"It's great to join my brother Matt as a winner. It can be hard sometimes when you're constantly chasing someone's accolades but luckily it's my brother, so it's not horrific. It's extremely nice to join him in the winners' ranks and hopefully I can continue to push on."
Each year, the PGA Tour underpins prize funds on the DP World, formerly European, Tour. The fee is listed in the European Tour Group's accounts as an annual investment payment. In 2024, it rose by almost 10%, to 21.5m. The likelihood is the figure increased again in 2025. The mistake would be to regard this as chump change for the PGA Tour; the subsidy is turning heads within an organisation that now has private equity and the Strategic Sports Group to answer to.
This is what I want to do now. Yes, winning the Players would have been brilliant. I won the Scottish Open, which was my main goal in life apart from a major. Now, for me, it is about winning majors. With the way I am playing, the consistency and the level I know I can play at – I don't see why not.
He's teaching me about the grain and how it works. I mean, I kind of knew common sense about the grain, but I think now that I'm in the 2.8 range, knowing the grain will probably get me down to - my goal is to get to scratch.
McIlroy used pre-tournament media duties at the Dubai Desert Classic to assert that Hatton and Jon Rahm should settle their seven-figure penalties due to the European Tour Group for their participation in LIV Golf. McIlroy's sentiment felt especially notable because he was to spend the opening two rounds at the Emirates Club in Hatton's company. Yet there appeared no ill feeling whatsoever between the Ryder Cup teammates; as evident on the course and by what Hatton said later.