In the last two LIV Golf tournaments, as Torque GC celebrated its team victory, the oldest member of the lineup – 30-year-old Sebastian Munoz – took a spill once champagne bottles were popped.

When it happened Sunday at LIV Golf Andalucia, teammate Mito Pereira let out a cry. “Sebastian went down again!”

Luckily, no injuries were incurred. “Harmless,” Munoz confirmed a few minutes later.

The key element in all this is that Munoz -– and, by extension, his Torque teammates, captained by Joaquin Niemann – are getting plenty of practice in the art of champagne celebrations.

In the last six regular-season events, Torque has won three times (including the last two) and are the only team to post multiple wins in 2023. Their most recent victory was the most dominant – five strokes Sunday at Valderrama. On a tough course that offered few low numbers, Torque was the only team to post all three counting scores in the 60s in any single round.

Their domination is starting to mirror the success 4Aces GC enjoyed last season after captain Dustin Johnson revamped his lineup following the inaugural event in London -– and subsequently reeled off four consecutive wins and ultimately the Team Championship.

Now it’s a year later and LIV Golf returns to London, with the Centurion Club becoming the first course to repeat as host. The hottest team is not the 4Aces (although they top the point standings) but Torque, the League’s youngest team that has also benefitted from a revamped lineup.

In the offseason, the 24-year-old Niemann added his fellow Chilean Mito Pereira (age 28) and another South American friend in Munoz from Colombia, while locking down David Puig, the emerging Spanish star – and the only member of the foursome who played in London last year.

At the time of LIV Golf’s debut, Niemann had not yet become a member, Pereira had opened eyes with his near-miss at the PGA Championship, and Munoz was coming off his best major result, a top-15 finish at the U.S. Open that would ultimately help earn him a captain’s pick for the Presidents Cup. Meanwhile, Puig was still an amateur, having just completed his junior season at Arizona State. He played for Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC that week in London.

“It’s so crazy to think a year ago where our lives were, where we were as different individuals, not knowing what was going to happen,” Munoz said. “Then the idea kind of started, and we started talking about it. It was a dream.

“We said yeah, here we go, we’ve got to take advantage that we’re kind of in our prime, to be honest. So, we’ve got to take advantage of our strengths, and really try to kick ass out there. We did envision it, and it’s really nice to be living the dream.”

That dream definitely has become reality, and quickly, particularly in terms of chemistry. It helps that they’re young. That they all converse in Spanish. And that they hit it a mile.

Well, at least three of them do.

Puig’s driving distance average is 315.2 yards this season; Pereira’s is 313.1; Niemann’s is 312.8. That ranks them 3-4-5 in the season-long stats. And Munoz? He’s averaging 303.5 yards per drive, tied for 22nd in the League. That might subject him to some grief – except that he’s the team leader in points produced, ranking 6th in the League after consecutive top-4 finishes.

“Sebastian is always complaining about his distance,” Niemann said, “and it’s him who’s been playing the best. So, I don’t think it’s the distance.”

Added Munoz: “It’s weird because I’m the oldest and the slowest, but somehow I’ve been able to put these rounds together and help the team a lot, so really appreciative of just our mental strength.”

A sign of that mental strength can be seen in Puig’s growing confidence, especially when the pressure is maximized on Sundays.

At LIV Golf DC, Puig tied for the low final round in the field, shooting a 6-under 66 after getting a pep talk from Niemann. Puig then final-qualified for the U.S. Open, made the cut, and shot a final-round 67 that included four consecutive birdies on the back nine. And on Sunday at Valderrama in front of family and friends in his native country, he shot a 2-under 69 to go with the 68s by Niemann and Munoz.

“In my case, there’s no pressure, honestly,” said Puig, who’s able to rely on the consistency of his older teammates.

Along with its three wins, Torque also finished third in the opening event in Mayakoba. But because they’ve lacked the consistency of the 4Aces, they find themselves still in chase mode going into London.

While the goal is to secure one of the first-round byes for the Team Championship, the biggest objective is to dethrone the 4Aces and win the League’s biggest prize.

“Once we click, the four of us at the same time,” Munoz said, “we’re going to be pretty dangerous.”

They’re already dangerous. Perhaps the only thing that can stop them is an injury during a champagne fall. Someone, please keep an eye on Munoz once the corks are popped.

