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In his role as tournament host of the Betfred British Masters, Sir Nick Faldo joked on Wednesday that it would be nice for LIV rebel Tyrrell Hatton to play in a “proper tournament” this week.
Yet England’s greatest male golfer of the modern era will be acutely aware that his young compatriot is not at the Belfry because of the kudos – and certainly not because of the money.
If Hatton had decided against joining LIV Golf at the start of the year it is almost inconceivable that he would be the only member of the world’s top 50 in an event with a proud 74-year history boasting champions of the calibre of not only Faldo himself, but Seve Ballesteros, Bobby Locke, Colin Montgomerie, Ian Woosnam and, ahem, Greg Norman.
Instead, Hatton would have aimed to be at the 37-year-old Tour Championship in Atlanta. Why? Well, the total prize fund for the 156 players in the West Midlands is $3.5 million (£2.6 million), while in Georgia the golfer who finishes sixth will collect $3.5 million all on his own. If anything sums up the mess in pro golf at the moment then there it is.
Of course, Hatton is hardly alone in his pursuit of riches, but his situation is different because he accepted £50 million to jump ship to LIV in February. That earned him an instant ban on the PGA Tour and, after what happened to Europe legends such as Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia, many considered that it would effectively mean the same on the 32-year-old’s home circuit, the DP World Tour.
However, as was revealed in April, Wentworth HQ analysed its regulations and decided that so long as Hatton and the most notable defector, Jon Rahm, honoured their fines and served their bans they would remain as members. And, more pertinently, be eligible to play in next year’s Ryder Cup.
The Tour will never admit it, but basically it discovered a loophole for Hatton and Rahm to be available for Luke Donald to pick as wildcards for the match in New York. They will simply have to fulfil their minimum of four tournaments to retain their cards to ensure they are eligible for the biennial dust-up at Bethpage.
Hatton, who played in two tournaments in Dubai in January before his controversial exit, will also be at next month’s Spanish Open and October’s Dunhill Links, thus securing his status. However, the situation is further complicated by the fact that he has not yet had to pay fines that are in the six-figure range and rising because he has appealed against that sanction. So the Tour presumably made the loop in the hole more generous still.
“That side of it is a little bit messy,” Hatton agreed at the Belfry on Wednesday. “But from my point of view, I want to play in DP World Tour events and I am hoping there is something that can get worked out, so that becomes a little bit easier.”
Hatton was referring to the ongoing negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which bankrolls LIV. Both Rahm and Hatton are still counting on a peace deal being reached and their gamble paying off, but there is no sign of a resolution. Anything but.
A worrying wait, but Hatton claims that Donald considered changing Ryder Cup qualification so that playing for Europe “becomes a little bit easier”.
“I know that they potentially discussed awarding [Ryder Cup qualification] points to LIV,” Hatton said. “I don’t know the full details of how far it actually got, but it was a topic that was raised. I guess it was good that it was even thought about.”
It is understood that the idea was quickly shot down. Understandably, Donald wants Rahm and Hatton in his ranks and they are sidestepping through the red tape as surreptitiously as possible to ensure this comes to pass.
The British Masters is actually the first qualifying event, but in the big picture the result will mean absolutely nothing. The big European guns are at East Lake and the likes of Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland and Tommy Fleetwood will be thinking purely about the end of the PGA Tour play-offs.
World No 1 Scottie Scheffler starts the event’s bizarre handicapped sliding-scale scoring system on 10-under while McIlroy is on five-under. Sunday’s champion will pick up $25million, the biggest prize ever in golf. A “proper tournament”, no doubt.