{"id":620873,"date":"2026-06-04T14:10:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T14:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/620873\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T14:10:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T14:10:24","slug":"first-look-liv-golf-andalucia-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/620873\/","title":{"rendered":"First Look: LIV Golf Andalucia 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

SOTOGRANDE, Spain \u2013 LIV Golf visits its ninth different country with this week\u2019s LIV Golf Andaluc\u00eda<\/a> at the historic Real Club Valderrama.<\/p>\n

BASIC INFO<\/p>\n

2026 LIV GOLF ANDALUCIA<\/p>\n

When
June 4-7, 2026<\/p>\n

Where
Real Club Valderrama
San Roque, C\u00e1diz, Spain<\/p>\n

Competition
Four rounds\/72 holes of stroke play<\/p>\n

Field
57 players – 13 teams of four players each, and five wild cards<\/p>\n

Shotgun Start (Local time)<\/p>\n

Thursday, Rd. 1 – 1:15 p.m. (7:15 a.m. ET)<\/p>\n

Friday, Rd. 2 – 1:15 p.m. (7:15 a.m. ET)<\/p>\n

Saturday, Rd. 3 – 1:15 p.m. (7:15 a.m. ET)<\/p>\n

Sunday, Rd. 4 – 1:05 p.m. (7:05 a.m. ET)<\/p>\n

KEY STORYLINES<\/p>\n

LIV Golf continues its worldwide schedule with a return visit to the iconic Real Club Valderrama in Spain \u2013 the ninth different country to host a LIV Golf tournament in the first nine tournaments of the 2026 season<\/p>\n

This will be the fourth consecutive year that Valderrama will host a LIV Golf tournament, tying for the most times hosted by any course<\/p>\n

The previous three tournaments have been won by teams with Spanish-speaking captains \u2013 Jon Rahm\u2019s Legion XIII last season, Sergio Garcia\u2019s Fireballs GC in 2024 and Chilean-born Joaquin Niemann\u2019s Torque GC in 2023<\/p>\n

The all-Spanish Fireballs, captained by Garcia and including Josele Ballester, David Puig and Luis Masaveu, will receive plenty of support in front of their home fans<\/p>\n

The Fireballs swept both trophies at Valderrama in 2024, winning the team title while Garcia won a playoff for the individual trophy \u2013\u00a0the fourth time that Garcia has won a tournament at Valderrama during his professional career<\/p>\n

Rahm, LIV Golf\u2019s other Spanish-born captain, led his Legion XIII to the team trophy last season while finishing second to Talor Gooch on the individual leaderboard<\/p>\n

Gooch, in his first year as OKGC captain, has won two of the previous three LIV Golf tournaments at Valderrama, having captured the inaugural LIV Golf Andalucia in 2023 en route to winning the season-long<\/p>\n

Gooch comes off a playoff loss to Niemann at last week\u2019s LIV Golf Korea, as Niemann captured his league-record eighth individual title<\/p>\n

With the victory, Niemann moved to third in the Individual Championship standings behind reigning two-time champion Rahm and Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau, with those three captains combining for five wins this season<\/p>\n

The Crushers won the team title in Korea for their second win in the last four tournaments, moving to third place in the team standings behind 4Aces GC and Ripper GC<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s LIV Golf Andaluc\u00eda is the final chance to earn the LIV Golf exemption for next month\u2019s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. The highest-ranked player (and ties if applicable) in the season-long points race who is not otherwise exempt will receive an invite to the year\u2019s last major in Southport, England on July 16-19.<\/p>\n

Currently, 11 LIV Golf players are already exempt, including Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, who are guaranteed to remain the top two players in points after this week. Of the top 10 players in points, Lucas Herbert (4th) and Elvis Smylie (7th) also are exempt.<\/p>\n

Fourteen players enter Andaluc\u00eda with a mathematical chance to earn the LIV Golf exemption, although realistically the battle will focus on the top six who have yet to get a spot.<\/p>\n

Joaquin Niemann moved to No. 3 in points after his victory last week at LIV Golf Korea and now controls his own destiny. A win (worth 200 points) or runner-up (113 points) at Valderrama would guarantee the spot; he would also likely earn the exemption with a strong finish.<\/p>\n

The Torque GC captain has a top-20 finish at last month\u2019s PGA Championship and has already earned the LIV Golf exemption for the U.S. Open later this month. But he isn\u2019t looking too far ahead at a potential Open spot. \u201cI\u2019m just trying to get better and focus in on the challenge that we have this week,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Thomas Detry starts the week just under 45 points behind Niemann and doesn\u2019t need a victory. If Niemann finishes 15th or worse, Detry would likely need a top-five result. The 4Aces GC newcomer has finished inside the top five in three of his last five starts.<\/p>\n

Anthony Kim also can claim the spot without a win, but like his 4Aces teammate Detry, he needs a strong week. Kim, who won his first LIV Golf title earlier this season in Adelaide, is just over 54 points behind Niemann. If Kim earns the spot, it would be his first major start in 15 years.<\/p>\n

Fireballs GC\u2019s David Puig, less than 84 points behind, needs a win or runner-up as well as significant help from Niemann for the spot. \u201cIf I want to get it this week, it\u2019s fairways, greens and hopefully make a few putts, avoid the trees, play smart,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I get it, it would be amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