The post Torque GC is the league’s hottest team heading into London appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The long-term future of the LIV Golf League might be unsettled as Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund works toward formalizing a partnership with the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. In the short term, however, the eighth of 14 events on the 2023 LIV schedule went off with one of LIV’s hottest players this year grabbing a third victory of the season.

With a closing four-under 67 at Real Club Valderrama in Sotogrande, Spain, including birdies on the final two holes, Talor Gooch jumped up the leaderboard to pass 36-hole leader Bryson DeChambeau and win by one shot with a 12-under 201 total to win the first tournament since the framework deal between the three parties was announced.

RELATED: Talor Gooch wins third season title at Valderrama

There was genuine anticipation for this week’s tournament, given Valderrama’s past as a host site for the Ryder Cup, World Golf Championships event and an annual stop on the DP World Tour. And Spanish fans were rooting hard for one of their own, Sergio Garcia, who finished tied for 10 at two-under 211 total.

The standard prize money payout was up for grabs in the no-cut, 54-hole event: a $20 million individual purse, with Gooch pulling in the $4 million first-place prize money payout. There was also $5 million on the line in the team competition, with Torque GC (Joaquin Niemman, Mito Pereira, David Puig and Sebastian Munoz) winning by five strokes.

Here’s the prize money payout for the field at Valderrama. Come back after the tournament and we’ll update the post with names and individual paydays.

INDIVIDUAL

Win: Talor Gooch, -12, $4,000,000
2: Bryson DeChambeau, -11, $2,250,000
3: Brooks Koepka, -9, $1,500,000
4: Sebastian Munoz, -6, $1,000,000
T-5: Jason Kokrak, -5, $703,333
T-5: David Puig, -5, $703,333
T-5: Patrick Reed, -5, $703,333
T-8: Dustin Johnson, -3, $495,000
T-8: Cameron Tringale, -3, $496,000
T-10: Joaquin Niemann, -2, $402,500
T-10: Sergio Garcia, -2, $402,500
T-12: Ian Poulter, -1, $360,000
T-12: Cameron Smith, -1, $360,000
T-14: Matt Jones, E, $296,000
T-14: Carlos Ortiz, E, $296,000
T-14: Dean Burmester, E, $296,000
T-14: Thomas Pieters, E, $296,000
T-14: Mito Pereira, E, $296,000
T-19: Paul Casey, +1, $250,000
T-19: Laurie Canter, +1, $250,000
T-19: Abraham Ancer, +1, $250,000
22: Brendan Steele, +2, $230,000
T-23: Louis Oothuizen, +3, $208,750
T-23: Richard Bland, +3, $208,750
T-23: Phil Mickelson, +3, $208,750
T-23: Pat Perez, +3, $208,750
T-27: Marc Leishman, +4, $187,500
T-27: Kevin Na, +4, $187,500
T-27: Lee Westwood, +4, $187,500
T-27: Scott Vincent, +4, $187,500
T-31: Branden Grace, +5, $167,500
T-31: Henrik Stenson, +5, $167,500
T-31: Danny Lee, +5, $167,50
T-31: Bubba Watson, +5, $167,500
35: Bernd Weisberger, +6, $155,000
T-36: James Piot, +7, $148,750
T-36: Martin Kaymer, +7, $148,750
T-38: Charl Schwartzel, +8, $140,000
T-38: Graeme McDowell, +8, $140,000
T-38: Anirban Lahiri, +8, $140,000
T-38: Eugenio Chacarra, +8, $140,000
T-38: Harold Varner III, +8, $140,000
43: Peter Uihlein, +10, $132,500
44: Matthew Wolff, +12, $130,000
T-45: Charles Howell III, +14, $126,250
T-45: Jediah Morgan, +14, $126,250
47: Chase Kopeka, +15, $122,500
48: Sihwan Kim, +17, $120,000

TEAM

Win: Torque GC (Niemann, Pereira, Puig, Munoz), -16, $3,000,000
2: RangeGoats GC (Watson, Gooch, Varner, Pieters), -11, $1,500,000
3: Crushers GC (DeChambeau, Casey, Lahiri, Howell), -7, $500,000

The post Here’s the prize money payout for each golfer at the 2023 LIV Golf League — Andalucia appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.