Jon Rahm switching from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf was pivotal in his Ryder Cup teammate Tyrrell Hatton making the same decision weeks later.
Hatton, 32, switched tours a month into the year, joining Rahm's Legion XIII team before the league's third season began. But the call came after starts at The Sentry, the Sony Open in Hawaii and the Dubai Desert Classic during January. He belatedly decided before the month was out ahead of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Instead of catching a flight to California for the second 'signature event' on the schedule, Hatton headed to Cancun for the LIV Golf event at Mayakoba in Mexico. As the delay suggested, it is not a move he took lightly.
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"This all came about over the weekend of Dubai," Hatton told BBC Sport. "The following week was a pretty stressful one. I almost wanted a crystal ball to know what the right decision would be.
"I spoke to so many people in that week, almost to the point of wanting to have someone to make the decision for me. It was hard. You don't know what's the right decision.
"I knew that if I stayed and played PGA Tour, if I play how I have been for the past seven, eight years, then I should stay within the top 50 and give myself the best chance of making the Ryder Cup and playing in all the majors and that's what I want to do."
It is not the first time Hatton has defended his LIV Golf move (Fairway To Heaven - LIV Golf)But reuniting with Rahm proved to be a deciding factor. "We obviously get on very well, and we had a good record in Rome (with two wins from their two foursomes matches)," he said.
"So, there were certain things with LIV that I really liked." On those aspects, Hatton explained: "I like that idea of being part of a team; I like the schedule and not in the sense of playing less. That's not my goal whatsoever. I like the fact that we're going to different places around the world."
But, as many have found, the 54-hole shotgun starts are taking some getting used to. "My routine I've always been walking onto the tee two or three minutes before we're due to go, and you keep that rhythm from the range. Sometimes you have to leave 20 minutes before the shotgun start."
Hatton also acknowledged the financial incentives after reportedly signing a £50million deal. "Everyone knows that side of it," he said. "Yeah, it's nice, but ultimately it's not everything.
The ongoing talks about the two tours merging at some stage also played into it. "I think the talk of golf hopefully coming together made the decision marginally easier," he recalled, "but it was still a really difficult decision for me to make.
Hatton continued: "It was going into the unknown and not sure if it would be the right thing. But so far, I'm happy, and ultimately that's the most important thing."
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