Tyrrell Hatton faced questions from tournament officials after venting his frustration on the 7th hole in Dubai by smashing a plastic tee marker with his club.
“Just a bit of frustration. Probably shouldn’t have done it. Does it make me a bad person? No. It’s just a spur-of-the-moment thing, and it happened. I can’t go back and change it, so move on.
“I was told about it in scoring. I’m aware it’s not the right thing to do, but in the heat of the moment, you just do things you probably wish you didn’t.
“I’m not going to let it bother me for the rest of the day. If that’s the worst thing I do as a human, then, I mean, it’s not that bad.”
As a result, Hatton has withdrawn from the AT&T Championship at Pebble Beach – a PGA event that he was already scheduled to compete in.
The news will come as a huge blow to Luke Donald and Team Europe as attentions start to turn to the Ryder Cup in New York next year.
Hatton is not the first Team Europe star to defect to LIV Golf of late with Adrian Meronk joining last week.
Via Ewan Murray / The Observer