A little less than a year out from the debut of TGL, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have to search for a candidate to replace Tyrrell Hatton. The star golfer has left for LIV Golf and thus invalidated himself for the new venture, leaving their roster vacant.
The league already saw a year delay thanks to some stadium damage. It was supposed to get underway in January of 2024, but will come on January 7, 2025 instead. This roster change might cause even further delay.
Hatton was one of the players who was signed alongside McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, and Adam Scott to form the Boston Common team last October. Now, they're a member down and will need to find someone else.
Jon Rahm was initially a target for Woods and McIlroy, but he also signed for LIV Golf before even committing to TGL.
Tyrrell Hatton was, at first, very excited about the prospect of playing for the Boston-based team. He said via Express:
"Being a part of the Fenway Sports Group family through Boston Common Golf is truly surreal. As a lifelong Liverpool FC fan, it's a dream come true to be part of the same ownership group. This is an incredible opportunity to represent the spirit of excellence and winning that Fenway Sports Group embodies, and to play with some of the golfers I have admired throughout my career."
Now, Hatton won't get that opportunity and leaves the TGL team in scramble mode for the time being.
Tyrell Hatton among LIV players to get Masters invite
Not all LIV Golf members get an invite, given that it's a little more challenging for them to earn OWGR points and get automatic qualifiers. There are many ways to qualify, but it's not as straightforward as it is on PGA Tour.
Nevertheless, Tyrrell Hatton is one LIV player who has already been given an invite. Some others might follow suit, but only a select few invitations have even been sent out to anyone. Here's who has gotten one:
- Tommy Aaron
- Ludvig Aberg
- Keegan Bradley
- Sam Burns
- Angel Cabrera
- Patrick Cantlay
- Wyndham Clark
- Eric Cole
- Corey Conners
- Charles Coody
- Fred Couples
- Ben Crenshaw
- Cam Davis
- Jason Day
- Santiago De la Fuente
- Bryson DeChambeau
- Nick Dunlap
- Austin Eckroat
- Harris English
- Nick Faldo
- Tony Finau
- Matt Fitzpatrick
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Raymond Floyd
- Rickie Fowler
- Ryan Fox
- Sergio Garcia
- Lucas Glover
- Emiliano Grillo
- Adam Hadwin
- Stewart Hagestad
- Brian Harman
- Tyrrell Hatton
- Russell Henley
- Ryo Histasune
- Lee Hodges
- Nicolai Hojgaard
- Max Homa
- Viktor Hovland
- Sungjae Im
Tyrrell Hatton is joined by a lot of players, and there will at least be a few other LIV members, including Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, and Rahm. It will still be a majority non-LIV players (there were less than 20 in the 2023 Masters), but Hatton has earned his eighth invitation and is ecstatic to get back to competing at that level again this year.