9x European Tour winner takes a subtle dig at golf rankings, dubs Tyrrell Hatton 'top 5 in the world'
Pablo Larrazabal praised Tyrrell Hatton for winning the 2025 Hero Dubai Desert Classic and called him one of the top-ranked golfers in the world. The Spanish golfer took a dig at the World Rankings as the players playing on LIV Golf don't receive OWGR points. However, they can only earn points by playing in other golf series.
Tyrrell Hatton kick-started his 2025 campaign playing on the DP World Tour with a victory at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. Following the English golfer's win, Larrazábal shared a post praising Hatton on his X (formerly Twitter) account. He wrote:
"@TyrrellHatton is one of the best players in the world, in my opinion easy top 5 at the moment and wins a lot more tournaments than players that they think are top 10 in the world… now slow down a little bit Tyrrel, one more @DPWorldTour tittle to catch me… 😉"
It was the eighth European Tour event victory for Tyrrell Hatton. He is now just one win less than Pablo Larrazábal, who has won nine events on the circuit. Interestingly, Pablo Larrazábal also played in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic but played two rounds of 75 and 79 and settled at 10-over par.
He missed the cut at the tournament. On the contrary, Tyrrell Hatton was impressive with his game, and after playing the final round of 69, he won the event.
Tyrrell Hatton opens up about his performance at the Dubai Desert Classic
Hatton started his campaign at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic with a round of 71. However, he then played a round of 65, followed by the next two rounds of 68 and 69. He started the final round sitting in the second position on the leaderboard.
Tyrrell Hatton teed off on Sunday, January 19, with a bogey on the first hole, but he then made a birdie on the next. He carded two more birdies on the fifth and then on the sixth, followed by two more birdies on the back nine and a bogey.
With a total of 15-under, he settled in the top position on the leaderboard, finally registering a one-stroke win in the game over Daniel Hillier. During the press conference of the tournament, Hatton opened up about his performance and said (via ASAP Sports):
"I actually thought they had the score wrong because when he double hit on the chip shot, I actually thought it counted as an extra shot. Hugo told me on the par 5, was it 13, and I thought it was two, but it was one.
"But yeah, I'm not going to lie, I was pretty nervous on the back nine to be honest. And yeah, I guess I just maybe wanted it a bit too much. Yeah, I knew the position I was in, and a little bit scruffy down the last. But yeah, to see that putt go in felt amazing. Just so happy to win," he added.
Meanwhile, LIV Golf is also gearing up to start its new season. The 2025 season of the Saudi league will begin on February 6 in Saudi Arabia.
Hatton was pretty impressive last year in the Saudi league, where he won the Nashville event and would be back on the circuit in 2025.