Tyrrell Hatton heads into the final round of the Masters tied for 15th, with one more chance to do the kind of damage that could send him back here next year. He carded an even-par 72 on Saturday, sat at 4 under for the tournament and was seven shots off the lead entering Sunday.
That leaves Hatton, 34, with a simple target: finish inside the top 12 and he earns a place in next year’s Masters. He is the only one of the five liv golf players who made the cut this week at Augusta National who is not already guaranteed a return for 2027. Two years ago, Hatton tied for ninth at Augusta and used that finish to get into the 2025 Masters field, then earned this week’s spot by tying for fourth at last year’s U.S. Open. Now he is again trying to turn one strong week into another invitation.
The wider picture is different for the other LIV players still playing. Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia and Charl Schwartzel are all past Masters champions, and that means they already have the security Hatton does not. None of the five LIV Golf players broke par on Saturday. Johnson shot a 3-over 75 and was tied for 44th at 3 over after three rounds. Rahm posted a 1-over 73 and was tied for 48th at 5 over, the same position as Garcia after his own Saturday struggle. Schwartzel, meanwhile, was planning to reach for a short putter on Sunday after putting it in his bag on Saturday.
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Schwartzel, who was set to go out in the first twosome at 9:06 a.m. ET, put the mood bluntly. “You always try,” he said. “You don’t want to also embarrass yourself. You want to still try to play off decent, but. It’s hard to play when you’re not in contention and you’re just playing at the back of the field. It’s not the best feeling.”
The tee times underline where each of them stands. Schwartzel goes first, Johnson follows at 9:50 a.m. ET with Keegan Bradley, and Rahm and Garcia share a 9:28 a.m. ET twosome. Hatton is later, paired with Tommy Fleetwood at 12:35 p.m. ET, and that slot carries the clearest consequence of the day: a top-12 finish would not just salvage a good week, it would lock in a spot in the 2027 Masters conversation before he leaves Augusta.
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That is the pressure that has followed liv golf players into major championships all season, and Augusta has made the distinction sharp. The four former champions can lean on their past green jackets; Hatton cannot. He has the form to make it interesting, but Sunday is about whether one more round can turn a tie for 15th into a permanent return.
