[PHOTO: Brett Carlsen]
To the surprise of many observers, Tyrrell Hatton is in the field for this week’s Betfred British Masters at The Belfry. That’s unusual because the three-time European Ryder Cup player joined the LIV Golf League at the start of this year and hasn’t played in a regular DP World Tour event since the Hero Dubai Desert in January.
Since then, Hatton, a member of the Legion XIII team, has competed in 12 LIV events, recording five top-10 finishes in addition to his lone victory in Nashville in late June. His worst finish (25th) came at the most recent event at The Greenbrier earlier this month and he’s made $US10.6 million in individual earnings to date. In team events, the 32-year old Englishman has been more successful. Alongside Jon Rahm, Kieran Vincent and Caleb Surratt, Hatton has been part of four LIV victories so far in 2024.
Still, what’s going on? Amid the now long-time acrimony between LIV and the DP World Tour, how can Hatton be playing on both sides of that particularly high fence?
The answer is both simple and almost endlessly complicated. Hatton, winner of six events and $US24.4 million on the Old World circuit, continues to be a DP World Tour member and, as such, is technically able to enter any and all events on that circuit. But every time he plays in a LIV event that clashes with a DP World Tour tournament, Hatton becomes liable to sanctions under the Wentworth-based circuit’s rules and regulations. Those penalties include fines and suspensions from future events.
Which is clear enough. But the question is then worth repeating: how and why is Hatton allowed to play this week at The Belfry? The answer is again to be found in the DP World Tour rulebook.
“Tyrrell has a pending appeal against sanctions imposed on him for breaching the DP World Tour’s Conflicting Tournament Regulation and in accordance with the DP World Tour’s Regulations, he is eligible to participate in the Betfred British Masters,” explains a tour spokesperson.
Such a situation is the same as that faced by the likes of Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood (among others) when they appealed against similar sanctions imposed on the initial wave of players who jumped from the DP World Tour to LIV Golf in June 2022. Those players were able to compete until April 2023 when the arbitration body, Sport Resolutions UK, found in favour of the tour and ratified its right to impose disciplinary sanctions on the “rebel” players.
In other words, as Hatton remains a current member of the DP World Tour and has previously served any and all suspensions imposed on him, he is not suspended from this week’s event in his homeland. Plus, payment of any fines levied against him are at least temporarily stayed until the outcome of the appeal process is known. Which, as of today, it is not.
