Tom McKibbin and Tyrrell Hatton have been paired together to face the all French pairing of Antoine Rozner and Julien Guerrier in the opening fourball session of the Team Cup in Abu Dhabi.
Both players are representing Great Britain and Ireland this week but their pairing is interesting as they could become LIV Golf teammates over the next few weeks with McKibbin heavily linked with a move to Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII team, which Hatton is already a member of.
Continental Europe will be without Nicolai Hojgaard who has fallen ill and has subsequently been replaced by Guerrier who earned his maiden DP World Tour win at the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters last year.
McKibbin refused to comment on whether he would be joining LIV Golf ahead of the 2025 campaign which gets underway next month and a pairing with Hatton will do little to quell the speculation that he could be about to join the Saudi backed tour.
Hatton himself is one of the more experienced campaigners on the GB&I team for the second edition of the dress rehearsal Ryder Cup style competition.
Opportunities to impress European Ryder Cup captain are limited for Hatton because of his LIV Golf commitments and they could be for McKibbin also, although it is expected that Rahm and Hatton will be representing Europe in Bethpage Black this September as captain’s picks.
Should McKibbin join LIV he will be in the same boat as Rahm and Hatton where they will need to have good results in their limited DP World Tour starts this year to impress Donald.
“Well, my opportunities are more limited than others, obviously. Desert Classic next week and the four majors. Going to have to play some very good golf in those five events to be an automatic qualifier,” said Hatton.
“But yeah, I mean, I’m going to try my best. And we’ll see how it plays out. But yes, I would love to be on that team in September.
“Me playing this week, it shows a commitment to that and a commitment to the DP World Tour, which I was pretty keen to show. I think I also showed that at the back end of last year.
“Yeah, I love playing on the DP World Tour, and I’m happy to be here this week. It would be nice to help GB&I get some revenge for two years ago.”
Playing captain’s Justin Rose (GB&I) and Francesco Molinari (Continental Europe) are also pencilled in to compete in the opening season with Rose and Matt Wallace tackling Matthieu Pavon and Romain Langasque in the top match while Molinari and the resurgent Matteo Manassero face Tommy Fleetwood and Aaron Rai in the bottom tie.
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