{"id":722893,"date":"2026-06-08T11:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T11:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/722893\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T11:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T11:34:11","slug":"last-look-liv-golf-andalucia-notes-stats-superlatives-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/722893\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Look: LIV Golf Andalucia notes, stats, superlatives and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

SOTOGRANDE, Spain \u2013 Tyrrell Hatton came to Valderrama a new father and left a champion, claiming victory at LIV Golf Andaluc\u00eda 2026<\/a> to deliver one of the most\u00a0most impressive\u00a0wins of the season. Legion XIII finished 1-2 on the individual leaderboard and defended their team title at Real Club Valderrama.<\/p>\n

Here is a last look at some of the notable performances from LIV Golf Andaluc\u00eda.<\/p>\n

CLUTCH PERFORMANCE<\/p>\n

Tyrrell Hatton has won golf tournaments before, but few will have meant quite as much as this one. Playing his first event since missing LIV Golf Korea for the birth of his first child, Hatton handled the pressure of leading at Valderrama across four days with the composure of a seasoned champion. When it mattered most on Sunday, he delivered \u2014 birdies on the 16th and 17th holes proved to be the decisive blows, putting the result beyond doubt and ensuring the Englishman walked off the 18th green as the winner. It was a performance that spoke to both his quality and his character.<\/p>\n

ROUND OF THE WEEK<\/p>\n

Dustin Johnson had endured a difficult start to his Valderrama week, opening with a 5-over 76 that left him well adrift of the field. What followed on Saturday was one of the most extraordinary individual rounds of the season. The 4Aces GC captain\u2019s round included a hole-in-one on the third hole from 186 yards, the 18th ace in LIV Golf history and the sixth of 2026. Johnson climbed from the bottom of the leaderboard into a share of fourth, proving once again that at his best, he remains one of the most dangerous players in the game.<\/p>\n

UNDER THE RADAR PERFORMERS<\/p>\n

Abraham Ancer: The Torque GC star was one of the quiet stories of the week, producing four rounds of consistent, quality golf to finish third at 8 under. Rounds of 72-69-67-68 told the story of a player who got better as the week went on, and his closing 68 on Sunday was a composed, disciplined effort on a day when the pressure was at its highest. A third-place finish at one of the most demanding venues on the schedule is no small thing, and Ancer deserves considerable credit for the week he put together.<\/p>\n

Byeong Hun An: Korean Golf Club needed their captain to step up to help the team\u2019s confidence going forward, and he answered the call. An carded a final-round 69 \u2014 his best round of the tournament \u2014 to finish T11 at 2 under, providing the kind of anchor performance his team needed.<\/p>\n

Anirban Lahiri: Lahiri has struggled mightily this season but finished T10 at 3 under with four solid rounds including a closing 70. It wasn\u2019t the flashiest performance of the week, but exactly the kind of dependable showing that can help Crushers GC make a run at another team title this year.<\/p>\n

STATISTICAL STANDOUTS<\/p>\n

Tyrrell Hatton: Hatton’s victory was built on an all-around performance that showed up across every statistical category. The champion ranked 6th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (+2.91), 5th in Strokes Gained: Approach (+4.89), 7th in Strokes Gained: Around the Green (+1.81) and 4th in Strokes Gained: Putting (+1.50). There were no weaknesses to exploit and no area of his game that let him down when it mattered. That kind of across-the-board excellence is what wins tournaments at Valderrama.<\/p>\n

Jon Rahm: If there is a statistic that will have the field at Shinnecock Hills paying attention ahead of the U.S. Open, it is this \u2014 Rahm led the entire field in Strokes Gained: Approach this week, gaining +11.43 strokes on approach over the course of four rounds. After finishing 2nd at the PGA Championship, his iron play at Valderrama should\u00a0grab the attention of\u00a0the rest of the field heading into a major.<\/p>\n

David Puig: The young Spaniard continued to back up his growing reputation as one of the most gifted ball-strikers in the game. Puig ranked 2nd in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (+3.73) and 6th in Strokes Gained: Approach (+4.64) \u2014 a combination that underlines just how dangerous he is from tee to green. A first LIV Golf win is not a matter of if. It is a matter of when.<\/p>\n

