Andalucía Recap: Fireballs GC complete a miraculous ‘home’ sweep
SOTOGRANDE, Spain – It was a Sunday Spanish sporting fans will not forget in a hurry. Along with Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon and the national football team in Euro 2024, Fireballs GC delighted the home fans at Real Golf Valderrama with a sweep of both individual and team titles following a roller-coaster last 45 minutes in LIV Golf Andalucía.
The finish was absolutely manic. The lead, in both individual and team championships, kept changing by the minute. And when Crushers GC’s Anirban Lahiri rolled his putt to less than three feet with him needing a par to beat Sergio Garcia and Crusher staying one better than Fireballs, there was a sense of resignation all around.
However, the Golfing Gods had other plans. Lahiri incredibly missed the putt, which led to history being made in LIV Golf as both individual and team championships went to a playoff.
As much as Lahiri’s putt revived Fireballs, a sensational final-round 65 by Garcia – the best round on another blustery afternoon at the famous Robert Trent Jones-designed golf course – played an equally important part in lifting the all-Spanish speaking team to their first team win of the season and Garcia’s fourth win at Valderrama and his first in LIV Golf career.
“For me, the individual title is a dream come true to do it on my favorite course in front of my family and friends and in front of my teammates. But to win the team championship, too, it was amazing,” said the 44-year-old.
“It’s a tough course, so it was hard. Very, very proud of what we were able to achieve today.”
Despite starting the day four shots behind Crushers, Fireballs had managed to edge ahead as the battle entered the closing stretch. However, Abraham Ancer made an uncharacteristic double bogey on his penultimate hole and Garcia and Eugenio Chacarra both finished with bogeys.
A Lahiri birdie on the 17th hole, and a huge par save by Captain Bryson DeChambeau on his last only increased Crushers advantage by one shot as David Puig closed with successive birdies and Ancer produced a magic chip-in on his last to keep Fireballs in the game.
It all changed with Lahiri’s closing bogey, which led to a two-hole individual playoff against Garcia, while Ancer and Puig combined to take advantage of two errant tee shots down the 18th by DeChambeau and Paul Casey to win the team playoff.
The win may have been unexpected, but Garcia said he was happy despite making the three-putt bogey on the last.
“I was so focused on what I was trying to achieve, not knowing if it was going to be good enough or not to get the win, but I was playing hard. I was playing really, really well. Gave myself a lot of chances, and making some nice putts here and there,” said Garcia, whose last win was on the PGA Tour in 2020 at the Sanderson Farms Championship.
“Obviously, when I three-putted the third hole, my 54th, I was still very happy about the way that everything went and how I felt throughout the day. You think, oh, man, another second. It’s been a great week, but unfortunately just a little bit short again.
“Then all of a sudden you have another life. You have another chance. Then the team had another chance. It was just amazing. I wanted to play hard, and I did that.”
Garcia, who had earlier lost in playoffs to Joaquin Niemann in Mayakoba and to Dean Burmester in Miami, jumped to 3rd place in the season-long Individual Standing. Fireballs moved to 6th place in the Team Standing with 94.83 points, narrowing the gap against fifth-placed Stingers to 3.17 points.
STAT REVIEW
Field ranking in parentheses
Fairways Hit
Garcia – 25 (T8)
Chacarra – 23 (T15)
Ancer – 27 (T2)
Puig – 22 (T18)
Driving Distance Avg.
Garcia – 298.2 (36)
Chacarra – 321.6 (8)
Ancer – 303.7 (29)
Puig – 316.7 (14)
Greens in Regulation
Garcia – 30 (T7)
Chacarra – 30 (T7)
Ancer – 28 (T14)
Puig – 24 (T45)
Total Putts
Garcia – 80 (T19)
Chacarra – 81 (T24)
Ancer – 84 (T36)
Puig – 76 (T2)
Total Birdies
Garcia – 11 (T9)
Chacarra – 12 (T5)
Ancer – 7 (T35)
Puig – 10 (T12)