The week before Tyrrell Hatton signed for LIV Golf was full of stress and indecision.
The Englishman told BBC Sport’s Iain Carter that he wanted a crystal ball to tell him whether or not to join Jon Rahm and his newly-formed team for the Saudi-funded league’s 2024 season.
His move could’ve been suspected when after being asked about his future at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January, he revealed there had been discussions between himself and the league bankrolled by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund.
Hatton’s 11th-hour call was made just five days before the LIV Golf season kicked off on February 2 in Mexico. He decided to walk away from the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour on which he has collectively won seven times.
“This all came about over the weekend of Dubai. The following week was a pretty stressful one. I almost wanted a crystal ball to know what the right decision would be,” he said, speaking at LIV’s event this week in Miami.
“I spoke to so many people in that week, almost to the point of wanting to have someone to make the decision for me. It was hard. You don’t know what’s the right decision.
“I knew that if I stayed and played PGA Tour, if I play how I have been for the past seven, eight years then I should stay within the top 50 and give myself the best chance of making the Ryder Cup and playing in all the majors and that’s what I want to do.”
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Rahm and Hatton came as a pair before going to LIV Golf, as they showed with their formidable play at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome, and now they represent Legion XIII in the LIV Golf League – a new team name and brand inspired by captain Rahm’s interest in Roman history.
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Many of his European colleagues, such as Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood, took the LIV plunge before Hatton and he admits there was an element of the unknown when leaving behind golf’s traditional tours for a new start-up circuit.
“We (He and Rahm) obviously get on very well and we had a good record in Rome,” he added. “So, there were certain things with LIV that I really liked. But, as I say, it was going into the unknown and not sure if it would be the right thing. But so far I’m happy and ultimately that’s the most important thing.”
Hatton and Rahm can reflect on their Ryder Cup careers with fondness. They each made their debuts for Europe in the biennial dust-up with America in 2018 and they have played in both editions at Whistling Straits and Marco Simone since then.
But by moving to LIV and playing in LIV events, they have received suspensions and fines from the DP World Tour. If Rahm and Hatton receive enough suspensions to the point where they can’t fill their playing quota of four events in 2024 to keep their DP World Tour memberships, they will become ineligible to represent Europe at the 2025 Ryder Cup.
The BBC reports that he is keen to keep his place in Luke Donald’s side for the matches at Bethpage next year and he has spoken to his compatriot about it as well.
“While I understand it makes it a little bit more difficult there’s still kind of a pathway to play DP World Tour events unlike the PGA Tour where we’ve been suspended,” Hatton said.
In June 2023, the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour announced a framework agreement with the PIF. This alliance looked to forge a path to peace between all three parties when the PIF and LIV Golf had often been touted as their enemies.
One issue that could be addressed in a formal agreement is the Ryder Cup and if more avenues for LIV Golf players could be opened. But no such compromise has been found yet and unless the DP World Tour’s rules for fines and suspensions are altered, it will be difficult for Rahm and Hatton to make their fourth appearances for Team Europe.
“I think the talk of golf hopefully coming together made the decision marginally easier, but it was still a really difficult decision for me to make,” Hatton said.
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