McKibbin has top 10 in his sights as Gooch and DJ light up Valderrama

Tom McKibbin has stayed in contention after following an opening two-over-par 73 with a two-under-par 69 as Talor Gooch leads LIV Golf Andalucía by four shots.

McKibbin made five birdies and three bogeys on a much more scoreable day in Spain to sit in 11th place, three shots off second place and eight back of Talor Gooch.

Gooch surged up the leaderboard at Valderrama. He shot a five-under-par 66 and is seven-under-par overall, which puts him in position to win LIV Golf Andalucía for the second time in three years. The Smash GC star will be attempting to win his fourth individual LIV Golf title and his first since 2023, the year he claimed the season-long trophy as the LIV Golf Individual Champion.

4Aces GC Captain Dustin Johnson shot the round of the week, firing an incredible seven-under-par 64. His round included seven birdies and no bogeys as he moved to 3-under for the tournament and in solo second place, four shots behind Gooch, his former teammate. The 7-under score for Johnson marks his second-lowest round relative to par this season.

Branden Grace of Stinger GC sits in solo third place at two-under par after carding a solid one-under 70s in each of his first two rounds. The strong 36 holes for Grace are massive for his LIV Golf future as the 37-year-old sits 49th in the Individual Standings and needs to perform to maintain his position in the league.

Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm, in the peripheries of contention as he looks to become the third-ever Spaniard to win at Valderrama. He shot a 1-under 70 and sits in a tie for fourth place. Earlier this week, Rahm spoke about what it would mean to win at such a historic golf course.

“[It is] special for us to be back here, to be able to come to a LIV event and play in our home country in front of the home crowd on a great golf course and great venue like Valderrama,” Rahm said. “It’s wonderful. There’s a lot of history to this course. There’s a lot of legacy to this course.”

A bad start to the rest of his first round this morning put Graeme McDowell on the back foot, as he carded a five-over-par 76, before adding a much more solid level par 71 to sit way off the pace.

Play gets underway for round three at 9.30am Irish time on Sunday.