Golf

Tyrrell Hatton Scores First-Ever LIV Golf Win in Nashville

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4m ago

Jun 27, 2024 / 5450 Views

Evan Walker

All through his time on the DP World Tour and PGA Tour, talk floated that Tyrrell Hatton — who on Sunday, June 23, 2024, became LIV Golf’s latest winner at Nashville — was held back by his short fuse, which prevented him from fulfilling his potential. For one who has consistently been top-50 on the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) for a while, and at one time was ranked a career best No 5, the numbers in the ‘Wins’ column were stark considering that Hatton kept showing up at the Majors and other big-ticket events with solid results.

In a professional career that commenced in 2011, his six wins on the DP World Tour, and a lone high on the PGA Tour weren’t a correct reflection of the volatile Englishman’s immense talent. As is the case when a trophy eludes for a while, uncertainty crept in if he could win again.

Tyrrell Hatton and his journey to winning 2024 LIV Golf Nashville

Clouded by doubt

Hatton signed off from the two global tours in December 2023 following the USD 60-plus million deal to make the switch to LIV, but despite the immensely lucrative cheque and freeing himself financially a lot more, the inherent question remained.
His last win came a distant three-and-half-years ago at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. The wait could have ended at the signature Players Championship last year in what could have been his final hurrah on the PGA Tour before the switch to LIV, but it wasn’t to be. Stopping short of being the first man the leaderboard (he finished runner-up) was hugely frustrating.

The trend continued at LIV with glimpses of a win showing up and slipping away. Nine events into his inaugural season as part of Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII, the 32-year-old came close a couple times — the 4th in Miami and 5th in Singapore, but those results could in no way replicate the feeling of holding the trophy amid the spray of champagne.

Ploughing on despite the doubts, Hatton proved to himself the Sunday gone by that he hadn’t lost any of the touch on the greens with his career’s biggest win margin at The Grove in Nashville, Tennessee.

Necessary boost

After the years of anticipation, Hatton desperately needed a win as emphatic as Nashville.

Dominating from the start and finishing at 19-under, Hatton’s six-shot win over Majesticks GC’s Sam Horsfield tied with the second-largest winning margin in LIV History, and also for the second lowest score.

But uppermost was with the biggest winning margin of his career Hatton firmly capped the years of wondering if he’d ever make the winner’s circle again.

“Having not won for 3-1/2 years, you wonder if you’d be able to do it again in some way. It’s a pretty special feeling to win again,” said Hatton.

Captain’s belief

Notwithstanding the fierce comPetitiveness during their years of comPeting on the DP World Tour and PGA Tour, Hatton and Rahm came to develop a bond that flowered during the 2023 Ryder Cup as the duo combined more than once to power Europe’s win over the US on its home turf at New York’s Bethpage Black Course in September.

By December, Rahm had moved to LIV with a bumper deal and a vision for his team. His team, Legion XIII, was named after the elite strike unit of the Roman army, Legio XIII Gemina, and Rahm wanted his group to embody the same spirit. “I wanted to go down the warrior spirit mythology side for the team’s name. I think it embodies the warrior spirit through its decisiveness and ready-for-battle mindset,” Rahm was quoted as saying.

Given their equation in the lead-up to the team formation, Hatton was a natural fit, and the trigger behind his shift to LIV.
Professional Golf is a lonely space, especially when the going gets tough, and fighting the demons alone is tough. Hatton was lucky here for he had his captain’s uNFLinching belief that his teaMMAte was always a winner.

So, as Hatton was being sprayed with champagne on the 18th green of Nashville, Rahm soaked in the moment and some of the bubbly with an endorsement. Standing by Hatton, the skipper said, “For all those out there who don’t know how good Tyrrell Hatton is, this is sure proof,” said Rahm, who finished seven shots back at T3.

“He is a player with a lot of competitiveness, a lot of anger inside him in a good way, so when he gets into a position, a lot of times he gets it done. He did it on the DP World Tour, PGA Tour, and now here. He is great competitor, a great friend and I’m proud of his performance,” said the captain.

Hatton’s runaway effort was instrumental in Legion XIII notching the third team win (after Mayakoba 24-under and Miami 22-under) of the season at 40-under, the season’s second-lowest winning team score, and moves them nine points shy of league leaders Crushers GC in the standings.

Big-stage player

While it is hoped that Nashville will open the pathway to more glory, and Hatton will make up for lost time, it is pertinent to mention that almost all his wins on the DP World Tour and PGA Tour have come in tournaments boasting the strongest of fields.

The 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational, which is now among the PGA Tour’s eight Signature events, is a case in point. It remains a high point for Hatton as his one-shot win came over Major winners like Rory McIlroy, Bryson Dechambeau and Collin Morikawa.

The BMW PGA Championship, Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, Turkish Airlines Open, Italian Open and the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship are coveted by pros on the DP World Tour, and Hatton can show them as highlights on his resume.

The 2024 Open Championship visits Royal Troon on the Scottish coast in July after an eight-year gap, and if Hatton’s record on links courses is coupled with the new-found momentum, he is certainly among the contenders at the season’s final Major championship three weeks from now.

An obscure name back then in 2016, Hatton posted a T5 at Royal Troon to thrust himself into the limelight, and it remains his best finish at The Open or any Major.

“I’ve done well on links courses in the past. I think my best performances are on links courses. So, I’ve played a lot of links as an amateur, and I’ve just taken that sort of into the province,” he had said after the show.

Prize money, endorsements and net worth of Tyrrell Hatton

Prize money or securing him financially was never a worry for Hatton as the earnings kept pace with his world ranking.
In 192 starts on the DP World Tour, which include six wins, his career earnings stand at USD 24,220,680.08. On the PGA Tour, the earnings of USD 22,682,111 have essentially been made possible by the lone win in 131 starts, 3 runner ups, 5 third-place finishes, 15 top-5 and 33 top-10 results.

The top cheque of USD 4 million for Hatton as the individual winner at Nashville lifted him to No 3 on the 2024 LIV money list with earnings of USD 7,356,929.

As per Golf Magic, the net worth of Tyrrell Hatton before joining LIV Golf was pegged between USD 5 and USD 10 million, and it can be assumed that this amount has doubled since the shift.

Hatton’s website lists Ping, Titleist and Adidas as his partners, but it is reported that last year he inked a long-term contract with Modest, and earns USD 2-3 million annually.

(Main and featured images: Tyrrell Hatton/ Instagram)