Q. (Off microphone.)
TYRRELL HATTON: I don't feel like I lost momentum at that point. I mean, I played the first five holes really well. One bad shot, which it was actually the right club, I got underneath it. It was a bad swing. I kind of got over that pretty quickly.
Then, yeah, I mean, you have to play a bit defensively from that point on that hole, where the pin location was.
I stepped up on the next, hit a lovely tee shot. Had a sort of perfect position going into the green. Obviously just misjudged how far the ball was going on that occasion.
I played really good today. I gave myself so many opportunities. The 3-putt on 13 sort of stings more than anything just because I hit that putt so many times in practice. Actually couldn't keep it on the green. It was such a hard putt.
I was amazed at how slow it actually was. I actually left a couple of downhill putts short today anyway. I guess the reputation of weekends at the U.S. Open kind of scared me a little bit more.
Yeah, just from how the practice rounds were, hitting that exact putt, I knew what I needed to do. I actually felt like I hit it at a nice speed. I looked up, Oh, my God, the worst place you can leave it.
I hit a really nice second putt for how soft I had to hit it. I started on my line. That's all I could do in that moment.
Putt on 15, lovely shot in. It was just one of those putts, it looks great on TV, but you're kind of standing over. It's one of those horrible little ones where you can feel the wind sort of puffing, wanting to push the ball right early. You have to hit it soft.
If I started outside the left, it's not going to turn. If I started left center, I was going to miss right. It's just a horrible putt. I pushed it a little bit. Started it sort of left center and it missed right.
Yeah, that was just frustrating.
Q. Was that when you were barking at the cup afterwards?
TYRRELL HATTON: No, I was moaning. Obviously I pushed it a little bit. The greens were crusty coming in. They didn't roll as true as they have earlier in the week. So that little wobble there kind of went against me, too, which I was frustrated at that more. Also frustrated at myself for sort of just missing my line ever so slightly.
Yeah, it wasn't my day on the greens. I'm sort of sad about that because as it stands, seven shots back going into tomorrow. I know anything can happen, especially around this golf course. Yeah, hopefully I can wake up with the same golf swing I had today because I'm really happy how I've ended up hitting the golf ball.
Q. You're still trying to see how you can get up the leaderboard, as you did with the Masters. Has that entered into your mind at all this week?
TYRRELL HATTON: To be honest, no. Hadn't really thought about it till you mentioned it.
Q. Sorry.
TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, cheers (laughter).
No, I mean, just got to go out there, I'll give it my best, like every other player out there. That's all I can do. I just hope that I can give myself the opportunities to have the birdie putts required, give myself a chance tomorrow.
It's a tall ask. Stranger things have happened. But me and everyone else that's playing, we'll give it our best.
Q. Tee-to-green you're striking it so well. That's got to give you some confidence. Get the putter hot, who knows what might happen?
TYRRELL HATTON: Yeah, I don't even feel like I putted bad today. I feel like I genuinely hit a lot of good putts. They just burned the edge, didn't want to fall in for me. You always have days like that. Unfortunately, I guess when the stakes are so high, it makes it a bit more frustrating and tougher to take.
I think how I handled the whole day mentally, when I did hit a few poor shots, at different times I might have sort of lost my head more, struggled coming in. I sort of feel like I held my own and was in a good head space, played good golf. Just didn't quite work out how I hoped it would today.
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