It was a great day to be team Legion XIII in the final round of LIV Golf Andalucia at Real Club Valderrama as Tom McKibbin and co. pieced together strong a performance to take home the team event with a score of seven-under.
McKibbin managed to post his first under-par round of the week as the 23-year-old finally managed to get the better of the tough Valderrama early on but the unforgiving course almost came back to bite him near the end.
The Belfast man started with quickfire birdies at the third and fourth before adding another at the par-4 eighth to take the turn at three-under.
Seemingly in the drivers seat, McKibbin faulted towards the end, making bogeys at the par-4 14th and the par-5 17th to get back to the clubhouse at one-under-par. McKibbin finished his week at two-over in T21.
Legion XIII occupied both first and second place as Tyrrell Hatton claimed victory with a score of 11-under-par, with Spanish favourite Jon Rahm two strokes back at nine-under.
The pair were in close proximity on the scoreboard throughout the 18 holes as Rahm put the squeeze on Hatton by posting a four-under-par final round.
Hatton kept his nerve and closed strongly with two birdies at the 17th and 18th to seal the win with a one-under-par round. This is Hatton’s first win since becoming a father, and first LIV Golf title since Nashville in 2024.
“To be honest, I thought no matter how today went, I’m still going to be home tonight, and I’ll walk in to a crying newborn, and I’ll be doing nappies tonight,” Hatton said. “That was going to happen regardless. I’m really excited to get home to Emily and our little girl.”
Rahm’s final round push was exactly what the home crowd wanted to see on a Sunday. Nonetheless the Legion XIII captain was gracious in defeat.
“Obviously, I had a fantastic week myself, and very happy for Tyrrell to have just become a father just over two weeks ago and having his little girl and being a proud girl dad,” Rahm said. “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 happy that he on and help the team as well.”
Mexico’s Abraham Ancer secured third place with a three-under-par final to finish just one stroke behind Rahm at eight-under, followed by Valderrama’s son Sergio Garcia who posted a 70 and finished his week seven-under-par.
Graeme McDowell’s horror week continued on Sunday as the 46-year-old posted another five-over-par round to finish 51st at 13-over. G-Mac closed out his round very badly, making two triple bogeys at the 16th and 18th and a birdie at the 17th.
There was a late twist for The Open Championship qualifying as Belgium’s Thomas Detry seemed to had lost his week-long form on Sunday to post a three-over-par round, which was enough to hand the spot of Joaquin Neimann.
The Torque GC captain finished the week at 3 over but was able to hold on to the LIV Golf Open Championship exemption as he sits third in the standings behind Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau.
LIV Golf will take a six week summer break before heading to the UK on the 23rd of July.
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