First Look: LIV Golf Andalucia at Real Club Valderrama

BASIC INFO

When: July 11-13, 2025

Where: Real Club Valderrama, San Roque, Cádiz, Spain

Competition: Three rounds/54 holes of stroke play

Field: 54 players – 13 teams of four players each, and two wild cards

Defending champions: Sergio Garcia (individual), Fireballs GC (team)

Shotgun Start local time
Rd. 1, 1:05 p.m.
Rd. 2, 1:05 p.m.
Rd. 3, 12:35 p.m.

More information: Tickets **|** [Tournament](https://www.livgolf.com/schedule/andalucia-2025/) | Broadcast Info

KEY STORYLINES

• LIV Golf returns to Andalucía for the third consecutive season at the historic Valderrama course
• Spanish legend Sergio Garcia and his Fireballs GC seek to defend their individual and team titles from last year
• The Fireballs won last year’s title at Valderrama in a team playoff over Crushers GC, who finished third the previous year
• Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers will seek to match the LIV Golf record of four consecutive team wins set by 4Aces GC during the inaugural 2022 season
• The Crushers moved atop the season-long team standings with their dominant 11-shot victory in Dallas; they also won the previous two tournaments in Korea and Virginia
• 4Aces GC’s Patrick Reed won his first individual LIV Golf title in Dallas, claiming a four-man playoff that included Paul Casey (Crushers), Louis Oosthuizen (Stinger GC) and Jinichiro Kozuma (Iron Heads GC)
• Four Spanish natives are in the 54-man field – Garcia and his Fireballs teammates David Puig and recently signed Josele Ballester, and Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm, a two-time major winner and winner of the 2024 LIV Golf Individual Championship
• Latin star Joaquin Niemann of Chile is the current individual points leader with four wins in the first nine tournaments this season
• Andalucía is the last LIV Golf tournament prior to next week’s Open Championship, in which 19 of the league’s players will compete at Royal Portrush

LEGENDARY VALDERRAMA

Spanish-born Sergio Garcia, the captain of Fireballs GC, calls Real Club Valderrama “my favorite course in the world.”

Given that Garcia has won four professional tournaments there, including his breakthrough LIV Golf individual playoff in 2024, it’s no wonder a smile crosses his face whenever he talks about Valderrama.

The 45-year-old Garcia certainly is happy to return to the course for this week’s LIV Golf Andalucía for the third consecutive year.

“It’s super special,” Garcia said. “Not only for me but for all of us because of how much Valderrama means to all of us, to Europe, all the amazing things that have happened here on this golf course.”

Last year was certainly amazing for both Garcia and his Fireballs, as they swept both trophies via playoff – the only time in LIV Golf’s young history that a tournament has produced a double playoff for the individual and team titles.

“It’s been great to me,” Garcia said.

Garcia is not the only Spanish-born captain in LIV Golf. Legion XIII’s Jon Rahm also enjoys returning to his home country to play Valderrama, the first course in Continental Europe to host the Ryder Cup in 1997.

“It’s all subjective, but it’s probably the best golf course we have in Spain,” Rahm said. “It’s something that we all grew up wanting to play.”

Cleeks Golf Club Captain Martin Kaymer was born in Germany but now resides in the Sotogrande area that includes Valderrama. He’s been close on several occasions in his pro career to lifting a trophy there.

“One of those venues where I wanted to put my name on the trophy,” Kaymer said. “I came close. I think I finished five or six times in the top 5. So, it’s a golf course that I like, that I enjoy playing, that I can play well. It’s a matter of time, hopefully.”

REED’S RYDER CUP BID

With his first career LIV Golf victory in Dallas, 4Aces GC star Patrick Reed has ignited conversation about his potential inclusion on the U.S. team at this year’s Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. Points to ponder:

• Including his win last November at the Hong Kong Open – in which he shot 59 – Reed has two wins in the last 8 months. The only American with more victories across the major golf tours during that span is Scottie Scheffler.
• Reed has a record of 7-3-2 in his three Ryder Cup appearances and has never lost a singles match, having beaten Henrik Stenson, Rory McIlroy and Tyrrell Hatton.
• Reed has prior success at Bethpage Black, having won a PGA Tour event there in 2016. Statistically, his best putting surface is Poa Annua, which is the grass type at Bethpage Black.
• Reed is in form. Based on data since April, he ranks third among all American players in total strokes gained behind only Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau. He’s gaining strokes across all four major areas of the game, with no statistical weaknesses.

