SOTOGRANDE: Real Club Valderrama bared its teeth in Friday’s first round of LIV Golf Andalucia, making it the toughest scoring day in the league’s young history.
Dean Burmester shot a 5-under 66 for a one-shot advantage while leading Stinger GC to the top of the team leaderboard, but even the South African was not sure how he managed the low score.
“Valderrama is some place,” said Burmester, the individual winner earlier this season in Miami on another difficult course, Doral’s Blue Monster. “… I don’t know how I shot 5-under, to be honest with you.”
Only seven of the 54 players in the field were under par, the fewest amount in a single round of any LIV Golf regular-season tournament. The field stroke average of 3.519 over par, with five players shooting 80 or higher, is the highest for any of LIV Golf’s 88 regular-season rounds. Collectively, the field was 190 over, and just one hole played under par, the par-5 11th.
Gusting winds reaching nearly 20 mph from a direction that was different from the practice days required players to throw their game plans out the window. The winds also dried the greens, creating firm putting surfaces.
Fireballs GC Captain Sergio Garcia, who has more experience at Spain’s most celebrated golf course than any other LIV Golf player, told fellow Spaniard and playing partner Jon Rahm early in their round that Valderrama was “showing some teeth today. Probably not the whole mouth but definitely the teeth.”
The Legion XIII captain replied: “Some teeth? I think it’s more than that.”
Rahm, making his first start in his home country since joining LIV Golf in the offseason, shot a 2-over 73 on a day in which he said he made just one mistake, misjudging his putt on the 13th hole, leading to a three-putt bogey.
“I feel like I played really good,” said Rahm, in an eight-way tie for 16th. “The scores on this golf course a lot of times are worse than it feels like.”
Garcia was one of those seven players under par, shooting a 2-under 69 to share fourth place with Crushers GC’s Anirban Lahiri. Fireballs teammate Eugenio Chacarra of Spain was one stroke better, shooting a 68 as his game continues to trend up after a tie for third at last week’s International Series Morocco.
“My goal for today was to play smart golf,” Chacarra said. “I know my game is there.”
The Fireballs, with three Spanish players on their roster, are at 2-under and in second place on the team leaderboard, two shots behind the Stingers.
The closest pursuer to Burmester on the individual leaderboard is Iron Heads GC’s Danny Lee, who shot a 4-under 67. It is his fourth-best round relative to par this season as he has struggled for results. He entered this week ranked 45th in points.
“Definitely a sign that I’m moving into the right direction,” said Lee, whose goal is to finish the regular season inside the top 24 to lock up playing privileges for 2025.
For Burmester, the key to survival on Friday was his putter. He needed just 21 putts, which tied for fewest in the field with wild card player Anthony Kim, who shot a 73.
“It was probably one of the best putting rounds I’ve ever had as a professional,” Burmester said. “Just every time I stood over a putt, I just felt like could I make it. You don’t get days like that too often.”
LIV Golf players have never seen a day like this, and they are hoping for a bit of relief this weekend in the final two rounds.
“Can it be more difficult? Yes, everything can be more difficult,” Rahm said. “… But not a lot harder, obviously. Today was a pretty hard day.”
TEAM COUNTING SCORES
Standings and counting scores for Friday’s opening round of the team competition at LIV Golf Andalucia. The three best scores from each team count in the first two rounds while all four scores count in the final round. The team with the lowest cumulative score after three rounds wins the team title.
1. STINGER GC -4 (Burmester 66, Oosthuizen 70, Schwartzel 73)
2. FIREBALLS GC -2 (Chacarra 68, Garcia 69, Ancer 74)
3. IRON HEADS GC -1 (Lee 67, Vincent 72, Na 73)
T4. CRUSHERS GC +4 (Lahiri 69, Casey 74, DeChambeau 74)
T4. MAJESTICKS GC +4 (Horsfield 70, Westwood 71, Poulter 76)
T6. CLEEKS GC +6 (Bland 71, Kaymer 72, Meronk 76)
T6. TORQUE GC +6 (Ortiz 72, Pereira 73, Muñoz 74)
8. 4ACES GC +8 (Reed 72, Johnson 73, Perez 76)
9. LEGION XIII +9 (Hatton 72, Rahm 73, Vincent 77)
10. RIPPER GC +10 (Smith 72, Herbert 75, Leishman 76)
T11. SMASH GC +13 (Koepka 75, McDowell 75, Gooch 76)
T11. HYFLYERS GC +13 (Mickelson 73, Tringale 76, Steele 77)
13. RANGEGOATS GC +18 (Wolff 73, Pieters 79, Watson 79)