Hatton wins by six in Nashville
COLLEGE GROVE, Tenn. – After 3-1/2 years without an individual victory, Tyrrell Hatton proved this week that not only can he win again, he can also dominate. His Legion XIII team, meanwhile, proved it can win a birdiefest.
Hatton romped to victory Sunday at LIV Golf Nashville, shooting a final-round 65 for a six-shot win over Majesticks GC’s Sam Horsfield. That ties for the second largest winning margin in LIV Golf history, and his 19-under total ties for the second lowest score.
It’s also the largest winning margin of the 11 victories in Hatton’s career. More important, it ends a drought that had the 32-year-old Englishman wondering if he’d ever return to the winner’s circle.
“Having not won for 3-1/2 years, you wonder if you’d be able to do it again in some way,” said Hatton, who was never seriously threatened in the final round. “It’s a pretty special feeling to win again.”
His Legion XIII captain, Jon Rahm, had no doubt of Hatton’s ability upon bringing him to LIV Golf as his top running mate on his new expansion team. As it turned out, Hatton beat Rahm to the team’s first individual title.
“For all those out there who don’t know how good Tyrrell Hatton is, this is sure proof,” said Rahm, who finished in a four-way tie for third. “I think today just shows how good he can be. Obviously, it’s never easy to win, and to win by six in three rounds is quite impressive.”
Hatton entered the final round with a three-shot lead, and then birdied the third and fourth holes. Rahm made an early move and at one point closed the gap to two before suffering a double-bogey at the par-4 sixth when he found the water with two different shots.
The hottest player on the course, Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann, shot a 9-under 62 but was too far back to start the day, eventually tying for third.
“A three-shot lead isn’t the easiest thing to go out and play with because you know guys are going to be trying to chase you,” said Hatton, whose par save on the 13th hole was the final key moment. “I got off to a nice start and that settled me down.”
The team battle was a bit more competitive, even though Legion XIII broke out to a 10-stroke advantage in the early stages. At one point, their lead was whittled to inside four strokes, which with all scores counting, can disappear fast.
But with all four Legion players shooting under par, they never really opened the door for any chasers. The closest competition was for the other two podium spots, with Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC taking second while Torque edged out Majesticks GC for third.
Legion’s previous two victories came at Mayakoba (at 24 under) and Miami (22 under) on two challenging courses that didn’t offer endless scoring opportunities. The Grove course, with its wide fairways, was gettable this week, leaving Rahm to wonder if his club could win such a race. They did with a total of 40 under, the second-lowest winning score of the season. It’s the third win for Legion XIII this season and it moves them within nine points of the league-leading Crushers in the season-long standings.
“I didn't think this was particularly a golf course setup suited for our team,” Rahm said. ‘Not that we can't but … those birdiefest-type events have not been our thing. Of course after I say that, we wind up with a win.”
It helps when you have the individual winner scorching the field.
TEAM COUNTING SCORES
Standings and counting scores for Sunday’s final round of the team competition at LIV Golf Nashville. The three best scores from each team count in the first two rounds while all four scores count in the final round. The team with the lowest cumulative score after three rounds wins the team title.
1. LEGION XIII -40 (Hatton 65, Rahm 68, Surratt 69, Vincent 70; Rd. 3 score: -12)
2. CRUSHERS GC -35 (Casey 65, DeChambeau 68, Lahiri 69, Catlin 70; Rd. 3 score: -12)
3. TORQUE GC -34 (Niemann 62, Muñoz 65, Ortiz 69, Pereira 72; Rd. 3 score: -16)
4. MAJESTICKS GC -32 (Horsfield 65, Westwood 66, Poulter 70, Stenson 70; Rd. 3 score: -13)
5. STINGER GC -22 (Oosthuizen 64, Schwartzel 67, Burmester 72, Grace 72; Rd. 3 score: -9)
T6. RIPPER GC -19 (Jones 68, Leishman 69, Smith 69, Herbert 70; Rd. 3 score: -19)
T6. CLEEKS GC -19 (Bland 66, Samooja 69, Meronk 70, Kaymer 74; Rd. 3 score: -5)
8. FIREBALLS GC -16 (Ancer 68, Garcia 68, Chacarra 70, Puig 75; Rd. 3 score: -3)
9. 4ACES GC -15 (Perez 64, Reed 67, Varner III 71, Johnson 75; Rd. 3 score: -7)
10. HYFLYERS GC -14 (Tringale 66, Steele 67, Mickelson 71, Ogletree 72; Rd. 3 score: -8)
11. RANGEGOATS GC -13 (Wolff 67, Pieters 68, Watson 69, Uihlein 73; Rd. 3 score: -7)
12. SMASH GC -12 (Koepka 71, Kokrak 71, McDowell 71, Gooch 72; Rd. 3 score: +1)
13. IRON HEADS GC -11 (Lee 70, Na 72, Vincent 72, Kozuma 74; Rd. 3 score: +4)
Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau finished tied third at LIV Golf Nashville. (Photo by Chris Trotman/LIV Golf)
ROUND 3 NOTES
PUTTING CHANGE KEYS HORSFIELD FINISH: Two weeks at LIV Golf Houston, Majesticks GC’s Sam Horsfield lost five strokes to the field with his putter in the first two rounds. Prior to that final round, he decided to change his grip to a cross-handed style. He immediately shot 66, gaining five strokes on the field on the greens.
