Tyrrell Hatton ties course record, towards the top in Toronto

TORONTO – With the morning chill and rain giving way to a pleasant afternoon at Oakdale Golf and Country Club, the first-time RBC Canadian Open host venue was ripe for scoring.

And Tyrrell Hatton took advantage better than anyone.

Hatton shot an 8-under 64 Friday, setting the composite-routing course record at the club, and tying the club’s regular course record – set by a member in 1986.

After an even-par 72 to start the week, Hatton’s 8-under effort moved him up nearly 70 spots on the leaderboard and into a tie for second. He’s one shot back of the lead through 36 holes.

Hatton shot matching 4-under 32s on both nines on Friday. More impressive was his front-nine score, as it was playing nearly three strokes harder on Friday than the back nine at Oakdale. In fact, Nos. 3 and 6 were tied for the most difficult holes on the course.

Hatton made nine birdies on the day, including five in a row from Nos. 7-11, and he leaned on a hot putter to add plenty of circles to his scorecard. He finished first on the day in Strokes Gained: Putting, gaining more than four shots on the field on the greens, and making 125-feet worth of putts in the second round.

Hatton has four top-5 finishes so far this season including a runner up at THE PLAYERS Championship after a final-round 65. At the WM Phoenix Open, the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, and the Wells Fargo Championship – designated events, all – Hatton finished tied for sixth, tied for fourth, and tied for third, respectively.

Clearly he knows what it takes to navigate difficult golf courses and big-time fields. But now he’s trying to win on TOUR for the first time since 2020.

“It's a nice place to be after 36 holes, but there's still another 36 to go,” Hatton said. “You still need to make a lot of birdies this weekend. I'm going to try my best to do that.”