{"id":384566,"date":"2026-01-22T17:33:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T17:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/384566\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T17:33:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T17:33:12","slug":"rory-mcilroy-horrified-by-incredible-tyrrell-hatton-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/384566\/","title":{"rendered":"Rory McIlroy ‘horrified’ by incredible Tyrrell Hatton story"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tTeam Europe\u2019s stars Rory McIlroy and Tyrrell Hatton had a potentially awkward meeting at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic on Thursday. But their conversation was nothing like what was expected\u2026<\/p>\n

There was intrigue in the air when Rory McIlroy and Tyrrell Hatton stepped onto the 10th tee at the Majlis course on Thursday morning. <\/p>\n

Would the Ryder Cup teammates address the elephant in the room? <\/p>\n

Not even 24 hours earlier, McIlroy publicly challenged Hatton<\/a> and his LIV Golf teammate Jon Rahm to prove their commitment to Team Europe by paying the DP World Tour fines that would keep them eligible for the 2027 duel at Adare Manor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went really hard on the Americans about being paid to play the Ryder Cup, and we also said that we would pay to play in Ryder Cups,\u201d McIlroy said in a candid press conference. \u201cThere\u2019s two guys that can prove it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hatton, who stepped into the media room barely an hour after McIlroy, said he hadn\u2019t yet seen the Masters champion\u2019s blunt message.<\/p>\n

The mood, though, was more than cordial as the sun came up over the Emirates Club for the first round of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic<\/a>. Hatton and McIlroy chatted away with playing partner Tommy Fleetwood as the trio began their tournament on the the back nine.<\/p>\n

The fine predicament, Hatton says, was off the agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t really talk about that,\u201d he smiled after a \u201crusty\u201d two-under par 70 at the Emirates Club.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was me mainly asking him if he\u2019d had any good wine over Christmas, to be honest.\u00a0It was better than the wine I was drinking, but my wine was very nice too.\u00a0Then he was horrified to hear what weight I was on January 1.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hatton\u2019s pre-Ryder Cup weight was 190 pounds, but let\u2019s just say the Englishman did his fair share of indulging over the festive period. He did not pick up a golf club once.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was 204 pounds, which at five foot eight is aggressive,\u201d he laughed.\u00a0\u201cZero cardio and a lot of drinking.\u00a0I had a Guinness tap in the house, which was enjoyable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was turning like the Titanic.\u00a0I still feel pretty stiff.\u00a0The backswing isn\u2019t too much of a problem. When I did start again I felt like my backswing was shorter than Jon [Rahm\u2019s], which is not ideal!\u201d<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s Hatton\u2019s plan to knock off the festive weight? <\/p>\n

\u201cGym and avoiding alcohol and I think you\u2019ll manage to lose a bit of weight,\u201d he replied. \u201cSad times.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the conversation turned back to the more serious matter of the Ryder Cup, Hatton brushed off more questions about the fine situation. <\/p>\n

\u201cI guess something will get sorted from hopefully something soon,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cI think everyone\u2019s pretty keen for that to happen.\u00a0We\u2019ll see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Team Europe\u2019s stars Rory McIlroy and Tyrrell Hatton had a potentially awkward meeting at the Hero Dubai Desert…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-384566","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}