[Image: LIV Golf]
LIV Golf star and Ryder Cup player Tyrrell Hatton joined Australian Golf Digest’s Brad Clifton for a chat at LIV Golf Adelaide:
AGD: Tyrrell, thanks for joining us. You’ve had a pretty big week already. Heard you went and sampled some local red here in Adelaide. Tell us all about it?
Tyrrell Hatton: Yeah, we had a pretty cool afternoon over at Seppetsfield [wines], so tasting some a hundred year old grapes. Yeah, it was a great setup. We had to had a nice lunch and then tried a range of their wine. So yeah, it was a great afternoon.
AGD: Have you always been a red man, do you like a good earthy Shiraz?
TH: I mean, I’d say over the years, yeah, I’ve started to enjoy wine a bit more, maybe too much at times, but yeah, don’t fear it.
AGD: LIV Golf Adelaide, it’s become almost bigger than the league itself, it seems.
TH: Yeah, no, obviously last year was my first experience of it and it was brilliant. I think the atmosphere that the crowd creates for us to play in is great and certainly unmatched over the other 13 events that we play on LIV. I’m looking forward to this week. I hear there’s even more people this year, so that’ll be exciting. And for me personally, I’d like to play some good golf and give myself a chance to win and hopefully the team, it’d be nice if we can win back to back as a team too.
AGD: You’re one of the more entertaining golfers to watch. Everyone says we’d love to see you mic’d when you’re on the golf course. Are you aware of what you’re doing at the time and in terms of your reactions and your composure, and you make it work for yourself playing great golf, but are you aware how entertaining you’ve become?
TH: To be honest, no. It just, I don’t know where it comes from, some of the stuff that just seems to fly out my mouth, but yeah, it can occasionally get me in trouble. I think some people find it funny, other people don’t. But I mean, that being said, it’s not going to change. It’s just how I’m as a person and just see how I react to things in certain situations. I mean that’s up for other people to judge if they find it entertaining or not.
AGD: Well, we certainly do. Legion XIII, you guys have come out of the blocks since you joined the league, obviously Jon Rahm as the captain. Tell us a little bit about the team and how you’ve all come together. New guy out on LIV this year in Tom McKibbin, now part of your team, and you’ve really got this nice little group playing some great golf.
TH: Yeah, well it was nice for us. I mean, starting last season in Mexico, we won our first event together, so it was nice to do that. This season with Tom joining us. Yeah, he’s a fantastic player and certainly brings a lot to our team and I expect us to do fairly well this year. I think we’ve got four very consistent guys and it’d be nice if we can certainly win more as a team [Legion XIII won four times in 2024].
AGD: Describe John Ram as a captain.
Yeah, a fiery competitor. He expects nothing short of winning, to be honest. He’s very fiery and a very committed individual. Seeing him and having the chance to be around him during these weeks and getting to know him a lot better off the course – we played Ryder Cups together a d certainly over the last year where we’ve been traveling and being a part of a team together – has been great for both of us. I think we’ve certainly enjoyed that aspect. He’s a good person to play for.
AGD: Aussies and English, we love having to crack at each other whether it’s rugby, cricket or golf. Have you had a crack at the Ripper GC boys this week yet? Put a bit of pressure on them at their home tournament?
TH: Oh no. Nothing needs to be said at the moment. I guess we’ll see how the leaderboard looks come Sunday, if I’m sure there’ll be maybe a few comments that get thrown about, but I’m sure more so the crowd’s just maybe saying something towards me. We had good fun last year. They seemed to enjoy reminding me of comments I made in Miami, but yeah, they enjoyed that and it was good fun. But as I said, enjoyable atmosphere to play in.
AGD: The exemptions into the US Open and Open Championship that are now happening with LIV Golf, that’s obviously an incredible opportunity and maybe a sign at the time. Things are starting to move in the right direction. Thoughts on that and what it opens up for a lot of players on this tour?
TH: Yeah, I think at the moment, it’s a good step in the right direction in the long run. You hope that there’ll be more exemptions in the future, but certainly as a foot in the door and opportunities for everyone out here that’s currently not in the majors. It is great.
