TYRRELL HATTON on his £40m transfer to LIV and battle to play within the Ryder Cup… and why rumours of Jon Rahm’s unhappiness are ‘bull****’

Tyrrell Hatton has been caught a little off-guard. We are in the process of reviewing his season, with all the upheaval, anxieties and successes it brought, but a video playing on Mail Sport’s phone is unfamiliar to him.

‘I’m not sure I’ve seen it before,’ he says and there is a reason for that — he deleted his social media accounts months ago. Which is why he missed the discussion around a piece of footage that spoke to the quality of his game and the heat of his temper.

The place was Nashville, the month was June and the occasion was his ninth tournament on the LIV circuit. He would go on to win his first title in three years that week and it was a demolition job — he put six strokes on second place.

But the video captured something that happened along the way. Hatton was lining up a putt when the commentator, David Feherty, remarked on how calm he had been. Anyone who follows golf knows why such an observation was worth making and also the risks of doing so.

Because when the putt came up short, a greenside microphone supplied the ingredients for a clip that went viral: ‘Disgusting, disgusting,’ we heard the calm man say. ‘F*** you, wind. F****** shambles. Two in a row, absolutely f***** me.’

Hatton is grinning a little sheepishly. We are sat under the desert sun, in Dubai, and calm has returned for the 33-year-old, if only for a while.

Tyrrell Hatton won his first title in three years with a demolition job in Nashville back in June

2024 was a year of great change and strong results for Hatton – even if his relationship with ‘calm’ remained complicated

‘Yeah,’ he says, studying the video. ‘Might have lost myself there. Sometimes on the course I can get a little, er, um, yeah. I’d like to be able to say it won’t happen again…’

He can laugh about this stuff and so can we. Two days after our chat, he snapped a club at the DP World Tour Championship and was described, a trifle excessively, as a ‘terrible influence on the next generation’ by a Sky commentator. Another view is that he is among the most compelling characters in golf, not to mention one of its best players.

It is a narrative he knows well by now. But if 2024 was a year when his relationship with ‘calm’ remained complicated, it was also one of great change and strong results. By crossing over to LIV last January in a deal worth around £40million, he might have disappeared off the map. With no world ranking points available outside the majors, he faced the possibility of not qualifying for the big four tournaments in 2025, along with the Ryder Cup.

But it has not gone that way. Of the 23 tournaments Hatton contested worldwide, spanning LIV, the DP World Tour and Asian Tour, he had nine top-five finishes, including wins at Nashville and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in October. Far from falling through the standings, he has done something unlike the vast majority who joined LIV — his ranking of 16 has actually climbed to 15th. In the Data Golf rankings, which include performances in the breakaway league, he is now world No 5.

‘It’s been a good year,’ Hatton says. ‘It’s been very different from what I’ve known and it also brought uncertainties, because if I didn’t play well, I knew there was a possibility I wouldn’t be in the majors in 2025. That was a scary thought.’

Hatton’s mind goes back to last Christmas when he was presented with the chance to leave the PGA Tour. He initially rejected it, before eventually joining Ryder Cup partner Jon Rahm in making the change. Together their Legion XIII team finished second in the LIV Golf standings.

‘It was a big decision,’ Hatton says. ‘I’d said no initially in December and then during the Dubai Desert Classic (in January) everything flipped. My head was a bit all over the place and it was a weird time.

‘Like I said, it was a bit scary, thinking of what you are risking, but honestly, looking back a year on, it has been great how it has played out.’

Hatton initially rejected the chance to leave the PGA Tour before linking up with Jon Rahm

Hatton’s move to LIV Golf was inevitably shielded to some extent by Rahm’s higher-profile defection

Naturally, there has been criticism, as there has for all who have switched sides, though Hatton’s call was inevitably shielded to some extent by Rahm’s higher-profile defection. Shielded, but not exempted.

‘There was negativity on social media and I actually deleted it off my phone,’ he says. ‘I was a bit fed up with it anyway and that was the tipping point.

‘I didn’t feel I needed the negativity from people I have never met, but who think they’ve got a right to message things that aren’t very nice. We’re all human and I just don’t need that from people who should have no influence on how I feel.’

Out of that turbulence came one of the best seasons of Hatton’s career. Questions remain over when he will translate his top form to the biggest stages — he is yet to finish higher than fifth in a major — and likewise if his Ryder Cup future will be affected by joining LIV.

The complications around the latter concern an appeal Hatton has lodged against heavy fines issued by the DP World Tour for playing in conflicting LIV events in 2024. If he loses that case and still refuses to pay up, he could be ruled out of contention along with Rahm, who is in the same boat. with the DP World Tour in no obvious hurry to process the appeals, it is expected the legals will not be resolved until after the 2025 match in New York, meaning Hatton would be likely to make a fourth appearance in September.

‘I’ve appealed the fines but as for the process around it, that’s not something I’ve put a lot of thought into,’ Hatton says. ‘All I can do is focus on how I play, but obviously I want to be at the Ryder Cup. Really want to be.’

As for the broader state of a fractured sport, Hatton is among those who have grown exasperated by the protracted nature of merger talks between tours, which have dragged on for 18 months.

‘Something needs to happen pretty quickly,’ he says. ‘Golf fans in general are pretty fed up with how it’s played out and how it’s continuing to drag on.’

Hatton’s prime goal for 2025 is both quite simple and quite complex – to play in the Ryder Cup

For his part, there are no regrets about the big move. He is also punchy on suggestions that Rahm, the former world No 1 and his LIV team-mate, has experienced a degree of buyer’s remorse since walking out on the PGA Tour.

‘Forgive me saying this but that is just media bull****,’ Hatton says. ‘People showed me some of the stuff that was written, but from being around Jon that’s never even been a thought process that crossed my mind.

‘He’s really enjoyed it and he has certainly played some pretty good golf (Rahm won the LIV individual title in his debut season).’

So has Hatton, whose prime goal for 2025 is both quite simple and quite complex: ‘Play in the Ryder Cup.’

Time will tell on that. Between now and then, there is a lot to be untangled and many fights to be won, whether they are between lawyers, between his ears, or with the winds in the sky.

But for now, for once, he is pretty calm about it all.