LIV Golf’s newest team, Legion XIII, could not repeat their win at Mayakoba in Las Vegas as Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton both vented their frustrations in Las Vegas
Tyrrell Hatton took issue with the Las Vegas Country Club greens as he fell short of his first LIV Golf title.
Hatton, 32, finished in a tie for 12th with Legion XIII teammate Caleb Surratt and Smash GC captain Brooks Koepka on six-under, six shots back of 4Aces GC skipper Dustin Johnson, who claimed the title on the outskirts of the Sin City strip.
Even though his captain, Jon Rahm, did marginally better, coming in eighth on eight under, the team was unable to finish on the podium and instead placed fifth. Hatton and Rahm were separated by two strokes, but they shared a similar annoyance with the greens during their rounds in Winchester, Nevada—they were wearing a “hot mic.”
Hatton’s tantrum followed his near-miss of a 17-foot putt on Saturday. He threw back his head and cried out, “No!” as he saw his shot veer right of the cup.
Hatton bemoaned, “So many times!” as the commentary went on, and ended with, “F*** these greens!” LIV Golf commentator David Feherty said, “Mr Angry strikes again,” in response to the latter remark.
It was not the first expletive Hatton had let out of the weekend after self-chirping himself on the 180-yard par-three fifth hole during the opening round. After playing what he perceived to be a poor tee shot only to end up 15 feet from the hole, he uttered: “Definitely a reason why I play PINGs for when I hit it that s**t.”
While his clubs helped him out on that hole, his putters did not a day later, and neither did Rahm’s. On the same 17th hole that Hatton lamented, the Masters champion missed out on a birdie after missing his similarly distanced putt.
The shot failed to break as anticipated and veered a few inches to the left. Rahm remarked: “How is that f***ing possible man?” The misses proved costly for Hatton and Rahm as they combined to only walk away with £685k, compared to Johnson’s £3.1million, after missing out on the top five.
Fortunately for them, they will not lose any of that prize money to fines from LIV Golf. That subject was broached during the team’s introductory press conference late last month in Mexico.
Rahm interrupted Hatton when he was questioned about his notorious swearing and the possibility that the league would fine him for using such foul language, saying, “Hold on, do they (fine for that) because we’re both in trouble.”
“Yes, I think me and Jon could have been in trouble, but I think we’ll be okay,” Hatton said, following the moderator’s confirmation that they do not penalize players for doing so.
“We would have definitely been in trouble before,” Rahm continued. I have, at least. Hatton ended the Ryder Cup by urging Rahm to swear in Spanish instead of English, saying, “I think I would probably win in a swear-off.” When it comes to that, I’ve got everyone on the team covered.”