LIV Golf's Tyrrell Hatton will join the DP World Tour this week in one of the flagship events on the European circuit, the Betfred British Masters, presented by Sir Nick Faldo.
Interestingly, The Belfry's Brabazon course has hosted the Ryder Cup four times, most recently in 2002 when captain Sam Torrance led the Europeans to a dominant victory. The Belfry also hosted the tournament in 1993, the last year that an American team won on European soil. The course's long-standing association with golf's biggest tournament sees the start of the qualification process for the European team next week.
“The Ryder Cup is a really important tournament to me so I want to be on the team next year,” Hatton said ahead of the tournament.
“This is a great week to start off on the right foot.”
Through 36 holes, he did just that. Hatton shot a 7-under 65. He rocketed to the top of the scoreboard on Friday and, as of this writing, is one stroke ahead of 38-year-old Jorge Campillo of Spain.
Still, how can Hatton, a LIV golfer, get selected for Team Europe? After all, Team Europe banned LIV players from competing in Rome, preventing such mainstays as Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia from competing. That said, Team Europe developed a new generation of talent, including Ludwig Åberg, Sepp Straka and Nikolaj Højgaard. The move paid off, and Europe won again at home in Rome. But as for Hatton, he hasn't given up his DP World Tour membership, whereas Stenson, Westwood and Garcia lost out. So, while Hatton can still try to qualify for the Ryder Cup team, it seems unlikely that he'll get one of the six captains to be selected by captain Luke Donald.
So Hatton will be hoping to get off to a good start at this week's Betfred British Masters, which offers 1,500 Ryder Cup points to competitors.
The DP World Tour will award 1,500 Ryder Cup points to European members at “back nine” events this fall between now and the end of the year, but 2,000 points will be available at Rolex Series events (the European equivalent of the PGA Tour's signature events) in 2024 and 2025.
After this week's finish, three of the 10 events remaining on this year's schedule are Rolex Series events, the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the DP World Tour Championship.
It remains to be seen whether Hatton will continue to play in these events, but to retain his DP World Tour membership, players must play in four tournaments per year, excluding majors. Hatton played in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in January, and his appearance at The Belfry will be his second DP World Tour event of the season. Hatton will therefore need to play two more times this fall to retain his DP World Tour card.
A detailed breakdown of Europe's Ryder Cup qualification opportunities is below:
- Major Championship: 5,000 points
- 2025 PGA Tour Signature Event, The Players Championship and FedEx Cup Playoffs: 3,000 points
- DP World Tour Rolex Series: 2,000 points up for grabs
- PGA Tour Regular Event: 2,000 points can be earned
- 2024 DP World Tour “Back 9” Event: 1,500 points up for grabs
- DP World Tour “Global Series” Event: 1,000 points up for grabs
- 2025 PGA Tour replacement events: 1,000 points available
European players have eschewed LIV golf altogether in favor of major PGA Tour events, which could make things tougher for a player like Hatton, who will have to play a major next year to make the team. But the Englishman is still gunning for a place, and despite the odds stacked against him, he's off to a good start at The Belfry.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.