Reed, who thrives in the pressure-filled environment of the Ryder Cup, would love to resume his Captain America persona in September.

“Any time I get to represent our country, it means a lot to me,” he said. “For me personally, I’m always thinking about trying to make every team.”

CHASING THE RECORD

Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC have won the last three LIV Golf team titles and will seek a fourth straight trophy at LIV Golf Andalucía. If they win at Valderrama, it would match the LIV Golf record for longest win streak by either a team or individual.

LIV GOLF WIN STREAKS

4 – 4Aces GC (2022 Portland/Bedminster/Boston/Chicago)

3 – Crushers GC (2025 Korea/Virginia/Dallas)
3 – Fireballs GC (2025 Adelaide/Hong Kong/Singapore)

2 – Ripper GC (2024 Adelaide/Singapore)
2 – Crushers GC (2024 Jeddah/Hong Kong)
2 – Torque GC (2023 DC/Andalucía)
2 – Talor Gooch (2023 Adelaide/Singapore)

TWO YEARS OF POINTS

Of the 54 players in the field this week, 11 have finished with points (top 24) in each of their first two LIV Golf visits to Valderrama.

EVEN-KING JOACO

Current Individual points leader Joaquin Niemann, the Torque GC Captain, has won four of the first nine LIV Golf tournaments this season – and all four have been even-numbered events in the 14-tournament schedule (2-Adelaide, 4-Singapore, 6-Mexico City, 8-Virginia). LIV Golf Andalucía is the 10th tournament this season. Here are Niemann’s splits between the four even and the five odd-numbered events this season:

ABOUT THE COURSE

REAL CLUB VALDERRAMA

San Roque, Cádiz, Spain

Par: 71
Yardage: 7,010
Meters: 6,410

• Ranked among the top courses in the world, Real Club Valderrama has hosted numerous professional events, including LIV Golf Andalucía in 2023 and 2024, along with the 1997 Ryder Cup – the first time the event had been held in Continental Europe
• Valderrama was originally designed by famed golf architect Robert Trent Jones in 1974. Jones was brought back to work on the course when Jaime Ortiz-Patiño bought the course in the mid-1980s
• Valderrama is widely considered to be the “Augusta of Europe” for its championship pedigree and immaculate maintenance
• The golf club is one of two in Europe to be awarded the Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program Certification for its commitment to conserve and restore natural ecosystems
• The course will have four par-4 holes under 400 yards; the longest par 3 is 225 yards, the longest par 4 is 490 yards and the longest par 5 is 564 yards
• The 564-yard par-5 fourth, known as La Cascada, has a pond to the right of a two-tiered green
• The memorable 536-yard par-5 17th provides a natural amphitheater for fans
• Sergio Garcia (2024) and Talor Gooch (2023) have won individual LIV Golf titles at Valderrama, while Fireballs GC (2024) and Torque GC (2023) have team wins
• In 2024, the hardest hole was the par-4 18th with a stroke average of 4.340; the easiest hole was the par-5 11th (4.716)
• The 212-yard par-3 12th was the hardest hole in 2023 and the second-hardest in 2024
• Green types: Bermuda Tifway 419 on fairways and rough; T1 Creeping Bentgrass on greens

KEYS TO SUCCESS

Bogey Avoidance: Much more important than birdie rate. The average top-5 finisher at this course has made 2.75 bogeys per round vs 4.25 for the other players finishing in the top 50.

Finding Fairways: The value of distance is the lowest all season, averaging at just +0.11 per hole. There is also severe miss fairway penalty in play, average +0.40. Driver will likely only be used 6/7 times at the most.

Inside 150 Yards: Players will face 52% of their approach shots this week with the wedges inside of 150 yards vs the season average of 32.5%.

Lag Putting: Because the penalty for missing greens is so severe, players focus on the middle and larger parts of the greens instead of aiming for flags. Thus, longer lag first putts are more impactful.

WEATHER OUTLOOK

Forecast from weather.com

SCORING LEADERS

TEAM

INDIVIDUAL

STROKES GAINED LEADERS

Minimum 18 rounds

SEASON SCORING LEADERS