Thankful, Sergio Garcia wins for first time in 4 years, captures team and individuals LIV titles at his beloved Valderrama
On Sunday at Valderrama, Victor Garcia stood in the left rough inside the ropes as his son, Sergio, made his second extra trip down the 18th at his favorite course in the world.
Wearing a white bucket hat, Victor, a club pro who taught Sergio the game from age 3, curiously held an iron underneath his arm. It wasn’t a spare club from his son’s work bag, but a massive 7-iron to improve his game.
When you love the game as much as the Garcia family does, you obviously take your clubs to the course for support, just like fans head to the fairway or green when the golfer they’re watching goes offline.
As a Sergio, he was detained twice to defeat India’s ANYRBANA LAHIRI, celebrating the first titles of the first Spanish victory and traces of golfriiva in almost four years.
“I like this place. I like people and I’m very grateful for what I have achieved today,” said Sergio about the healthy crowds in Walderma. Like his father, Garcia can never be accused of not caring about the game, and he’s had his ups and downs in a brilliant, but very “American”, career. He achieved Ryder Cup hero status by playing more than 10 tournaments and scoring a European record number of points, and he relinquished his unwanted title as best non-college golfer in the 2017 Masters after beating Justin Rose in a playoff. He sometimes made controversial comments and had numerous disagreements with officials overseeing the rules.
But as he loves golf.
What can Garcia explain, play additional holes in Liv andalusia Golf and what is the strength of Nignetle on Sunday on a major? What else can you explain his early arrival and slow start in the LIV event driving area? How else can you explain why he pulled himself together after two sudden playoff defeats at LIV in 2024?
“It was great, but it was hard,” Garcia said after winning the $4 million LIV. “After losing a couple of playoffs this year and coming so close to qualifying for the British Open last week (making the 36-hole final), going for my 100th major, it’s been a real rollercoaster, but I knew I was playing well.” Garcia shot a 5-under 66 on Sunday on the tough, tree-lined Valderrama Course to set up a playoff with Lahiri.
Garcia then won with a par in the two-hole overtime and Lahiri made a double-bogey six on the par-four 18th, but early in the 54-hole tournament, Garcia bogeyed the final hole to fall to five under while Lahiri took second place and then missed a two-foot putt to win the overall title. Garcia’s team, Fireballs GC, also defeated Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC in a playoff—the first combined individual and teams playoff LIV has seen.
Garcia’s last tournament win came when he was still on the PGA Tour at the Sanderson Farms tournament during Covid-19 in 2020.
It was his 11th title and his 16 European Tour wins included three at the Andalusia Masters in Valderrama, as well as three runner-up finishes at the famed Costa del Sol course, home of the 1997 Ryder Cup. It was so important that Jon Rahm, the Spaniard who has won two majors, stayed behind to congratulate his great friend and mentor.
“This win is very important. It’s huge,” Garcia said. “I keep telling everyone how hard it is to win here [at LIV]. At first everyone thought we were all retiring [moving to the lucrative LIV track] and there was no [meaningful] competition. But all these guys are training really hard, and I’m training more than ever because if I don’t, I feel like I’m going to fall behind.
Garcia also doesn’t want to fall behind in major tournaments. When the incentives expired in 2023 after winning the Masters in 2017, the 44-year-old was forced to play 36 holes in US Open qualifying and again this year. He succeeded in both cases. Garcia went an impressive T-12 at Pinehurst. Less than two weeks later, Garcia came close but failed to qualify for the British Open Championship at Troon, played on the same course, marking the second year in a row he has failed to qualify for the PR tournament, which includes runner-up finishes in 2007 (playoff) and 2014.
Garcia was well respected by golf fans for his rolled-up sleeves despite leaving the PGA Tour under difficult circumstances after an altercation with rules officials at a Wells Fargo event in 2022. He was heard saying on-air at TPC Potomac after the unfavorable ruling that he “can’t wait to get off this tour.” But even if the huge signing bonus he received for moving to LIV would make it easy to ride off into the sunset, Garcia’s hunger to play in a major tournament remains. He competes in 14 54-hole tournaments a year, each generating $25 million in combined earnings (individual and team).
Competing against amateurs, professionals and tour players in the final rounds of qualifying has humbled Garcia.
“I don’t want to seem like I’m bragging, but I’ve been fortunate enough to play in every major tournament from the 1999 British Open to the 2023 (PGA Championship),” Garcia said. “Even though we know the major tournaments are so important and it’s what we love to play, when you get the chance to play so many times in a row, you start to forget how hard it is to qualify for a major tournament. This past year and a half has made me realize how hard it is, and it’s given me a different perspective on the major and why it’s important. So I worked really hard [at Pinehurst] to get a top 10 and qualify for next year.”
Naturally, Garcia is hoping LIV will eventually give him a path to a major. Until then, he’ll play well like he did Sunday at Valderrama. He will care.
“Otherwise, I will continue to play qualifiers until my body says no,” Garcia said.