OKGC Captain Talor Gooch and the Fireballs\u2019 Josele Ballester are each approximately 140 points behind Niemann. Each must win to have any hope and would still need help from the others ahead of them to move up high enough in the rankings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m confident of what I can do and looking forward to taking on this challenge,\u201d said Ballester.<\/p>\n

Click here for more information and scenarios for LIV Golf\u2019s Open Championship exemption<\/a><\/p>\n

ABOUT THE COURSE\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

A general view of the 12th green at Real Club Valderrama. (Photo by Montana Pritchard\/LIV Golf)<\/p>\n

REAL CLUB VALDERRAMA
San Roque, Cadiz, Spain<\/p>\n

Par: 71
Yardage: 7,010
Meters: 6,410<\/p>\n

Ranked among the top courses in the world, Real Club Valderrama has hosted numerous professional tournaments, including LIV Golf Andalucia in 2023, 2024 and 2025, along with the 1997 Ryder Cup \u2013 the first time the event had been held in Continental EuropeValderrama was originally designed by famed golf architect Robert Trent Jones in 1974; Jones was brought back to work on the course when Jamie Ortiz-Patino bought the course in the mid-1980sValderrama is widely considered to be the \u201cAugusta of Europe\u201d for its championship pedigree and immaculate maintenanceGolf Digest ranks Valderrama as 34th in its rankings of the Top 100 World\u2019s Greatest Courses, noting that Robert Trent Jones considered it one of his favorite courses. Writes Golf Digest: \u201cHis tight, twisting fairways, pinched at every turn by squat olive trees, led to surprisingly small putting surfaces protected by his trademark splashy bunkers.\u201dThe memorable 536-yard par-5 17th provides a natural amphitheater for fans. Writes Golf Digest: \u201cValderrama contains one of the more controversial holes in golf: The par-5 17th guarded by water in front, which European captain Seve Ballesteros toughened for that Ryder Cup. It influenced the outcome then, and was a game changer again in 2017, when Sergio Garcia won his own foundation’s tournament, the European Tour’s Andalucia Valderrama Classic. His birdie on 17 in the final round was the margin of victory.\u201dSERGIO GARCIA ON VALDERRAMA<\/p>\n

Sergio Garcia calls Real Club Valderrama his favorite course \u2013 and with good reason. The Fireballs GC captain has won four times at Valderrama in his professional career, including the 2024 LIV Golf Andalucia. In his 18 starts at Valderrama, he has 17 top-10 finishes.<\/p>\n

Says Garcia about the course: \u201cI just love the way it plays. I love the way it’s not a long course, but it makes you think every single tee shot, every single shot into the greens. You have to think about what you want to do. I think that it’s probably one of the few courses that probably makes you use every single club you have in the bag, which is good to see. We don’t get to see that that often in some of the newer designs. So, I think to me, in my personal opinion, that’s what makes a great golf course\u201d<\/p>\n

WEATHER FORECAST Rd. 1 \u2013 Hi: 88 degrees; Lo: 65 degrees. Sunny skies. 7% chance of precipitation. Wind: 15-25 mph, W.Rd. 2 \u2013 Hi: 80 degrees; Lo: 66 degrees. Mostly sunny skies. 2% chance of precipitation. Wind: 10-15 mph, WSW shifting to ESE.Rd. 3 \u2013 Hi: 76 degrees; Lo: 66 degrees. Partly cloudy skies. 17% chance of precipitation. Wind: 10-15 mph, ESE.Rd. 4\u00a0\u2013 Hi: 76 degrees; Lo: 65 degrees. Partly cloudy skies. 16% chance of precipitation. Wind: 10-20 mph, E.BROADCAST SCHEDULE<\/p>\n

UNITED STATES<\/p>\n

Here are the times for the FOX broadcast schedule<\/p>\n

Thursday, June 4 (Round 1): 7 am-8am (FS1); 8am-Noon (FS2)<\/p>\n

Friday, June 5 (Round 2): 7 am-8am (FS1); 8am-Noon (FS2)<\/p>\n

Saturday, June 6 (Round 3): 7 am-Noon (FS1)<\/p>\n

Sunday, June 7 (Round 4): 7 am-Noon (FS1)<\/p>\n

All times listed in ET<\/p>\n

SPAIN<\/p>\n

In Spain, fans can watch LIV Golf Andaluc\u00eda live on MoviStar+ Golf, LIV Golf\u2019s exclusive broadcast partner in the country.\u00a0Complete coverage of all four rounds from Real Club Valderrama will be available across Movistar+ Golf and the MoviStar+ app throughout the event.<\/p>\n

Thursday, June 4 (Round 1): 1:15 pm (Movistar+ Golf)<\/p>\n

Friday, June 5 (Round 2): 1:15 pm (Movistar+ Golf)<\/p>\n

Saturday, June 6 (Round 3): 1:15 pm (Movistar+ Golf)<\/p>\n

Sunday, June 7 (Round 4): 1:05 pm (Movistar+ Golf)<\/p>\n

All times are listed in Central European Summer Time (CEST)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SOTOGRANDE, Spain \u2013 LIV Golf visits its ninth different country with this week\u2019s LIV Golf Andaluc\u00eda at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-620873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=620873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}