Tyrrell Hatton rages at Masters rivals as he faces LIV Golf's biggest problem

Tyrrell Hatton slammed the slow play at the Masters in his latest rant against Augusta National.

Hatton, 32, finished his second round on two-over-par, which should be enough to make the cut. Yet he needs to win a major soon rather than later, as he starts to drop down the rankings due to LIV’s lack of Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) recognition.

Only the world’s top golfers are invited to play in all four majors, unless they have won a major in the last five years or have received a special invite. Hatton has already dropped from 16th to 19th in the rankings and can no longer rely on his OWGR to book his place in golf’s premier events. Yet winning a major this year would solve that problem.

It’s not the first time Hatton has complained at the Masters. Two years ago, the LIV Golf player branded the course set-up as “unfair” after weekend rounds of 79 and 80.

This time, Hatton was not happy with the pace of play from the group in front – Patrick Reed, Sungjae Im and Kurt Kitagama – after taking nearly five hours to play 18 holes in gusting winds. “The lads in front have been so slow,” said Hatton.

“It’s pretty poor from the officials that it took 32 holes to put them on the clock. Yesterday they’d lost a hole and a half, and then they weren’t any better even this morning, and then for the second round they were just brutal.

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Hatton is struggling at the Masters

“Fine for them; they’re not waiting on any shot that they hit. But for us, we stood in the fairway, we stood on the tee. It was really hard to get a rhythm.

“We stood on the 8th waiting to hit our second shots in, and they’re still putting out, and the lads in front of them have teed off 10. It’s a small field. It’s not hard to really keep up with the group in front. I understand if you’ve had a tough hole, but when it’s just like every hole, then it’s a bit more frustrating.”

Hatton’s mood was not helped by re-starting his first round on No.15 and carding a double bogey – throwing the ball in the water – and bogeying the par-five hole again in his second round. “I don’t feel like I had too many good breaks,” he claimed. “The score is as bad as it could be.”

His Ryder Cup team-mate Nicolai Hojgaard is leading the challenge to be the first rookie winner here in 45 years despite two late bogeys. Fuzzy Zoeller was the last debutant to win here in 1979 and 20 first-time players are bidding to emulate him this year. And Great Dane Hojgaard, who helped Europe to victory in Rome, is on four-under par at the halfway mark after rounds of 67 and 73.

It could have been better for the world No.38, who birdied all three holes around Amen Corner in his first competitive round here. He came back to finish the final three holes of his first round and shared the lead on six-under par during his second round before dropping shots at the final two holes. “I would love to play 17 and 18 again but it feels good,” he said. “I’m enjoying the challenge.”