{"id":259204,"date":"2026-01-23T05:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T05:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/259204\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T05:04:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T05:04:08","slug":"hatton-dismisses-liv-tension-with-mcilroy-as-talk-in-dubai-focuses-on-waistlines-not-fines-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/259204\/","title":{"rendered":"Hatton dismisses LIV tension with McIlroy as talk in Dubai focuses on waistlines not fines \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The talk was of wines, not fines. Any notion of an awkward 18 holes between Rory McIlroy<\/a> and Tyrrell Hatton was firmly dismissed by the Englishman in the immediate aftermath. McIlroy used pre-tournament media duties at the Dubai Desert Classic to assert that Hatton and Jon Rahm should settle their<\/a> seven-figure penalties due to the European Tour Group for their participation in LIV Golf<\/a>.<\/p>\n

McIlroy\u2019s sentiment felt especially notable because he was to spend the opening two rounds at the Emirates Club in Hatton\u2019s company. Yet there appeared no ill feeling between the Ryder Cup<\/a> teammates, which was evident on the course and by what Hatton said later.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t really talk about that,\u201d Hatton said. \u201cIt was me mainly asking if he had any good wine over Christmas. It was better than the wine I was drinking but my wine was very nice, too. And then he was horrified to hear what weight I was on January 1st.\u201d<\/p>\n

The answer to that is 204lbs. \u201cWhich at 5ft 8in is aggressive,\u201d Hatton said. \u201cJust before the Ryder Cup, I was 190lbs. So what\u2019s that, another stone I\u2019d put on. I enjoyed my December, zero cardio and a lot of drinking. I had a Guinness tap in the house, which was enjoyable. So now it is time to lose a little bit of weight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hatton has no interest in falling out with McIlroy. \u201cI ended up seeing what was said,\u201d Hatton added. \u201cAnd as he said, that\u2019s his opinion. Everyone is allowed an opinion. I guess something will get sorted, hopefully, soon. Everyone is pretty keen for that to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Rory McIlroy calls on LIV pair Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm to pay DP World Tour finesOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Hatton\u2019s two under par 70 was impressive given the level of rust visible in his game. The finest indicators of how good the world\u2019s best golfers really are arrive when they can posts rounds such as this when so far from their optimum level. \u201cI was turning like the Titanic out there,\u201d he said. \u201cI can\u2019t move, I still feel pretty stiff. This still feels early for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

McIlroy was similarly bereft of his A-game while en route to a 73. Tommy Fleetwood, the third member of this marquee group, matched McIlroy\u2019s score.<\/p>\n

Francesco Molinari rolled back the years with a 65 before providing a lesson in selflessness. The Italian is widely assumed to be the backup candidate in the unlikely event Luke Donald turns down a third term as Europe\u2019s Ryder Cup captain. This is an invidious position for Molinari to be in. His support, though, is for Donald.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Rory McIlroy well off pace as Francesco Molinari leads the way at Dubai Desert ClassicOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all wishing for him to come back one more time, all the players and basically all the team that\u2019s been working with him for the last four years,\u201d said Molinari. \u201cI\u2019d never say no. I\u2019d never turn it down if I\u2019m asked. I\u2019d love to do it but if it doesn\u2019t happen, there\u2019s no issue. Everyone who was there [at the last two Ryder Cups] would love him to do it one more time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donald unfortunately did not make it as far as the 1st tee here after withdrawing due to illness. \u2013 Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The talk was of wines, not fines. Any notion of an awkward 18 holes between Rory McIlroy and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,123011,123010,1394,10916,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-259204","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-jon-rahm","11":"tag-liv-golf-invitational-series","12":"tag-rory-mcilroy","13":"tag-ryder-cup","14":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}