SUTTON COLDFIELD, England — To the surprise of many observers, Tyrrell Hatton is playing in this week’s Betfred British Masters at The Belfry. This is unusual because the three-time European Ryder Cup winner joined the LIV Golf League at the start of the year and has not played a regular DP World Tour event since the Heroic Dubai Desert Tournament in January.
Since then, Hatton has competed in 12 LIV events as a member of the Legion XIII team, notching five top-10 finishes in addition to his lone win in Nashville at the end of June. His worst finish (25th) came in his most recent event at the Greenbrier earlier this month, bringing his personal earnings to $10.6 million to date. In team events, the 32-year-old Brit has had even more success. Along with Jon Rahm, Kieran Vincent and Caleb Surratt, Hatton now has four LIV wins so far in 2024.
But what exactly happened, and with the long-standing animosity between the LIV and DP World Tour, how could Hatton be playing on both sides of this particularly high fence?
The answer is both simple and complex. Hatton has won six tournaments on the old World Tour, earning $24.4 million in prize money, and he is still a member of the DP World Tour, so technically he can play in any event on the old World Tour. But every time a LIV event he plays conflicts with a DP World Tour event, Hatton is penalized according to the rules and regulations of the Wentworth Tour. Those penalties include fines and bans from future tournaments.
That's clear enough. But the question bears repeating: how and why was Hatton allowed to play at The Belfry this week? The answer can also be found in the DP World Tour rulebook.
A tour spokesperson explained: “Tyrrell is currently appealing the sanction he received for breaching the DP World Tour Clash Championship rules and is eligible to compete in the Betfred British Masters under DP World Tour rules.”
The situation is the same one faced by Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood (among others) when they appealed similar sanctions imposed on the first players to jump from the DP World Tour to the LIV in June 2022. Those players were allowed to play until April 2023, when arbitration body Sport Resolutions UK ruled in favor of the tour and approved its right to impose disciplinary measures on “rebellious” players.
In other words, since Hatton is still a current member of the DP World Tour and has previously served all of his suspensions, he is not barred from competing in his hometown this week. Additionally, any fine levied against him will at least be temporarily shelved until the outcome of the appeal process is known. As of today, the outcome has yet to be announced.