GOLF
Tyrrell Hatton leaves PGA Tour: How much money did LIV Golf pay him to join the Saudi-backed league?
Hatton will link up with European Ryder Cup teammate Jon Rahm and compete against the likes of Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson.
Tyrell Hatton has become the latest PGA Tour player to jump ship and join LIV Golf, where he is expected to feature in a team led by current Masters champion Jon Rahm.
Spaniard Rahm insisted on a number of occasions he wouldn’t be joining the Saudi-backed league but was eventually swayed in December, signing a reported four-year contract worth between $500 and $600 million, one of the biggest deals in the history of any sport.
Hatton’s LIV deal almost treble PGA earnings
Ryder Cup teammate Hatton, who he paired up with in two matches in the 2023 edition as Europe defeated the United States in Rome, will make significantly less, although the estimated $60 million deal he has agreed just for participating is almost three times what he has earned in several years on the PGA Tour ($23 million), where he has won once (the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March 2020).
World number 16 Hatton, who has posted five top 10s in major championships, will join Kieran Vincent of Zimbabwe and University of Tennessee sophomore Caleb Surratt on Rahm’s team Legion XIII, who will become the league’s 13th team and first expansion franchise.
Potential LIV Golf and PGA Tour merger
As it stands, LIV Golf, which is financed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, uses a team format, and has shotgun starts and no cuts at 54-hole tournaments, which could hardly be more different to PGA Tour events. Since its inception, LIV has been hugely criticised by PGA loyalists, led by Rory McIlory, for causing disruption and division within the world of golf, although a number of major winners have accepted multimillion dollar contracts to make the switch, including Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau. Rahm, meanwhile, insisted “growing golf” was also one of his reasons for moving.
There have, however, been advanced discussions between the two organisations regarding a merger, which would potentially see things come back together. A deadline of 31 December 2023 had been set but has since been extended, although LIV and the PGA claim to have made “meaningful progress” towards reaching a final agreement this month.