VETERAN RESURGENCE<\/p>\n

Bubba Watson: It has been a difficult season for one of LIV Golf’s most recognizable and important personalities. Watson had struggled to find his form through the opening events of 2026, and there were genuine questions about when his game might click into gear. Valderrama provided the answer. Watson finished ninth at 4 under, which was\u00a0his best result of the season by a wide margin. His four competitive rounds showed glimpses of the player who has been such a vital part of this league since its inception. For someone who matters so much to LIV Golf both on and off the course, it was genuinely great to see.<\/p>\n

YOUNG GUN SPOTLIGHT<\/p>\n

David Puig: The Fireballs GC standout continues to announce himself as one of the most exciting young players in the game, and a T5 finish at Valderrama \u2014 in his home country of Spain \u2014 was another statement of his growing stature. Rounds of 69-71-69-70 spoke to a maturity well beyond his years on a course that punishes even the slightest lapse in concentration. Puig keeps getting better, and the sense that a first LIV Golf victory is drawing closer grows with each passing week.<\/p>\n

QUOTES OF THE WEEK <\/p>\n

Tyrrell Hatton on winning at Valderrama: \u201cIt’s extremely special to win here. I hadn’t won individually for 18 months, and that was definitely on my mind. I’m really happy that I’ve managed to do it round a golf course as tricky as this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tyrrell Hatton on his first win as a father: \u201cI kind of said to (wife) Emily, one of my motivations probably moving forward is when Althea grows up, she will know that I was pretty good at golf sometimes, and I would love to continue to be able to win tournaments when she’s old enough to remember that happening. Yeah, it’s definitely given me a different kind of motivation with practice and what I hope to achieve in golf before obviously I get older and my best years are behind me. It’s allowed me fairly deep thinking there, but those are the thought processes I’ve had.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jon Rahm on what it takes to win at Valderrama: \u201cWhen you win here, you truly are by far the best player in every single aspect of your game. You can’t hide behind an easier setup or easier greens or wider. Like everything in your bag needs to be on for you to win here. There’s no excuses. That’s what I think makes it so special, the champion here is a true worthy champion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jon Rahm on Tyrrell Hatton’s victory: “As good as he is, if someone is going to beat me, there’s very few people I’ll be happy for, and he’s one of them. It was very well earned and I’m happy that he won and helped the team as well. As far as I’m concerned, couldn’t ask for much more.”<\/p>\n

Jon Rahm on his Legion XIII teammate navigating new fatherhood: “He asked for advice on a car seat the day he was leaving the hospital, which is something I thought he’d figured out by then.”<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Cameron Smith with a young fan during Round 4 of LIV Golf Andalucia 2026. (Photo by Charles Laberge\/LIV Golf)<\/p>\n

WHO\u2019S TRENDING?<\/p>\n

Cameron Smith: A T7 at the PGA Championship at Aronimink, a T16 in Korea, and now a T5 at Valderrama \u2014 Smith’s trajectory is unmistakably upward. His work with swing coach Claude Harmon III is clearly paying dividends, with the Ripper GC captain looking increasingly like the player who was once regarded as one of the best in the world.<\/p>\n

Legion XIII: Legion XIII’s victory at Valderrama \u2014 their second consecutive team title at this venue \u2014 moves them up to second in the season standings, and the manner of it was every bit as impressive as the result. Hatton and Rahm finishing 1-2 on the individual leaderboard is the kind of one-two punch that few teams in the league can match. Coming into 2026, Legion XIII was widely considered the team most likely to dominate the season. They are beginning to look exactly like that.<\/p>\n

Dustin Johnson: Back-to-back top fives \u2014 a fourth in Korea last week and a T5 here at Valderrama \u2014 and Johnson looks like a player rediscovering his very best form. His Saturday 64 was as good a round as anyone has produced this season, and the combination of power, creativity and competitive instinct he showed this week was a reminder of what he is capable of at full tilt. A win feels close. Very close.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOTOGRANDE, Spain \u2013 Tyrrell Hatton came to Valderrama a new father and left a champion, claiming victory at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":722894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-722893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}