McIlroy gets telling response from LIV star after £4.5m fine demand | Golf | Sport

One day after McIlroy told Rahm and Hatton to fork out for their seven-figure fines, the latter was paired with the five-time major winner at the Dubai Desert Classic. However, Hatton insisted the £4.5million elephant in the room was not brought up. 

When asked if it had been discussed, Hatton replied: “We didn’t really talk about that. It was me mainly asking if he had any good wine over Christmas. 

“It was better than the wine I was drinking, but my wine was very nice, too. And then he was horrified to hear what weight I was on 1 January.”

After Hatton confirmed he had ballooned up to 204lbs – around 14.5 stone – he added: “Which at 5ft 8in is aggressive. Just before the Ryder Cup, I was 190lbs. So what’s that, another stone I’d put on.

“I enjoyed my December, zero cardio and a lot of drinking. I had a Guinness tap in the house, which was enjoyable. So now it is time to lose a little bit of weight.”

When asked about McIlroy’s blunt comments, in which he said Hatton and Rahm should “absolutely” pay their fines because the pair “made the option to go to LIV [and] knew what they [rules and regulations] were,” the World No.21 continued: “I ended up seeing what was said. 

“And, as he said, that’s his opinion. Everyone is allowed an opinion. I guess something will get sorted, hopefully, soon. Everyone is pretty keen for that to happen.”

McIlroy ended round one in the United Arab Emirates eight shots behind current leader Francesco Molinari, after carding a frustrating one-over-par 73. Meanwhile, Hatton is still in the chase, trailing Molinari by four shots.