by What is it about Tyrrell Hatton and the Old Course? In today’s newsletter, Joseph LaMagna digs into the strategy behind the Englishman’s dominance over the past decade at the Dunhill Links. Joseph also argues that the Korn Ferry Tour’s promotion system is actually working (!) and that TGL’s virtual golf courses have one big weakness.
Happy Monday! And here we go…
Tyrrell Once Again Takes Down the Old Course
One view of the Old Course is that it is an endlessly complex puzzle, revealing new strategic nuances with each round played. Another view is that modern technology and power have rendered it vulnerable to mindless bombing and gouging.
As is often the case, the truth lies somewhere between the extremes, and the two views aren’t mutually exclusive. However, I do believe there’s considerable merit to the latter approach, one that emphasizes smashing driver while prioritizing hazard avoidance, with less concern about ending up in the native areas. That’s the blueprint for today’s modern professional golfer armed with a “fargiving” driver, especially in warm, calm conditions.
Don’t take my word for it—take Tyrrell Hatton’s. At this past week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, apparently, Hatton advised Jon Rahm that the proper way to play the Old Course is to rip driver over the bunkers into the rough and flip wedges into the greens. And Hatton’s results speak for themselves.
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Images courtesy of the DP World Tour
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Images courtesy of the DP World Tour
Following his win on Sunday, Hatton became the first player to win the Dunhill Links three times. He also finished T-11 at the 2022 Open Championship held at the Old Course and now shares the course record after shooting a 61 this past Saturday, a round that included multiple missed opportunities.
Back in January, Max Homa called Tyrrell Hatton the most underrated golfer in the world—a take that has aged gracefully. Hatton may not be in the top tier of pros, but he’s certainly in the small group nipping at their heels.
Korn Ferry Tour Season Wraps Up
The world of pro golf has plenty of issues to resolve, but the pipeline between the Korn Ferry and PGA tours is not one of them. That system works. Players who belong on the PGA Tour reliably bubble up to the top of the KFT.
Matt McCarty, who finished first on this year’s KFT points list, made the cut in his PGA Tour debut at the Sanderson Farms Championship this weekend, finishing T-63. Although he could have played better, it was by no means a disappointing performance. The skill increase is significant between KFT and PGA Tour events, even in the fall series.
With the KFT season wrapping up yesterday, the top 30 points earners will continue chasing their dreams next year with status on the PGA Tour. That class includes Braden Thornberry, who shot a brilliant final-round 66 to win the KFT Championship and climb into the top 30 from outside the top 50, and Max McGreevy, who missed a lot of cuts on the PGA Tour in 2023 but immediately regained PGA Tour status after dropping back to the KFT for one season. He finished second in points this year—another data point that demonstrates the skill differential between the tours.
Surveying the 2024 PGA Tour performance of the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour graduates, results are mixed. Max Greyserman made a leap in 2024 and has secured status in Signature Events for the 2025 PGA Tour season. A handful of other KFT graduates posted decent results in non-Signature events, but many struggled to make cuts.
All of this suggests that the Korn Ferry Tour system, in conjunction with PGA Tour University, is doing what it should. If every KFT grad crushed it right away on the big tour, that would be evidence of a talent logjam at the lower level. Instead, players are getting their chances. Some blossom; many don’t.
A Look at Recently Unveiled TGL Holes
A few weeks ago, TGL—the simulator league featuring Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and other top PGA Tour players—unveiled a preview of the golf holes to be used in its competitions, slated to begin in January 2025.
Course design is an intriguing aspect of TGL. Often in pro golf, we hear about the constraints involved in venue selection. It’s increasingly difficult to find golf courses with the length, room for infrastructure, weather conditions, and amenities to host top tournaments. A simulator league removes those barriers, allowing holes to be created digitally that would be impossible to construct in the real world. It also offers the benefit of controlled, always-optimal playing conditions. So one of TGL’s biggest appeals is that it can serve as a unique testing ground for radical architectural concepts, free from the constraints of reality.
Through that lens, I’m liking what I’m seeing from this Beau Welling-designed TGL hole:
Image courtesy of TGL
Players can aim aggressively for the fairway on the right, significantly shortening the hole and giving themselves a chance to reach the green in two. That option comes with risk, though, as hitting the shot offline could result in a re-tee. In the physical world, it would be infeasible, not to mention reckless, to construct a hole like this.
There is, however, one rather large constraint on TGL’s golf architecture. Competitors will hit into a screen until they’re on or around the green, which is a physical space in the arena. The green can rotate 360 degrees, and its contours can shift, but its size and the placement of the three surrounding bunkers will remain the same for every hole. So players will play into the green and its bunkers from different angles, but it’s the same green complex on every hole.
This… seems like a massive flaw! It may not be the biggest impediment to TGL’s success or register as the most ridiculous thing about the league, but won’t it be a bit odd to watch players hit into virtually the same green every hole every week?
Anyway, in your spare time, I recommend clicking through some of the hole designs. You may find amusing nuggets, like this note on a hole sketched by architect Agustín Pizá, in which he suggests golfers may hit a 155-yard layup on a 360-yard hole.
Image courtesy of TGL
And that might not even be the most amusing note!
This piece originally appeared in the Fried Egg Golf newsletter. Subscribe for free and receive golf news and insight every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
