Individual champion captain Sergio Garcia of Fireballs GC celebrates after winning the playoff of the final round of LIV Golf Andalucía against Anirban Lahiri at Real Club Valderrama on Sunday. Image courtesy LIV Golf/Jon Ferrey.
From a Correspondent
Sotogrande, Spain: On an unprecedented day in LIV Golf’s young history, captain Sergio Garcia and his Fireballs GC produced a storybook finish for their Spanish fans on home soil at LIV Golf Andalucía.
Garcia rallied from seven strokes down to win his first LIV Golf individual title on the second sudden-death playoff hole against Crushers GC’s Anirban Lahiri.
Behind them, teammates Abraham Ancer and David Puig beat the Crushers duo of captain Bryson DeChambeau and Paul Casey in the team aggregate-score playoff as the Fireballs – with three Spaniards on the roster – swept both trophies at Real Club Valderrama.
The Spanish title double added to a day of high achievement with Carlos Alcaraz retaining his Wimbledon men’s singles crown in a straight-sets win over seven-time champion Novak Djokovic and the Spanish national team beating England 2-1 in the Euro 2024 final at Berlin.
It was LIV Golf’s first double playoff and just the second team knockout in league history after LIV Golf Adelaide when the home Australian team – Ripper GC – also won earlier this year.
For Garcia, the script couldn’t have been written any better, as he won for the first time after three previous playoff losses.
That it happened on his favourite course, one in which he’s won three other professional events and has now finished inside the top 10 in 16 of his 17 starts, made it even more special.
Deep connection
“To be totally honest, there’s a connection between Valderrama and myself that I can’t even explain it,” said the 44-year-old Garcia, who ended a four-year winless drought while winning his 37th professional title.
Garcia started the day at even par, seven shots behind overnight leader Lahiri. But the Spanish star played flawless golf for 17 holes, posting six birdies and applying pressure on Lahiri, who was trying to break his own winless drought of nine years.
While Garcia suffered his only bogey of the day with a three-putt at the par-3 third to wrap up his 5-under 66, Lahiri birdied the par-5 17th. That put the tournament in Lahiri’s hands going to the par-4 18th, the most difficult hole on the course this week.
Lahiri found the middle of the green with his approach shot and rolled his birdie attempt to 3 feet to set up the potential winning par.
Painful meltdown
But with a chance to win the individual title and secure the team title for the Crushers, he missed the putt for a final-round 73 to drop back to 5 under and set up the double playoff.
Garcia was riding in a van back to the clubhouse at the time. “We obviously heard the crowds going crazy, so we figured that he might have missed his par putt,” Garcia said. “… It was nice to be able to have another shot at it.”
Garcia and Lahiri each parred their first playoff hole. Meanwhile, in the team playoff right behind them, DeChambeau found trouble off the 18th tee and had to lay up with his second shot.
Casey’s approach finished in the rough behind the green. DeChambeau bogeyed the hole while Ancer and Puig made easy pars to claim the Fireballs’ first team victory of the season.
“I was hitting it terrible all day,” DeChambeau said. “I thought I’d be OK hitting a 3-wood out there, and I just blocked it, and the wind didn’t take it back, and it was really weird, the wind just didn’t help us today.
“We got it to a couple ahead and we had it but didn’t finish it like we normally do.
“Just didn’t get the job done. I think we’ll learn from that, and we’re going to come back working harder and hopefully we’ll not have those mistakes ever happen again, because we’re too good of a team to have those stupid mistakes happen.”
Like his captain, Lahiri’s errant tee shot on the second playoff hole left him in trouble, and Garcia won with a par, with his teammates and family racing onto the green to drench him in celebratory champagne.
Dream feat
“Obviously individual for me, it’s a dream come true to do it on my favourite course in front of my family and friends and in front of my teammates,” Garcia said.
“But to even make it even better by winning the team championship, too, it was amazing. So proud of these guys, the way they played.”
On the flip side, it was heartbreak for the Crushers, who have won twice this season and lead the season-long points standings as they look to repeat as Team Champions.
“It sucks. Losing is never fun,” said DeChambeau. “That’s what makes winning so much better. I feel for Baan.”
Asked what he told Lahiri, DeChambeau said: “You’re playing great golf. I know you’ve had some weird stuff happen. Keep your head high.
“You’re a great player. It’s going to happen. Two weeks from now, we’ve got another tournament. You’ve got to focus up and get ready for the next one. Don’t reminisce.”
Perhaps it was simply fate for the Fireballs and their captain to win on home turf in front of a partisan crowd.
“A dream weekend for all of us,” said young Fireballs star Eugenio Chacarra.
“Super happy for Sergio. He’s been up there a lot, and he’s been playing at a high level for 20-plus years. It’s really nice to see it from close every single day, and so happy for him that he got it done on his favourite course.” (courtesy LIV Golf)
Final counting scores
1. Fireballs GC -5 (Garcia 66, Puig 70, Ancer 72, Chacarra 74; Rd. 3 score: -2)
2. Crushers GC -5 (Catlin 69, DeChambeau 71, Casey 73, Lahiri 73; Rd. 3 score: +2)
3. Stinger GC E (Oosthuizen 69, Grace 71, Schwartzel 71, Burmester 75; Rd. 3 score: +2)
T4. Torque GC +3 (Niemann 69, Ortiz 69, Muñoz 69, Pereira 71; Rd. 3 score: -6)
T4. Ripper GC +3 (Smith 68, Herbert 70, Leishman 71, Jones 73; Rd. 3 score: -2)
T6. 4Aces GC +7 (Reed 67, Johnson 71, Varner III 72, Perez 73; Rd. 3 score: -1)
T6. Cleeks GC +7 (Samooja 69, Meronk 70, Bland 74, Kaymer 75; Rd. 3 score: +4)
8. Iron Heads GC +10 (Kozuma 71, Vincent 71, Lee 72, Na 75; Rd. 3 score: +5)
9. Majesticks GC +11 (Horsfield 73, Stenson 73, Westwood 73; Poulter 74; Rd. 3 score: +9)
10. Legion XIII +12 (Hatton 69, Rahm 71, Vincent 74, Surratt 77; Rd. 3 score: +7)
11. HyFlyers GC +20 (Steele 73, Tringale 73, Mickelson 74, Ogletree 75; Rd. 3 score: +11)
12. RangeGoats GC +22 (Uihlein 65, Pieters 70, Watson 72, Wolff 73; Rd. 3 score: -4)
13. Smash GC +23 (McDowell 71, Gooch 72, Kokrak 72, Koepka 76; Rd. 3 score: +7)
Round 3 stats
Driving accuracy: John Catlin, Branden Grace, Henrik Stenson, 78.57% (11 of 14 fairways hit)
Driving distance: Brendan Steele, 339.3 yards avg.
Longest drive: Jason Kokrak, 352.6 yards, 17th hole
Greens in regulation: Patrick Reed, 72.22% (13 of 18 greens)
Scrambling: Sergio Garcia (7 of 7), 100%
Putting: Mito Pereira, Peter Uihlein, 1.22 putts per hole
Bogey-free rounds: None
Also read: On-fire Lahiri takes four-shot lead into final round at Valderrama
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