The message LIV Golf projected at its Valderrama tournament—it’s first since the June 6 announcement of a partnership between its financiers, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), and the PGA Tour—was simple: the fledgling league isn’t going anywhere.

At the beginning of the week, PIF’s governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan was heard telling players that LIV Golf was “his baby” and that there were no plans for the $2-billion investment to fold in 2024 when his sovereign wealth fund is supposed to become a minority investor in a for-profit entity alongside the PGA Tour. LIV commissioner Greg Norman was also visible throughout the tournament despite questions over his future with the league.

On Sunday, Norman made a statement by walking the last hole with the final group as Talor Gooch outlasted playing partners Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka at the former host course of the DP World Tour’s Andalucia Masters.

On Valderrama’s difficult 18th, Gooch laid well back from the tee with a utility club and had a 6-iron in hand, ultimately placing the approach below the hole. He drained the birdie to steal $4 million and a one-shot victory from DeChambeau.

Championship secured ?#LIVGolf @TalorGooch @RangeGoatsGC pic.twitter.com/r5WbzZj8zW

— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) July 2, 2023

“I hit a really good second shot and put [myself] in a perfect position to be aggressive with a putt,” Gooch said. “I had a really good read on it and made a positive, confident stroke; I just felt like I was going to make it. Before I even hit the putt, I was already visualizing the fist pump that was coming with it.”

The birdie gave Gooch a four-under-par 67 and a 12-under-par total, while major winners DeChambeau (68) was 11 under and Koepka (68) was 10 under.

“I coined the term a while back; the ‘rule of 67.’ Shoot 67 and everything will take care of itself,” Gooch said.

The only reward Gooch’s 67 didn’t take care of was the team portion of the event at Valderrama. That went to Joaquin Niemann’s Torque GC at 16 under while Gooch and his RangeGoats GC teammates were 12. DeChambeau’s Crushers were third at seven under.

Even Gooch’s victory was a statement that he has no plans to cool down or allow LIV’s bigger names, Dustin Johnson, Cam Smith, DeChambeau and Koepka, to live up to their billing. A birdie-birdie finish gave Gooch his third LIV victory of the season after winning titles in Australia and Singapore. That trio of titles has the Oklahoma native poised to eventually clinch LIV’s season-long individual points title, which Johnson took last year for an $18-million bonus prize.

Octavio Passos

Gooch was so enamoured with the picturesque Andalucia region around Valderrama, which also hosted the 1997 Ryder Cup and two WGC-American Express Championships, that he joked about buying a house there.

“On the second night, my wife and I [realized] we might need to get a place here and spend off-seasons here,” he said.

Before that off-season arrives in November, Gooch is hoping his stellar play grabs the attention of U.S. Ryder Cup team captain Zach Johnson, who has not ruled out picking LIV golfers given a provision in the PGA of America guidelines allows them to remain members of the organization which runs the American team. Koepka winning a fifth major at the PGA Championship in May and a second-place finish at the Masters in June has him third on the automatic qualification standings. Gooch would need a wildcard.

“I’ve always dreamed of being on a Ryder Cup [team],” he said. “Before making the decision to come to LIV, Max Homa was one of my good buddies on PGA Tour. My wife and I did our honeymoon in Italy, and we did Rome, and he and his wife couldn’t do their honeymoon in Italy, so we had always had the talk the last couple years of, ‘well, we’re just going to have to go team up there [instead].’ It’s out of my hands; one thing I can control is playing good golf. Hopefully, things work out.”

Said Koepka: “Yeah, he’s playing good. I mean, laugh at it, but maybe a spot on the Ryder Cup? He’s playing that good.”

The post In first LIV event since PGA Tour partnership was announced, Talor Gooch wins third season title at Valderrama appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
Never let it be said that the European Tour does not offer a little bit of everything to players and public. One week after all 75 of the competitors who completed 72 holes in the Spanish Open at Club de Campo in Madrid finished under par (38 of those 10 under or lower), only 14 men ended the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters at Valderrama in red figures.

Best of that elite group turned out to be the second highest-ranked player in the field, Matt Fitzpatrick. But it could and perhaps should have been the more unlikely figure of Sebastian Soderberg. The Swede, whose only previous European Tour victory came at 2019 European Masters, arrived on the Costa Del Sol ranked a lowly 169th on the Race to Dubai. In 22 starts this year, Soderberg had missed the cut 12 times and withdrawn once. His best finish was T-26 in the Kenya Savannah Classic. So victory would have meant a lot to the 31-year-old.

But it wasn’t to be in the cruellest of fashions. With two holes to play in regulation, Soderberg was six under par for the tournament and holding a two-shot advantage over Fitzpatrick, 28th in the World Ranking, and another Englishman, 54-hole leader Laurie Canter. Not for long though. As is the norm on the course that hosted the 1997 Ryder Cup, the closing holes proved eventful.

A badly pushed drive off the par-5 17th tee led to Soderberg losing his ball and, eventually, making a double-bogey 7. Seconds after that unfortunate sequence of events concluded, Fitzpatrick made his first birdie of the day—after 15 straight pars—on the par-4 16th to take a lead he would not relinquish. Another birdie at the penultimate hole and a closing par gave the now seven-time European Tour winner a closing 69. His six-under-par 278 total ended up three shots better than the two runners-up, Soderberg (who dropped another shot on the last) and Australia’s Min Woo Lee.

Canter, who finished in a seven-way tie for fourth on two-under par, will also harbour regrets. With 13 holes to play, the 31-year-old still searching for a first victory on the European Tour, was eight under, two shots better than the eventual winning score.

“Winning here at Valderrama, with the history it has, is on the bucket list,” said Fitzpatrick, 27, who earned €489,750 from what was his first start since the recent Ryder Cup. “And to do it bogey-free as well makes it extra special. I’m delighted, especially with the way I did it. I stayed patient all day. I didn’t try to press at all. I stuck to my targets and managed to hole the putts at the end. You can hit half-decent shots here, finish behind trees and have to chip out. It’s a true test. I’m really pleased with how my attitude was over the 72 holes.”

All of which was in almost complete contrast to the less-than chuffed Fitzpatrick who left Whistling Straits last month. Pointless for the second time in the Ryder Cup, the former U.S. Amateur champion was understandably down, despite having played some good golf in Europe’s losing cause. So to win so soon after such a disappointment will clearly be an important boost to his morale. Up to fifth on the Race to Dubai as the year-long contest moves towards its climax next month, he will surely arrive at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship—an event he has already won twice—with renewed confidence.

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By Joel Beall
It’s easy to be jealous of Rory McIlroy. The hundreds of millions in the bank account. The dominant driving prowess. That his pops belongs to Seminole. But a particular admission at TPC Harding Park inspires an envy we cannot contain.

Speaking to the media prior to the PGA Championship, McIlroy was asked if he remembered the last time he paid a greens fee. The four-time major winner could, and it was a ways back.

“Valderrama, 2005, 250 Euros,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “I’ve always liked the look at Valderrama. I was in Spain. Obviously Ryder Cup course. The Tour Championship of The European Tour was there for a lot of years, and it’s one of the—yeah, I was there and spent a few months’ worth of pocket money to go and play.”

For context, that’s half of Rory’s life. Or to frame it in our golf world, 2005 was the year that saw Michael Campbell win the U.S. Open and Fred Funk capture the Players Championship. Which, after double-checking, did happen this century.

Rory will be aiming for his third career Wanamaker this week. He tees off Thursday at 11:33 AM ET with Justin Thomas and Tiger Woods.

The post The last time Rory McIlroy paid a greens fee will fill you with envy appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.