LIV Golf Andalucía champion Talor Gooch of Smash GC celebrates after the final round at Real Club Valderrama. Image courtesy LIV Golf.
From a Correspondent
San Roque, Spain: Jon Rahm celebrated a victory in front of home fans Sunday, but American Talor Gooch prevented a second consecutive trophy sweep for Spanish captains at LIV Golf Andalucía.
Rahm’s Legion XIII rallied to win their third title of the season and their seventh overall, outduelling Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC, the defending team champions at Real Club Valderrama.
“Can’t believe back-to-back years we got a win with a Spanish member on the team, so at least keep it in the family,” Rahm said. “That’s something I’m happy about. What a great Sunday we had.”
Garcia also won the individual title last year, but Rahm’s spirited bid to duplicate that feat came up one stroke short, as Smash GC’s Gooch shot a 1 under 70 to finish at 8 under par for his second title in three visits to Valderrama.
“The fans, they’re great even if you’re not a Spaniard,” said Gooch. “Obviously I know that they want one of their own to win, but I never felt like the spoiler.
“They’ve embraced me so much. Having won here two years ago, I think I’ve garnered a few more fans.”
Winning feeling
Gooch now has 13 trophies – four individual wins, seven team wins (with three different teams), a team championship in 2022 with 4Aces GC and one individual Championship in 2023 when he played with RangeGoats GC.
That’s more than any other player in LIV Golf’s young history, as he breaks the tie with Crushers GC captain Bryson DeChambeau, who’s been a part of 12 wins.
“That’s a pretty cool stat,” Gooch said. “I didn’t know I had the most trophies on LIV. I’ll be sure to let everyone know in JCB (at LIV Golf UK) that that’s the case.”
It didn’t come easy, as Gooch got off to a rocky start for the second consecutive round, his errant drive on the first hole costing him a bogey. Another bogey at the sixth saw his four-shot lead to start the day whittled in half.
Birdies at the 7th and 11th holes maintained the lead, but several of his chasers were gaining on him, particularly Rahm, who had started the round six shots behind but was playing bogey-free golf.
When Rahm, playing in the group ahead, birdied the par-4 14th and Gooch followed with a bogey on the same hole, the two were tied at 6 under. But Gooch immediately bounced back, rolling in a 19-foot birdie putt to regain the outright lead.
Both players birdied the par-5 17th, meaning Rahm needed another birdie on the closing hole to potentially force a playoff.
Closing scramble
Instead, an errant tee shot forced him to lay up and he had to scramble just to make par and remain bogey-free with a 15-1/2 foot putt that received a thunderous roar from the partisan crowd as Rahm offered a fist pump.
“It’s a shame it wasn’t for birdie,” Rahm said, but he wasn’t about to complain about his final-round 6 under 65, which tied for the lowest score of the day and his lowest round ever at Valderrama.
“Today I played one of the better rounds of golf I’ve played in a very long time,” Rahm said.
“I made one bad swing, which was a really bad one, but besides that it was nothing but really good ones, which is hard to do on this golf course.”
Gooch has hit plenty of good ones at Valderrama and he needed two more on the final hole to avoid a playoff. After finding the fairway off the tee, his approach shot finished on the fringe to set up his winning two-putt.
“I just can’t describe how special it is to beat Rahmbo,” said Gooch, whose last win was at Valderrama in 2023.
“While all the fans may not love that part, it makes it a little bit more special for me. …
“It’s been two years of a lot of hard work, a lot of time put into this craft and a lot of blood, sweat and tears shed to get back here.
“The patience and hard work has paid off, and I couldn’t be happier for it to have paid off here at Valderrama.”
Team triumph
The payoff for Rahm on Sunday was with his team. They shot a collective 12 under, the best score of any team in the final round, to rally from a five-stroke deficit to start the day.
With 36-hole leader 4Aces GC struggling, Legion found themselves battling the Fireballs, who shot a collective 11 under.
Along with Rahm’s 65, Tom McKibbin also had the hot hand, shooting 66, while Caleb Surratt contributed a 70 and Tyrrell Hatton an even-par 71.
McKibbin was a bogey-free 7 under through 15 holes, challenging for the lead until two late bogeys. Surratt was just the opposite – 4 over in his first nine holes, then 5 under on his final nine, including birdies on his final three holes.
“Today on my 10th hole when I looked up at the leaderboard and saw how well the other guys were playing, especially Tom and Jon, it almost felt like I was holding us back,” Surratt said.
“That gave me a lot of motivation to go finish really strong.”
Hatton had a rollercoaster round but finished with a key birdie on his final hole. It’s reflective of how the entire Legion team played down the stretch, a collective 9 under on their back nines.
“I saw at one point today, I think we were six shots behind,” Hatton said. “We know how quickly things can change. Jon and Tom had a fantastic day today, and that certainly was the main reason why we’re sat here now.” (courtesy LIV Golf)
Final scores
1. Legion XIII -5 (Rahm 65, McKibbin 66, Surratt 70, Hatton 71; Rd. 3 score: -12)
2. Fireballs GC -3 (Ancer 66, Ballester 67, Garcia 70, Puig 70; Rd. 3 score: -11)
T3. Smash GC E (Kokrak 69, Gooch 70, Koepka 71, McDowell 71; Rd. 3 score: -3)
T3. 4Aces GC E (Pieters 69, Varner III 70, Reed 71, Johnson 72; Rd. 3 score: -2)
5. HyFlyers GC +4 (Tringale 67, Steele 69, Mickelson 71, Ogletree 71; Rd. 3 score: -6)
6. Ripper GC +8 (Jones 65, Herbert 69, Smith 69, Leishman 70; Rd. 3 score: -11)
7. Crushers GC +10 (Howell III 69, Lahiri 69, Casey 71, DeChambeau 74; Rd. 3 score: -1)
8. Cleeks GC +12 (Bland 69, Meronk 70, Kaymer 72, Kjettrup 72; Rd. 3 score: -1)
9. Torque GC +13 (Muñoz 68, Ortiz 68, Niemann 71, Pereira 71; Rd. 3 score: -6)
10. Majesticks GC +14 (Horsfield 69, Stenson 70, Poulter 71, Westwood 71; Rd. 3 score: -3)
11. Stinger GC +16 (Grace 69, Schwartzel 70, Burmester 73, Oosthuizen 73; Rd. 3 score: +1)
12. Iron Heads GC +19 (Lee 69, Kozuma 71, Na 72, Jang 79; Rd. 3 score: +7)
13. RangeGoats GC +28 (Watson 70, Uihlein 73, Campbell 76, Masaveu 76; Rd. 3 score: +11)
Wild Cards: C. Lee 71, Kim 77
Final round stats
Driving accuracy: Sebastián Muñoz, Henrik Stenson, 85.71% (12 of 14 fairways hit)
Driving distance average (for measured holes 11 and 17): Adrian Meronk, 350.5 yards avg.
Longest drive (among measured holes 11 and 17): Jon Rahm, 373.4 yards (11th hole
Greens in regulation: Jason Kokrak, 88.89% (16 of 18 greens)
Scrambling: Charl Schwartzel (7 of 7), Abraham Ancer (6 of 6), Thomas Pieters (6 of 6), Jon Rahm (4 of 4), Cameron Tringale (4 of 4), 100%
Putting: Anthony Kim, 1.22 putts per hole
Bogey-free rounds: Jon Rahm (65), Abraham Ancer (66), Cameron Triangle (67), Thomas Pieters (69)
Also read: Gooch, 4Aces take round two lead at LIV Golf Andalucia
Discover more from Tee Time Tales
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.