{"id":719802,"date":"2026-06-06T21:56:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T21:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/719802\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T21:56:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T21:56:28","slug":"rd-3-recap-hatton-takes-two-shot-lead-into-sunday-at-liv-golf-andalucia-4aces-gc-tops-team-leaderboard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/719802\/","title":{"rendered":"Rd. 3 recap: Hatton takes two-shot lead into Sunday at LIV Golf Andalucia; 4Aces GC tops team leaderboard"},"content":{"rendered":"

SOTOGRANDE, Spain \u2013 A Tyrrell Hatton victory at LIV Golf Andaluc\u00eda<\/a> would be a heartwarming result, given that he\u2019s making his first start as a new father. A Thomas Detry win, meanwhile, would be a well-deserved one, a reward for his consistent high-end finishes in his debut season in the league.<\/p>\n

Both players know, however, that it\u2019s the third member of Sunday\u2019s final group who will receive the strongest support from the Spanish fans. Sergio Garcia is Valderrama\u2019s favorite son, and the Fireballs GC captain hopes to add to his already legendary ledger on his favorite course.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Leaderboard<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cPretty obvious who they\u2019d want to win tomorrow \u2013 and it won\u2019t be either of us two,\u201d Hatton said while sitting alongside Detry during their post-round interview Saturday.<\/p>\n

Legion XIII\u2019s Hatton will take a two-shot lead into the final round after shooting a 4-under 67 to move to 10 under. 4Aces GC\u2019s Detry also shot 67 to remain two shots back at 8 under. Garcia moved into solo third with a 68 \u2013\u00a0the only bogey-free round of the day \u2013\u00a0leaving him at 6 under.<\/p>\n

LIV Golf\u2019s other Spanish-born captain, Legion XIII\u2019s Jon Rahm, is tied for fourth at 5 under, along with 4Aces GC Captain Dustin Johnson, Ripper GC Captain Cameron Smith and Torque GC\u2019s Abraham Ancer. Garcia\u2019s Spanish teammate David Puig is tied for eighth with RangeGoats GC Captain Bubba Watson.<\/p>\n

Johnson produced the 18th hole-in-one in league history en route to shooting a 7-under 64, the lowest round of the week by three shots. His 4Aces top the team leaderboard at 12 under, eight shots ahead of Legion XIII, and are in search of their fourth team title of the season<\/p>\n

Garcia has four career wins at Valderrama and 17 top-10 finishes in his 18 starts. His last victory came two years ago at LIV Golf Andaluc\u00eda when he rallied from seven shots entering the final round to catch Anirban Lahiri and force a playoff. He knows the course better than anybody else in the 57-player field, but he also knows that his fellow Europeans Hatton (from England) and Detry (from Belgium) are determined to spoil the Spanish party.<\/p>\n

\u201cTyrrell is playing great, and Thomas Detry has been very solid all year,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cSo, it\u2019s not going to be easy at all, but we\u2019ll see. Valderrama always has a surprise or two up its sleeve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hatton, who won his first LIV Golf title two years ago in Nashville, has been rock-solid for 54 holes. He played the front nine Saturday in a bogey-free 3 under, his only blemish coming at the par-4 10th when he missed a 9-foot par putt. Otherwise, his putter \u2013\u00a0which he changed recently \u2013\u00a0has been a primary weapon this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the same shape as what I\u2019ve been using for the last few years,\u201d said Hatton, who missed last week\u2019s tournament in Korea after the birth of his daughter. \u201cIt\u2019s just got an insert, so the ball comes off a little bit quicker \u2026 I feel comfortable with it. Different grip. Hopefully it works well tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sergio Garcia on the first tee in Round 3 of LIV Golf Andalucia 2026. (Photo by Mateo Villalba\/LIV Golf)<\/p>\n

Detry, who has five top-10 finishes (including two top-3 podium results) in his first eight LIV Golf starts, has more than just a tournament title at stake Sunday. He\u2019s currently projected to move into third place into the season-long points race, which would earn him an exemption in the Open Championship in July<\/a>. He would also earn valuable World Ranking points that could set him up for a spot in the U.S. Open later this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I missed many shots, to be honest, down the stretch,\u201d said Detry, who has family ties to Spain and speaks fluent Spanish. \u201cI played really solid.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the looming presence of Garcia, though, which has the locals fired up for Sunday. Whether he can rally like he did two years ago will be the big question \u2013\u00a0and like most things involving Valderrama, it may very well be wind-dependent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Tyrrell keeps playing the way he is playing and shoots 2 or 3 under par, it\u2019s going to be very tough to shoot 7, 8 or 9 under on this course with the wind,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cEven without wind, it\u2019s difficult, so with wind, it\u2019s even more so. But the only thing we can do is go out there, give it our all, give 100%.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hatton expects nothing less. He\u2019s also prepared to deal with the enthusiastic support for the Spanish hero.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll go out there and try my best, try not to worry about if the crowd are trying to be disruptive at times,\u201d Hatton said. \u201cIf Sergio finishes first [at a hole] and there\u2019s a lot of movement and they\u2019re walking off, you might just have to take a little bit more time. That\u2019s fine. It kind of happens everywhere around the world anyway. I\u2019ve got enough experience now and I\u2019ll just try to play my game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Detry: \u201cI\u2019ve known Sergio for a long time. I have great respect for him. But I\u2019m definitely planning on beating him tomorrow. \u2026 It will be a fun day and a fun battle for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Thomas Detry greets fans during Round 3 of LIV Golf Andalucia 2026. (Photo by Mateo Villalba\/LIV Golf)<\/p>\n

