Garcia, Fireballs sweep Valderrama titles on historic day for Spanish sport

Even by Spain’s elevated sporting standards, Sunday was a pretty special day. First, Carlos Alcaraz routed a shell-shocked Novak Djokovic in straight sets to retain his Wimbledon men’s singles crown. Then, Sergio Garcia led from the front to win the individual title at LIV Golf Andalucia and his (mostly) Spanish Fireballs team to the top of the podium before the national football team capped a glorious night by beating England 2-1 at the Euro 2024 finale in Berlin.

Such success comes but rarely as it is not usual practice to have so many events being decided on a single day other than at the Olympics, but that is exactly how it panned out for the delirious Spaniards for whom the football triumph alone would have been enough cause to party the night away. And in passing let me share a nugget nicked off social media. Since 2001, Spain or Spanish club teams have figured in 27 finals, and have won them all!

Yet it was still an unprecedented day in LIV Golf’s young history, as Garcia and his Fireballs GC produced a storybook finish for their fans on home soil at the Real Club Valderrama. The 44-year-old rallied from being seven strokes in arrears to win his first LIV Golf individual title on the second sudden-death playoff hole against overnight leader Anirban Lahiri. 

Then, his teammates Abraham Ancer and David Puig beat the Crushers GC duo of captain Bryson DeChambeau and Paul Casey in the team aggregate-score playoff as the Fireballs – with three Spaniards on the roster – swept both trophies on offer. It was LIV Golf’s first double playoff, and just the second team playoff in league history, and the one to suffer on Sunday were the Crushers, for whom Lahiri plies his trade.

“To be totally honest, there's a connection between Valderrama and myself that I can't even explain it,” said Garcia, who ended a four-year winless drought while winning his 37th professional title. “Obviously for me, it's a dream come true to do it on my favourite course in front of my family and friends and in front of my teammates.

“But to even make it even better by winning the team championship, too, it was amazing. So proud of these guys, the way they played. It was unbelievable the whole week. To have my kids here and my wife and my parents and everything, it's a dream come true,” he added.

For Garcia, it was the dream script as it was his first win after three previous playoff losses. That it happened on a course he has won three other professional events and now finished inside the top 10 in 16 of his 17 starts, made it even more special. 

Garcia was seven strokes behind overnight leader Lahiri when play began on Sunday but the Spanish star played flawless golf for 17 holes, posting six birdies and applying pressure on Lahiri, who was trying to break his own winless drought of nine years. 

While Garcia dropped his only shot of the day with a three-putt at the par-3 third to finish on 5 under par 66, Lahiri birdied the par-5 17th to have his fate in his own hands heading to the par-4 18th, the most difficult hole on the course this week.  

Lahiri was in the middle of the green with his approach shot and rolled his birdie attempt to less than three feet to set up the potential winning putt for par. But with the opportunity to close out both the individual and team titles for the Crushers, the putt swirled around the edge of the hole and popped out, leaving him on a final-round 73 and a 5 under total alongside Garcia that set up the double playoff. 

“We heard the crowds going crazy, so we figured that he might have missed his par putt,” Garcia, who was in a cart headed back to the clubhouse, said. “… It was nice to be able to have another shot at it.” 

Garcia and Lahiri each got pars on  the first playoff hole. Behind them, in the team playoff DeChambeau found trouble off the 18th tee and had to lay up with his second shot while Casey’s approach finished off the green. DeChambeau made bogey while Ancer and Puig made easy pars to claim the Fireballs’ first team victory of the season. 

“I was hitting it terrible all day,” DeChambeau said later. “I thought I'd be OK hitting a three-wood off the tee and I just blocked it. The wind didn't take it back, it was really weird, the wind just didn't help us today. We were a couple (of strokes) ahead and we had it. We just didn't finish it like we normally do.

“We just didn't get the job done. I think we'll learn from that, and we're going to come back working harder and hopefully we'll not have those mistakes ever happen again, because we're too good of a team to have those stupid mistakes happen.”

Like DeChambeau, Lahiri’s errant tee shot on the second playoff hole left him in trouble, and Garcia won with a par, with his teammates and family racing onto the green to drench him in celebratory champagne. 
And spare a thought for Lahiri and the Crushers who have won twice this season and lead the season-long points standings as they look to retain their 2023 championship mantle. “It sucks. Losing is never fun,” said DeChambeau. “That's what makes winning so much better. I feel for Baan.” 

Asked what he said to the unfortunate Lahiri after the playoff, DeChambeau said: “I told him ‘You're playing great golf. I know you've had some weird stuff happen. Keep your head high. You're a great player. It's going to happen. Two weeks from now, we've got another tournament. You've got to focus up and get ready for the next one. Don't reminisce’.”

Incidentally, both Garcia and Lahiri had participated in previous LIV Golf playoffs. Garcia was 0 of 3, including losses this year at Mayakoba (to Joaquin Niemann in four holes) and Miami (to Dean Burmester in two holes). Last year in Singapore, he lost to Talor Gooch on the first playoff hole. For his part, Lahiri lost to Dustin Johnson in a three-man playoff in his first LIV Golf start in 2022 in Boston.

Round 3 stat pack
Driving accuracy: John Catlin, Branden Grace, Henrik Stenson, 78.57% (11 of 14 fairways hit)
Driving distance: Brendan Steele, 339.3 yards average.
Longest drive: Jason Kokrak, 352.6 yards, 17th hole
Greens in regulation: Patrick Reed, 72.22% (13 of 18 greens)
Scrambling: Sergio Garcia (7 of 7), 100%
Putting: Mito Pereira, Peter Uihlein, 1.22 putts per hole