Fireballs GC member David Puig sprays his captain Sergio Garcia after the Spanish-speaking team completed the title double at LIV Golf Hong Kong on Sunday. Image courtesy livgolf.com/Mike Stobe
From a Correspondent
Hong Kong: Sergio Garcia and his red-hot Fireballs GC team captured both trophies on Sunday at LIV Golf Hong Kong, while HyFlyers GC captain Phil Mickelson appears to have recaptured his Hall of Fame form.
Led by their captain Garcia, the Fireballs have now won back-to-back tournaments after LIV Golf Adelaide last month.
They head to next week’s Singapore event presented by Aramco seeking to become the first LIV Golf team to win three consecutive tournaments since the league expanded to a full 14-tournament schedule in 2023.
Garcia shot a bogey-free 7 under par 63 to finish at 18 under and claim the individual title by three shots over hard-charging Dean Burmester, whose 62 was the low round of the day.
The Ryder Cup star, who finished third in the season-long Individual Championship race last season, moved atop the points standings after the first three events in 2025.
The 45-year-old played the final hole on Sunday with a comfortable individual lead but needed to make par to avoid dropping into a team playoff with Burmester’s Stinger GC.
Facing a lengthy birdie putt, he rolled it to within tap-in range to seal the Fireballs’ sixth LIV Golf team title and now lead the team standings by 10 points over Legion XIII.
Repeat feat
“It was nice to see not only that I was doing well and leading the tournament, but my teammates were playing great,” said Garcia, who follows teammate Abraham Ancer as individual champion in Hong Kong.
“They were keeping us there with a chance to win. Obviously when you can pull the double, it’s a lot sweeter than if it’s just one of them. Very proud of them.”
Garcia got his round jumpstarted with an early eagle on the par-5 third hole, then poured in four straight birdies from holes 8 to 11, and then added a fifth on the 16th hole to put the exclamation point on a thrilling final round.
The captain was helped on the team side by last year’s individual winner, Ancer (65), David Puig (67) and Luis Masaveu (70) as they finished 15 under in the final round to beat Stinger GC by a single stroke.
The Fireballs and Stingers appeared headed for a playoff until Masaveu, the 22-year-old Spaniard signed by Garcia in the offseason, birdied his final hole, the short par-4 10th.
“It feels incredible,” said Masaveu. “… Very happy for the team to be able to hole that putt and help them.”
Masaveu shot a level par 70, with Ancer adding 65 and David Puig a bogey-free 67 for a three-day team total of 37 under.
The South African Stingers shot 17 under as a team on Sunday to finish one shot back. Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC tied for third at 34 under with Cameron Smith’s Ripper GC, the reigning team champions.
Making gains
Individually, Mickelson finished solo third after his 64 left him at 14 under.
It’s the first podium finish for the 54-year-old since joining LIV Golf as an original member in 2022, and it couldn’t come at a better time with golf’s first major just a month away at the Masters.
“The fact is, I’m hitting a lot of good shots. I’m playing some good golf,” said Mickelson, who has won three of his six majors at Augusta National.
“This is a building week as I continue to build into LIV and my goal of accomplishing a win in LIV as well as winning another major or getting ready for Augusta.”
On the team’s display, Mickelson added, “A great steppingstone for us as we continue to build.
“We had a great opportunity. We were up on the leaderboard most of the day, and we fell three shots shy, but we are really starting to hit stride.
“All four of us are progressing, and we’re playing like we know we can, we believe we can, and now we’re starting to get some results.”
Mickelson, who has been golf’s best short-game player for most of his career, has struggled in that area the last two years. But he appears to have regained his touch.
“I had a rough couple of years,” Mickelson said. “My short game is really sharp now.”
Garcia is also a past Masters champion, and his form has been superb for more than a year.
Since the start of the 2024 LIV Golf season, he has two wins, three other runner-up finishes, and 13 top 20s in the last 16 LIV Golf regular season events, including 10 straight after Hong Kong.
Front running
He entered Sunday’s final round with a share of the lead but made an early statement by holing a lengthy eagle putt at the par-5 third after finding the green in two with a 6-iron. That gave him a two-shot lead, which he never relinquished.
“It really got me in a good mood,” Garcia said of the eagle. “I was very focused on what I wanted to do. But obviously when that happens, it gets you going even more.”
Always one of golf’s best ball-strikers, Garcia’s putting was dialled in at Hong Kong Golf Club, as he ranked third in the field in fewest putts during the week after switching to one of his old putters.
“I played with him yesterday,” Masaveu said. “He’s a machine.”
Asked if Garcia with a hot putter is as good as it gets in professional golf, Ancer offered a one-word response.
“Yes.” (courtesy LIV Golf)
Final scores
1. Fireballs GC -37 (Garcia 63, Ancer 65, Puig 67, Masaveu 70; Rd. 3 score: -15)
2. Stinger GC -36 (Burmester 62, Grace 67, Oosthuizen 67, Schwartzel 67; Rd. 3 score: -17)
T3. Ripper GC -34 (Herbert 64, Leishman 65, Smith 66, Jones 67; Rd. 3 score: -18)
T3. HyFlyers GC -34 (Mickelson 64, Steele 66, Ogletree 69, Tringale 70; Rd. 3 score: -11)
T5. Legion XIII -33 (McKibbin 66, Rahm 66, Hatton 69, Surratt 69; Rd. 3 score: -10)
T5. Torque GC -33 (Niemann 66, Muñoz 67, Ortiz 68, Pereira 71; Rd. 3 score: -8)
7. RangeGoats GC -24 (Wolff 66, Campbell 68, Watson 69, Uihlein 70; Rd. 3 score: -6)
8. 4Aces GC -23 (Johnson 64, Reed 66, Varner III 66, Pieters 68; Rd. 3 score: -16)
9. Crushers GC -22 (Casey 69, Lahiri 69, DeChambeau 70, Howell III 70; Rd. 3 score: -2)
10. Iron Heads GC -21 (Na 65, Jang 66, Lee 66, Schniederjans 68; Rd. 3 score: -15)
11. Cleeks GC -20 (Bland 65, Kaymer 67, Kjettrup 69, Meronk 69; Rd. 3 score: -10)
12. Smash GC -17 (Koepka 68, McDowell 68, Gooch 69, Kokrak 70; Rd. 3 score: -5)
13. Majesticks GC -6 (Westwood 68, Poulter 69, Horsfield 73, Stenson 74; Rd. 3 score: +4)
Wild Cards: C. Lee 67 (T12), Kim 67 (T50)
Round 3 stats
Driving accuracy: Branden Grace, 100% (14 of 14 fairways hit)
Driving distance: Dustin Johnson, 342.8 yards avg.
Longest drive: Bryson DeChambeau, 378.9 yards, 11th hole
Greens in regulation: Tom McKibbin, 94.44% (17 of 18 greens)
Scrambling: 10 players at 100%, led by David Puig, 6 of 6
Putting: Graeme McDowell, 1.33 putts per hole
Bogey-free rounds: Dean Burmester (62), Sergio Garcia (63), Marc Leishman (65), Richard Bland (65), Jon Rahm (66), Cameron Smith (66), David Puig (67)
Also read: Three share LIV Golf Hong Kong lead, Torque head team race
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