If you are offended by swearing at the Open, mute the TV – this is the energy golf needs

Tyrrell Hatton gives his caddie Hugo Dobson a break on the 12th fairway at Royal Troon - If you are offended by swearing golfers at the Open then mute the TV – this is energy golf needs
Tyrrell Hatton gives his caddie Hugo Dobson a break on the 12th fairway at Royal Troon - Getty Images/Oisin Keniry

Sometimes the rage inside Tyrrell Hatton builds to such an extent that merely indulging in extreme swearing and wild gesticulation does not cut it.

The 152nd Open Championship witnessed a classic case of the “Terrible Tyrrells” when he informed his caddie he was playing so poorly that he did not deserve to have his bag carried.

So, for a couple of holes, the multi-millionaire lumped it around himself and plainly enjoyed the pain of  golf’s version of the mortification of the flesh. Perhaps Hatton’s clothing provider will knock him up a few sackcloth polo shirts.

By the 18th hole, however, Hatton had returned to his modus operandi for signalling intense displeasure. “F--- you!” he screamed as his ball headed towards the green. He then three-putted to miss the cut by two and in the Sky Sports booth they breathed a collective sigh of relief.

They had been apologising since Hatton’s second shot on the first morning, after he had been on the links for eight minutes. “We are sorry for any bad language you might have heard,” said Nick Dougherty.

In truth, it would have been fairer on the commentator and his colleagues if they had pre-recorded an apology in the style of railway station announcements. They were all at it, even Shane Lowry, the halfway leader. Links golf is infuriating at the best of times and, on occasion, Royal Troon provided the worst of times.

Bob MacIntyre, Viktor Hovland, Jordan Spieth… these are but a few of the profanity pros. Brian Harman, the defending champion, is one of the calmest characters in the sport – a man too chilled even for Frigidaire to sponsor – but there he was throwing his club and questioning the layout’s parentage.

If you are offended by swearing golfers at the Open then mute the TV – this is energy golf needs
Defending champion Brian Harman lost his cool at Royal Troon

The game adores its stats, but unfortunately does not keep tally of the number of “f---s-in-regulation”, but safe to say that if Royal Troon had provided a swear jar this week, the LIV Golf League would not be able to compete with its cash reserves.

So what has happened? Has the gracious sport descended into hell on the spiral of a degraded sense of morality? Has it f---. The broadcasters simply stick the boon closer than before. They want us to hear everything but then “tut, tut” and express contrition when they accomplish that aim.

Since the birth of this sport, golf has been used largely as a vehicle to let off steam and just because those poor, innocent viewers are made to realise that this steam can be largely blue in content, we are supposed to fear this is a modern scourge. However, take a look at these quotes.

“They call it ‘golf’ because all of the other four-letter words were taken.”

“If profanity had an influence on the flight of the ball, the game of golf would be played far better than it is.”

“Long ago, when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft. Today, it’s called golf.”

The first was uttered by Walter Hagen in the 1920s, the second by Horace G. Hutchinson in the 1930s and the third by the Irish in every decade. This is not a new problem and, in fact, is not a problem at all.

What is offensive is the broadcasters’ insistence on trying to protect our ears and eyes, because, I kid you not, a few years ago, Martin Tyler said sorry for “inappropriate lip-reading”.

They tell us it is not their fault as Ofcom will issue fines unless there is a swift and sincere apology. Indeed, the Office of Communications states as much on its nanny-state website.

Goodness knows, golf needs some energy

But a few years ago, I contacted a couple of members of the mic brigade and none of them had actually seen, and had definitely not studied the Big Brother guidelines.

“It’s just something you know is there in the background and you also have producers barking down the headsets,” one well-known commentator said. “And they are the most puritanical lot in existence. I don’t think Ofcom would be too bothered. Maybe if you let an entire 90-minutes of effing and jeffing pass without comment. But surely they understand this is just what happens amidst the high passion of sport.”

Goodness knows, golf needs some energy. Too many of the protagonists look the same, swing the same and sound the same. Maybe that is why the punishments handed out to the curse-mongers do not amount to very much – “people always ask me how much I’ve been fined and they are stunned how little it is,” Hatton told Telegraph Sport a few months ago – because the cast is too stilted as it is. And the game of golf would lose an integral part of its identity if the air was not turned blue on occasion.

The point is, if you are upset by swearing, either mute the television, do not watch it, or stream a movie with less colourful language until the obscene and the lewd are back in the soundproofed clubhouse. Such as Reservoir Dogs.