Why is Tyrrell Hatton playing outside LIV this week? His plan’s no secret

Think back seven months, to late January. Seven months to the day, actually. January 30th, 2024 — the day Tyrrell Hatton officially joined LIV Golf. 

It was a poorly kept secret at that point, but the details around his departure were still a bit confusing. Hatton had played in Hawaii, then raced over to Dubai. That’s PGA Tour into the the DP World Tour. How had he decided that LIV was what came next? The truth is, he wasn’t completely sure of everything. And he knew he was going to have to explain himself to a specific group of people: the Ryder Cup group chat. 

“I think when I messaged the group chat, to the Ryder Cup chat to tell the lads that I was going, I was nervous sending the message,” Hatton said at the Masters this spring. That was his first tournament mixing back in with his PGA and DP World Tour pals. 

Nervous because of the response, perhaps. But also nervous because to join LIV Golf is an open acknowledgement that you’re willing to sacrifice your place at the next Ryder Cup. And the Ryder Cup is clearly a big deal to Hatton. 

The Englishman has played in three Cups and knows the road to his fourth will be tricky, now that he’s not playing in qualifying events year-round. That’s why he’s competing in the Betfred British Masters this week — held at the longtime Ryder Cup host, The Belfry in central England. In order for Hatton to play in next year’s Cup, he needs to be a DP World Tour member in 2025, and in order to be a DP World Tour member in 2025, he has to play at least four tour events here in 2024. That’s the minimum. Suddenly, flying across the world to play the Dubai Desert Classic in January feels like a fantastic decision. It got this membership chase moving in the right direction.

“[The Ryder Cup is] certainly one of the reasons why I wanted to play this week,” Hatton said on Wednesday. “Ryder Cup is really important to me and I’d love to be on that team next year, and this is the perfect week to try and get off to a good start.”

Conveniently, this week marks the first week in which Ryder Cup qualifying points are on offer. Ryder Cup Europe is working with a new qualifying system for next year’s team, and while there aren’t many points available — just 1,500 compared to 5,000 for 2025 majors — Hatton is in position to earn as many as possible. He’s built a two-shot lead through 36 holes. 

Hatton could get off to a great start for qualifying position, which would help if he struggles to find qualifying events on his schedule next season. Ryder Cup Europe is dishing out the most points during major championships, followed by PGA Tour Signature Events. Of those, Hatton is currently locked in to just one start, the 2025 Masters, thanks to his T9 finish in April. He is not qualified for the PGA Championship, U.S. Open, nor the Open Championship — greatly limiting his opportunities. (Or demanding he travel through the sectional qualifying route into majors.) That makes his Ryder Cup situation quite a bit different than that of his teammate Jon Rahm, who will be playing in every major championship.

It was big news when Rahm left for LIV Golf a few months before Hatton, and almost just as big of news when Rory McIlroy responded to that decision saying the qualification criteria should be re-written to make sure Rahm is there, taking on the Americans at Bethpage Black. But just this week, captain Luke Donald said his team won’t be offering any special treatment for Rahm or Hatton. The four-event minimum isn’t going anywhere. Donald is pleased Hatton is getting the message.

“There are some rules and regulations that players, whether on LIV or the DP World Tour, have to satisfy and I’m glad Tyrrell is satisfying his,” Donald told the BBC. “I know he’s planning on playing a few more events over the next few months.”

The schedule does set up nicely for Hatton there. His LIV Golf season will be complete in September, from which point he will have obvious opportunities to play the French Open, the Dunhill Links, the Andalucia Masters, etc. And in the event that he plays well this weekend, he can slide into DP World Tour playoff position for two season-ending tournaments in November. We’ll worry about the November events when they come around, though. Hatton has a big August weekend ahead of him first.