Rory McIlroy 'horrified' with Tyrrell Hatton during Dubai Desert Classic

Tyrrell Hatton revealed he avoided the elephant in the room after playing the first round of the Dubai Desert Classic with Rory McIlroy. 

The pair were subject to additional attention during the first round of the first Rolex Series event of the year at Emirates Golf Club. 

McIlroy laboured to a one-over 73 whilst Hatton, the defending champion, is five back of early leader Francesco Molinari. 

Hatton played alongside McIlroy 24 hours after being called out by the Northern Irishman over his Ryder Cup dilemma. 

McIlroy implored Hatton and fellow LIV recruit Jon Rahm to pay their multi-million pound finds owed to the DP World Tour to avoid Ryder Cup banishment. 

Both players were instrumental in Europe's 15-13 away victory over the United States last September. 

But they were only allowed to compete as they lodged an appeal against their sanctions. 

A typically forthright McIlroy implored Hatton and Rahm to consider the fact the Europeans "went hard against the Americans" for being paid to compete in the Ryder Cup. 

Each member of the United States team received a "stipend" of $500,000 - with $300,000 going to charity. 

Hatton told media after his first round that he did speak to McIlroy during round one but they avoided an awkward conversation. 

"It was me mainly asking him if he'd had any good wine over Christmas, to be honest," Hatton said. 

"It was better than the wine I was drinking, but my wine was very nice too. 

"Then he was horrified to hear what weight I was on January 1. I was 204lbs, which at five-foot-eight is aggressive."

"Just before [the] Ryder Cup I was like 190lbs, so what's that, another stone I'd put on?

"I enjoyed my December. I did do some training, but zero cardio and a lot of drinking. 

"I had a Guinness tap in the house, which was enjoyable, and now it's time to lose a little bit of weight. I was turning like the Titanic today."

As for his own performance, Hatton was satisfied. He chipped in three times. 

He won here 12 months ago by one shot over New Zealand's Daniel Hillier. Hatton went on to enjoy a strong season, securing automatic Ryder Cup qualification. 

Hatton also came close to securing his maiden major championship victory at the U.S. Open at Oakmont, but came unstuck on the penultimate hole of the tournament. 

"It was pretty tough this morning," he said. "Feel like I hit some pretty scruffy golf shots, which in some ways is to be expected."

He added: "I think it was quite breezy from the start. It was quite difficult to really get the wind direction, guess it right. 

"It was kind of just moving fractionally in which it can kind of make... the wind speeds can make quite a difference with where the ball lands.

"The greens were getting firm. They sort of mentioned that they hadn't cut the greens, so I was expecting them to be pretty slow. 

"As the round went on, I felt like they got pretty quick. I feel like the guys this afternoon, it will probably play a bit tougher for them. 

"I was really surprised at how fast the greens were at the end."

Westwood backs Rory

McIlroy's comments caught the attention of European Ryder Cup legend Lee Westwood. 

Westwood was among the first wave of players to be recruited by LIV Golf in June 2022 and was subsequently hit with a £100,000 fine. 

The former world number one appealed, but a panel of former high court judges ruled against Westwood. 

Westwood has disagreed with McIlroy on several occasions over the last few years, but backed the Northern Irishman with a post on X. 

He urged the DP World Tour to bring forward Rahm and Hatton's appeal to next month.