TOP OF THE LEADERBOARDS <\/p>\n

Individual Top 10<\/p>\n

1 (-10) \u2013 Tyrrell Hatton, Legion XIII (67-69-67)<\/p>\n

2 (-8) \u2013 Thomas Detry, 4Aces (68-70-67)<\/p>\n

3 (-6) \u2013 Sergio Garcia, Fireballs (69-70-68)<\/p>\n

T4 (-5) \u2013 Jon Rahm, Legion XIII (73-67-68); Dustin Johnson, 4Aces (76-68-64); Abraham Ancer, Torque (72-69-67); Cameron Smith, Ripper (69-70-69)<\/p>\n

T8 (-4) \u2013 David Puig, Fireballs (69-71-69); Bubba Watson, RangeGoats (72-70-67)<\/p>\n

10 (-3) \u2013 Branden Grace, Southern Guards (69-71-70)<\/p>\n

Team Top 3<\/p>\n

1 (-12) \u2013 4Aces GC (Detry 68-70-67, Johnson 76-68-64, Kim 73-68-72, Pieters 70-74-70; Rd. 3 total: -11)<\/p>\n

2 (-4) \u2013 Legion XIII (Hatton 67-69-67, McKibbin 73-72-71, Rahm 73-67-68, Surratt 73-71-77; Rd. 2 total: -1)<\/p>\n

3 (-1) \u2013 Fireballs GC (Garcia 69-70-68, Puig 69-71-69, Masaveu 72-71-69, Ballester 78-75-70; Rd. 2 total: -8)<\/p>\n

Click here for full leaderboard<\/a><\/p>\n

ROUND 3 NOTES <\/p>\n

DJ\u2019S INTERESTING WEEK: 4Aces GC Captain Dustin Johnson produced the lowest round of the first three days at Valderrama, a 7-under 64 that included a hole-in-one at the 186-yard par-3 third.<\/p>\n

It was a strange round \u2013 he recorded everything from a \u201c1\u201d to a \u201c6\u201d on his scorecard \u2013\u00a0and reflected a strange week, as he rebounded from an opening 5-over 76 to move into contention in a tie for fourth at 5 under entering Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s weird, but I didn\u2019t play bad the first day,\u201d said Johnson, who finished solo fourth last week at LIV Golf Korea when he shot 64-66 on the weekend. \u201cIt was a really easy 5-over. Then obviously came back and played really nicely the last two days.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven today, I know I shot 7 under, which is a really good score, but I played the par 5s even.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the ace \u2013\u00a0the second this week and the 18th in LIV Golf history \u2013\u00a0Johnson said, \u201cIt\u2019s always cool to make a hole-in-one. The previous two days I had hit really good shots; just did not turn out good. Today, when this one was in the air, I was like, this is as good a shot as I can hit.\u201d<\/p>\n

CAM GOES LEFT: Ripper GC Captain Cameron Smith had a case of the \u201clefts\u201d off the tee Saturday, as at least half of his 14 tee shots found the left rough or beyond, including trouble spots at the ninth and 11th holes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve battled through that for a long time now,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI\u2019ve learned how to deal with that. I\u2019ve played a lot of shots from the trees in recent years.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a testament to Smith\u2019s recovery ability, he shot a 2-under 69 and is tied for fourth at 5 under as he seeks to end a drought of 37 LIV Golf starts without a victory.<\/p>\n

Amazingly, Smith ranks first in the field in Greens in Regulation this week despite ranking near the bottom (T55) in fairways hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cGlimpses of brilliance \u2013 and glimpses of some other stuff as well,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

4ACES IN CONTROL: 4Aces GC entered this week as the season-long team points leaders, having won three of the first eight tournaments. They\u2019ll enter Sunday in prime position to add a fourth win in 2026, as they lead defending LIV Golf Andaluc\u00eda champions Legion XIII by eight shots.<\/p>\n

