LIV Golf watch: The week of Oct. 6-Oct. 12

LIVGolf.com’s newest feature, LIV Golf Watch: The Week Ahead, tracks the participation of LIV Golf players in tournaments around the world during the offseason, as well as provide a roundup of notes regarding the league’s players and teams. This week, six LIV Golf players will be playing in the Open de España presented by Madrid on the DP World Tour.

Open de España presented by Madrid

The Open de España presented by Madrid will be played Oct. 9-12 at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. First held in 1912, it’s one of golf’s oldest tournaments and has been a fixture on the DP World Tour schedule since 1971. The tournament is part of the DP World Tour’s 2026 Race to Dubai and marks the start of The Open Qualifying Series for 2026, offering a pathway to the 154th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.

Club de Campo Villa de Madrid is a par 71 and measures 7,154 yards. Past champions include legends such as Seve Ballesteros, Arnold Palmer, Nick Faldo, and Jon Rahm, who has won three times and aims to catch Ángel de la Torre’s record of five Spanish Open victories.

JOSELE BALLESTER. The former U.S. Amateur champion will make his first start since the LIV Golf Michigan Team Championship, returning after a strong finish to the season that included a T2 showing in Chicago. Ballester made his debut at the Spanish Open last year and missed the cut. After his first stretch of golf as a professional, the 22-year-old should be better prepared to tackle his home Open.

SERGIO GARCIA. The Spanish golf legend last played the Spanish Open in 2019, also at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, where he finished 7th. He won the Spanish Open in 2002 at El Cortijo Country Club. Since then, Garcia’s best recent Spanish Open finish came in 2016, where he finished 3rd at Real Club Valderrama.

TOM MCKIBBIN. The Northern Irishman has been active since the 2025 LIV Golf season came to an end. The Legion XIII rising star has made three starts on the DP World Tour with all three resulting in top-20 finishes. McKibbin was in contention at the Alfred Dunhill Links last week until he made a quadruple bogey in borderline unplayable conditions at Carnoustie. The 22-year-old is in form and should be a threat any time he tees it up.

JOAQUIN NIEMANN. The Torque GC captain came ever so close to winning the LIV Golf Individual Championship and will be making his second start since the season came to an end. He played at Wentworth for the BMW PGA Championship, finishing 20th. Niemann will be making his Spanish Open debut and will be amongst the favorites to win.

DAVID PUIG. Like McKibbin, Puig was dealt an unlucky tee time last week at the Alfred Dunhill Links. The Fireballs GC star tied the lead at 12-under par in the second round before the high winds wreaked havoc on the tournament. Puig will be licking his chops to return to Club de Campo Villa de Madrid. He fired a third-round 65 to get into the final threesome alongside fellow Spaniards Jon Rahm and Angel Hidalgo before ultimately finishing T3.

JON RAHM. The Legion XIII captain has been dominant at the Spanish Open over the course of his career. Since making his tournament debut in 2016, the Spaniard has won the event three times (2018, 2019, and 2022), joining his idol Seve Ballesteros in capturing three Spanish Open titles. Each of those victories came in convincing fashion, highlighted by his six-shot win at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid in 2022. Last year, Rahm had stormed back to tie Hidalgo late in regulation with back-to-back birdies but ultimately came up short when Hidalgo made a clutch putt on the second extra hole to seal the win.

PATRICK REED. Reed will be making his fourth start since the conclusion of the 2025 LIV Golf season, staying true to his reputation as one of the game’s most active and competitive players. The 4Aces GC star made his Spanish Open debut last season and finished T10. Reed did most of his damage on the greens, gaining 6.9 strokes putting on the field.

PLAYER NEWS

- Tyrrell Hatton’s incredible record in the Alfred Dunhill Links perservered. The Legion XIII star finished in 2nd place, four shots behind the winner, Robert MacIntyre. Hatton now has three wins at the event with three additional top-5 finishes.

- With the strong performance, Hatton has climbed to 2nd in the Race to Dubai rankings on the DP World Tour, trailing only Rory McIlroy.

- Stinger GC Captain Louis Oosthuizen finished T11 at the Dunhill Links after entering the final round in 3rd place.

- Tom McKibbin finished T15 at the Dunhill Links. McKibbin has now posted three consecutive top-20 finishes on the DP World Tour.

- Smash GC Captain Brooks Koepka also finished T15 at the Dunhill Links and seems to be finding some form as he’s now finished in the top-15 in his past two DP World Tour starts.

- Chieh-Po Lee finished T11 at the International Series Jakarta after firing a final round 3-under 67 to move up the leaderboard.

- While speaking at last week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, 4Aces GC Captain Dustin Johnson expressed his desire to make the United States Ryder Cup team at Adare Manor in 2027.

“I’d love to,” Johnson said. “I wanted to be there (Bethpage). I just need to play a bit better, and I can be there for Adare. I finally feel like I have my game coming back into form. I’ve got a lot more confidence in it and I am starting to swing it well again ... I went through about a year where I just wasn’t swinging at it very well. But I feel I am now starting to hit a lot of nice shots and feel a lot more consistent. The last few months have been nice.”

-While speaking with Today’s Golfer, Brooks Koepka spoke about his old reliable Nike 3-iron that he’s used for years as well as an older model of a TaylorMade 3-Wood.

- In an interview with Golf Today, Patrick Reed spoke about the challenges of playing links golf.

“It’s always fun coming over here and playing, especially at this event," Reed said. "I actually feel bad for the amateurs, especially yesterday and today; it’s going to be brutal. That’s one of the great things about our sport: that it’s an outdoor sport, so you get all types of weather. You never know what to expect, you just have to take with it and let it run.”

- Wesley and George Bryan will be teeing it up at the International Series Philippines. The Bryan brothers are YouTube stars with a significant following and should bring some buzz to the already loaded field.

- Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann and teammates Carlos Ortiz, Sebastian Munoz and Josele Ballester have all joined the field for the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne.

-In an interview with The Chosen Daily, Yubin Jang revealed that he's been dealing with a thumb injury since the start of the 2025 season, which explains his inconsistent performance on LIV Golf.

“I underwent an MRI in January due to finger pain and was diagnosed with a partially torn left thumb ligament, with some parts completely severed," Jang said. "I didn’t want to blame my poor performance on the injury, so I kept it private."

Jang added that he still plans to play in the LIV Golf Promotions event if he can work through the pain.

“If surgery is unavoidable, I’ll prepare for a comeback next year by competing on the KPGA Tour and Asian Tour simultaneously,” Jang said.