That momentum carried over into LIV Golf Nashville. Horsfield needed just 83 putts over the three rounds at The Grove and tied for seventh in fewest putts for the final round. With his new-found confidence, the 27-year-old Englishman posted his best result in 25 career LIV Golf starts, a solo second at 13 under.
Hovering just above the relegation zone coming into Nashville, Horsfield is now 22nd in points. The top 24 at the end of the regular season finish in the Lock Zone and are guaranteed spots for next year’s league.
“It’s given me a real boost in confidence,” Horsfield said of the putter switch. “As crazy as it sounds, I felt my game was coming into a good spot. I wasn’t concerned at all. Obviously, it’s really nice to finish second. This week is great for me to build on for the next few weeks.”
The Majesticks team also received a much-needed boost of confidence with a fourth-place team finish, tying their best result of the year. The Majesticks were looking to finish on the podium for the first time in 25 regular-season tournaments but came up two shots shy of Torque GC.
Besides Horsfield’s best finish, Lee Westwood also produced his best-ever LIV Golf result, a tie for third after shooting two 66s on the weekend. The teammates played together on Sunday.
Westwood played bogey-free golf for the first 42 holes this week until suffering a double bogey at the par-4 eighth. He then was a bogey-free 4 under the rest of the way with an eagle at the par-5 18th.
“I’m starting to hit the ball well again,” said Westwood, who is competing in next week’s U.S. Senior Open. “This week I felt sharp. Short game was good. Holed a few putts. Good to be back in there.”
RAHM’S RETURN A SUCCESS: Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm returned to action this week after withdrawing during the second round of LIV Golf Houston with a foot infection, which also kept him out of last week’s U.S. Open.
Although Rahm’s bid to win his first individual title came up short, he finished tied for third after a weekend in which he shot 63-68. It’s his eighth top-10 finish of the season.
Rahm was just two strokes behind Tyrrell Hatton after birdies in three of his first four holes. But he found the water on two different shots at the par-4 sixth and also bogeyed the ninth and 12th holes. He doesn’t think it would’ve mattered in hopes of catching his teammate.
“I think it would’ve been nearly impossible to catch him this week,” Rahm said. “It’s easier to focus on my shortcomings. I had four penalty strokes, one out-of-bounds and three balls in hazards. That’s what I’m going to be focusing on more than anything.”
DECHAMBEAU CAN REST NOW: U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau had admittedly battled fatigue since his victory at Pinehurst, yet he remained one of Hatton’s primary chasers. After suffering an early bogey Sunday, the Crushers captain bounced back with a couple of birdies at the fourth and fifth holes before running out of steam. He played the remaining 13 holes in a bogey-free 2 under to shoot 68 and tie for third.
Although he didn’t win, DeChambeau remains in good form. He led the field in Nashville in driving accuracy and was third in driving distance, and he tied for fourth in greens in regulation. On Sunday, he missed just one fairway and two greens, leading the field in both those categories in the final round.
HATTON’S POINTS STREAK: With the victory, Tyrrell Hatton remains the only player this season to finish with points (top 24) in each of the first nine tournaments. He also moved into third place in the season-long points standings behind Joaquin Niemann and Jon Rahm. Hatton also becomes the sixth first-time winner this season.
SOLD-OUT WEEKEND: The final two rounds of LIV Golf Nashville played to sold-out crowds. Over the three days of competition, more than 40,000 fans attended the event at The Grove.
ROUND 3 STATS LEADERS
Driving accuracy: Bryson DeChambeau, Pat Perez, 92.86% (13 of 14 fairways hit)
Driving distance: Eugenio Chacarra, 352.5 yards avg.
Longest drive: Matthew Wolff, 381.4 yards, 18th hole
Greens in regulation: Bryson DeChambeau, 88.89% (16 of 18 greens)
Scrambling: Matthew Wolff (5 of 5), Pat Perez (4 of 4), Sebastián Muñoz (4 of 4), 100%
Putting: Anthony Kim, 1.33 putts per hole
Bogey-free rounds: Pat Perez (64), Sebastián Muñoz (65), Matthew Wolff (67)
