Heavyweight matchup on European Tour

Alex Miceli takes a cue from England’s Tyrrell Hatton and offers a thumbs-up rating to a riveting European Tour title bout

Two of golf’s heavyweights go toe to toe, and it wasn’t on the PGA Tour. Tyrrell Hatton surged past Rory McIlroy in a matchup of top-10-ranked players in Abu Dhabi in the European Tour’s 2021 opener. Hatton, playfully poked as the star of the tour’s "Angry Golfers" schtick, rates a thumbs-up grade of his own. And there’s one statistic associated with McIlroy, a four-time major champion, that might surprise golf fans.