AR
It’s been a busy three months for popular Ryder Cup star Tyrrell Hatton. Clearly, it’s not been easy to stay on top of everything.
“It was pretty funny, he asked for advice on car seats the day he was leaving the hospital, which is something I thought he’d have figured out by then,” close friend Jon Rahm, Hatton’s LIV Golf and Ryder Cup European teammate, said after losing to him by two shots on Sunday. “I did tell him, any time, he can call me because I’ve been there at midnight when you don’t know what to do and you need somebody to call.”
Tyrrell Hatton celebrates with his Legion XIII teammates after taking down the team and individual title on Sunday at Real Club Valderrama. Octavio Passos
Only two weeks after withdrawing from LIV Golf Korea so that he and wife, Emily, could welcome their first child, a competitively rusty Hatton allowed two-time major winner Rahm back into the contest, as well as Garcia, whose long career includes four victories at Valderrama and 17 top-10 results in 18 starts there.
But Hatton held on with a scrappy, one-under-par 70 giving him a total of 11 under – two shots ahead of Rahm (67). Hatton bounced back from a bogey at the sixth with a birdie at nine, and from bogeys at 10 and 12 with another birdie at 13. The 34-year-old put the tournament to bed with clutch birdies at 16 and 17 and a tricky par save at the last.
“It feels amazing that I’ve done it in my first event as a dad,” Hatton said. “I said to Emily, like one of my motivations probably moving forward is when Althea grows up, she will know that I was pretty good at golf sometimes, and I would love to continue to be able to win tournaments when she’s old enough to remember that happening.
“Yeah, it’s definitely given me a different kind of motivation with practice and what I hope to achieve in golf before obviously I get older and my best years are behind me.”
A long time coming 💪@TyrrellHatton claims his second individual LIV Golf League title 🏆#LIVGolfAndalucia | @LegionXIIIgc pic.twitter.com/YuZBZvHs5N
— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) June 7, 2026
After Rahm, Abraham Ancer (68) was third at eight under, Garcia (70) was fourth at seven under, and Dustin Johnson, Thomas Detry, David Puig and Cam Smith shared fifth at five under.
The notoriously tricky Valderrama was always going to be tough for 54-hole leader Hatton to maintain his lead. Cork trees line Valderrama’s severely sloping fairways, while its small, tilted greens demand precise iron shots. Gusting winds from the nearby Sotogrande coastline add to the challenge.
“Yeah, I found today really stressful,” Hatton said of LIV Golf Andalucia, which for the first time in the event’s four-year history comes with Official World Golf Ranking points. “I feel like I hit a lot of good iron shots that didn’t end up on the green. Obviously you saw a lot of pretty angry reactions from myself, but I’m happy with how I just kept plugging away and in a sense kind of got my reward with how I finished.”
Hatton kept picturing his wife and baby girl, perhaps offering a dose of perspective as Rahm and Garcia came within one shot of his lead.
“To be honest, I thought no matter how today went, I’m still going to be home tonight, and I’ll walk in to a crying newborn, and I’ll be doing nappies tonight,” Hatton said. “That was going to happen regardless. I’m really excited to get home to Emily and our little girl.”
Valderrama, the Andalucia club famous for staging the 1997 Ryder Cup, has also hosted a multitude of DP World Tour tournaments and two World Golf Championships. “It feels surreal to win, let alone the kind of place as iconic as this,” Hatton said.
Tyrrell Hatton playing his approach en route to a gritty par to close out his first LIV victory since 2024. Octavio Passos
Rahm’s Legion XIII side secured a victory in the team element. Individually, the Spaniard had never looked happier finishing second.
“Obviously I had a fantastic week myself, and very happy for Tyrrell to have just become a father just over two weeks ago and having his little girl and being a proud girl dad,” Rahm said.
“As good as he is, if someone is going to beat me, there’s very few people I’ll be happy for, and he’s one of them. It was very well-earned and happy that he on and help the team as well. As far as I’m concerned, couldn’t ask for much more.”
Hatton now owns 14 professional wins, among them the PGA Tour’s Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2020, eight DP World Tour titles and two LIV victories. Among his victories are lifting trophies at St. Andrews (as a three-time Dunhill victor), Bay Hill, Wentworth and now Valderrama.
Next, he heads to Shinnecock for the U.S. Open, a major he co-led through 15 holes on the final round last year at Oakmont only to fade to a T-4 finish. Hatton will no doubt be buoyed by a T-3 at the Masters and his Valderrama victory.
LIV Golf Andalucia was also the cut-off for the league’s exemption into the 154th Open Championship, which was given to the top player not already exempt from its points standings. Chile’s Joaquin Niemann finished T-24 at Valderrama, enough to lock up third in points before the deadline and secure the start at Royal Birkdale next month.
Main Image: Octavio Passos / Getty Images
