, with none of the angst or tensions that have existed between the various tours in the fracturing of men\u2019s professional golf in recent years. All would post scores that had them in strong positions to contend going forward: DeChambeau signed for a 67, Scheffler for a 68 and Hatton for a 69.<\/p>\n

\"BrysonBryson DeChambeau and Tyrrell Hatton at the end of day one of the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. Photograph: Andrew Redington\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cOur group, we were pretty chatty today, I think,\u201d said Hatton. \u201cThere was times when you just have a good chat before you have to start focusing on the next shot . . . you only need to concentrate when you get to your ball, don\u2019t you. There\u2019s a lot more downtime.”<\/p>\n

There were occasions, though, when one of the trio were diverted off course.<\/p>\n

In Hatton\u2019s case, it came on the 13th. A wild drive found a sandy lie where, most likely, a spectator had left the heel imprint of his size 10s. \u201cI was worried about it,\u201d said Hatton. \u201cI thought, more realistically, I was probably going to fat it because it was in a heel print. I was worried about carrying the bunker that was, like, 50 yards ahead of me. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Royal Birkdale\u2019s browned-out turf to provide a magical reminder of old OpensOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cI somehow managed to get ball first. I knew, if I did get ball first, it was going to come out low. I was more worried about the people that stood there, to be honest. I didn\u2019t want to hit anyone. Obviously [I] got lucky, it ended up just on the edge of the green,\u201d explained Hatton of conjuring up a par-four on the hole.<\/p>\n

In Scheffler\u2019s case, his moment of drama came on the 17th. He incurred a bogey six on the par-five that could potentially have been higher.<\/p>\n

\"ScottieScottie Scheffler greets fans on day one of the Open at Royal Birkdale. Photograph: Adrian Dennis\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

When Scheffler got his ball, it was imbedded underneath a wire. \u201cI\u2019m hoping somebody stepped on it, but nobody would fess up. Apparently nobody did. It was just one of those things. I was just shocked at how deep the ball was in that grass. It looked like a lot of good spots around there, and then all of a sudden you get to one area where my ball is. I considered actually taking an unplayable. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just one of those deals; sometimes you hit it over there and you get a clean lie and you\u2019re able to give yourself a look, and then other times like today, you pay a pretty severe price.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he provided the answer to his own question of being there in the first place. \u201cI guess don\u2019t hit it offline,\u201d said Scheffler, who had reached four-under through six holes only to stall thereafter. \u201cAny time you can shoot under par to start a major championship, it\u2019s a good spot to be in. If I continue to strike the ball the way I did today and just keep giving myself looks, that\u2019s part of it. Golf is played over 72 holes and I definitely liked what I saw today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Their names were greeted with applause. The reception was polite for the two Americans, defending champion Scottie Scheffler…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1093487,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4106],"tags":[73920,2826,763,79,16,15],"class_list":["post-1093486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-british-open","tag-golf","tag-liverpool-fc","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116931524775384797","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1093486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1093487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1093486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1093486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1093486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}