The 4Aces shot a cumulative 11 under on Saturday, with Dustin Johnson (64) and Thomas Detry (67) doing the heavy lifting. Thomas Pieters contributed a 70 while Anthony Kim shot a 72.<\/p>\n

Detry is confident that his team can continue playing top-quality golf.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can each fight for every single putt and every single shot and make sure we don\u2019t leak out stupid shots out there \u2013 because it\u2019s definitely out there on the golf course \u2013\u00a0I think we\u2019re in good position to win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A win on Sunday would duplicate what the original 4Aces did in LIV Golf\u2019s inaugural 2022 season, winning four times in the regular season. The 4Aces eventually won the Team Championship that year.<\/p>\n

BOGEY-FREE FOR GARCIA: Sergio Garcia produced his first bogey-free round in 12 rounds at Valderrama during his LIV Golf career. Asked how many bogey-free rounds he\u2019s recorded at his favorite course, Garcia replied: \u201cI\u2019m not sure of the exact total, but I\u2019ve had a few. You know, I\u2019ve played this course a few times.\u201d Garcia has four wins and 17 top-10 finishes in 18 career starts at Valderrama.<\/p>\n

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Sergio Garcia interacts with fans during Round 3 of LIV Golf Andalucia 2026. (Photo by Charles Laberge\/LIV Golf)<\/p>\n

RAHM IN TOP 4: Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm put himself in position to chase his first title at Valderrama, as he\u2019ll start the final round tied for fourth, five shots behind teammate Tyrrell Hatton. It\u2019s the 16th time in Rahm\u2019s LIV Golf career that he has entered the final round inside the top 4 of the leaderboard, and the sixth time this season. The current individual season-long points leader \u2013\u00a0and reigning two-time Individual Champion \u2013 is seeking his third win of the season.<\/p>\n

QUICK HITS Tyrrell Hatton has the lead entering the final round for the second time in his LIV Golf career; the first came in Nashville in 2024 when he led by four strokes through two rounds and went on to win by six shots in the 54-hole tournamentThomas Detry (solo second) has now ended a round in a LIV Golf tournament inside the top 5 for the 15th time in 35 career rounds, and the top 10 for the 22nd timeDetry ranks first in Strokes Gained Putting this week (+2.15 per round)Sergio Garcia (solo third) enters the final round of a LIV Golf tournament inside the top three for the 10th time in his career; when he won at Valderrama two years ago, he was in 11th place but rallied for seven shots downDustin Johnson shot the lowest round of the week, a 7-under 64 while gaining +7.07 strokes on the field \u2013 that\u2019s his third-best round as a LIV Golf playerJohnson is looking for his fourth LIV Golf win; his previous three wins have all come in the U.S., and of his 31 career wins, just three have been outside North AmericaAs a team, the current team leaders 4Aces GC rank first this week in Strokes Gained Approach, first in Scrambling and first in Strokes Gained PuttingThe par-3 12th ranks as the hardest hole this week, giving up just 14 birdies through the first three rounds; Bubba Watson and Talor Gooch have each birdied the hole twice this weekSTATS LEADERS <\/p>\n

ROUND 3<\/p>\n

Driving Distance: Sergio Garcia, 326.6-yard avg.<\/p>\n

Longest Drive: Sergio Garcia, 342.8 yards (11th hole). Official measured drives taken only on holes 11 and 17.<\/p>\n

Driving Accuracy: Louis Oosthuizen, 85.71% (12 of 14)<\/p>\n

Greens in Regulation: Thomas Detry, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Joaquin Niemann, 77.78% (14 of 18)<\/p>\n

Scrambling: Sergio Garcia (6 of 6), Brendan Steele (6 of 6), Sam Horsfield (5 of 5), 100%<\/p>\n

Fewest Putts: Ian Poulter, 22<\/p>\n

Bogey-free rounds: Sergio Garcia (68)<\/p>\n

CUMULATIVE<\/p>\n

Driving Distance: Byeong Hun An, 322.5-yard avg.<\/p>\n

Driving Accuracy: Ben Campbell, 66.67% (28 of 42)<\/p>\n

Greens in Regulation: Cameron Smith, 66.67% (36 of 54)<\/p>\n

Scrambling: Thomas Detry (20 of 23), 86.96%<\/p>\n

Fewest Putts: Miguel Tabuena, 73<\/p>\n

Low rounds: Rd. 1 \u2013 Tyrrell Hatton (67), Scott Vincent (67). Rd. 2 \u2013 Talor Gooch (67), Jon Rahm (67), Harold Varner III (67). Rd. 3 \u2013 Dustin Johnson (64)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOTOGRANDE, Spain \u2013 A Tyrrell Hatton victory at LIV Golf Andaluc\u00eda would be a heartwarming result, given that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":719803,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-719802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=719802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/719803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=719802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=719802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=719802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}