Rahm, Detry, Varner III share lead entering final round at HSBC LIV Golf Hong Kong; Smash GC top team

HONG KONG – For the third time in three starts this season, Jon Rahm will enter the final round in a strong position to earn his first individual LIV Golf victory since 2024. The Legion XIII captain carded a 5-under 65 Saturday to climb into a three-way tie for the lead at 17 under with the final round set Sunday at the HSBC LIV Golf Hong Kong. 

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“You have to keep putting yourself in contention and giving yourself chances,” said Rahm, who has started the 2026 season with consecutive runner-up finishes. “As long as I'm doing that, I'm playing good golf, take advantage of the opportunities I get, but it'll come. As I'm playing solid golf, I'm hoping tomorrow I have a good Sunday and get it done.” 

For Rahm to claim a win at Greater China's oldest championship course, he'll need to outduel the very man he helped make his way to Hong Kong Golf Club – 4Aces GC’s Thomas Detry. The Belgian, despite arriving late after being stranded in Dubai, has shown no signs of rust, shooting a 4-under 66 to also join the final group of co-leaders. 

“Well, if it wasn't for him, I don't think I'd be here,” Detry said of Rahm. “It's a little bit funny that way. But listen, we're both competitors, and he's done it for his teammates. He's done it for the league. It's amazing what he did, and he's a good friend of mine, as well. We've played a lot of golf as juniors and on the PGA Tour and everywhere together and out here now. I think we're just going to have a nice competitive fun round tomorrow, and we'll see who prevails.”

Rahm helped to organize a private charter from the Middle East for seven LIV Golf players – including Detry, as well as Rahm’s Legion XIII teammates Caleb Surratt and Tom McKibbin – who were stranded when the recent conflict closed the airport in Dubai. He was happy to do so, even if he now has to outduel Detry for the title. 

“The way I see it is it's simply my duty,” Rahm said. “I was raised with certain values, that if you have the ability and capability of helping somebody, especially in a scenario like that where my main focus essentially was getting them out of there, not necessarily playing a tournament. I remember telling Caleb earlier in the week, how about you forget about playing the tournament and we focus on getting you to safety and then we'll see if you can get to Hong Kong. 

“With the ever-changing environment, it looked kind of dark for a second. For a second, at one point, if they went through a different extraction plan, they were going to go to Europe. I was trying to help people in Spain to get them set up to practice in Spain. It looked like coming here was going to be hard. But yeah, here they are. Never thought they would be able to come. It's amazing that so many of them are all safe and that's the most important thing.” 

Rahm and Detry aren’t alone at the top, as Smash GC’s Harold Varner III fired a 7-under 63 to vault himself into a share of the lead. Varner ranks second for the week in Strokes Gained Approach (+7.50) and first in Strokes Gained Off the Tee on the par 3s. 

Varner III, flashing his signature grin, summed up his love for the par 3s perfectly: “Yeah, it's nice. Par 3s, you get to start from the fairway, so it's great.”

The 36-hole co-leader, Carlos Ortiz, had an up-and-down day. The Torque GC veteran made the turn at even par after bogeys on holes eight and nine before rebounding nicely with four birdies in his first five holes on the back nine to briefly climb back to 17 under before missing short par putts on holes 16 and 18 to fall two adrift of the lead. 

Southern Guards GC’s Dean Burmester shared the co-lead with Ortiz entering Saturday but failed to keep up with the scoring, posting a bogey-free 1-under 69 to reach the clubhouse at 15 under, two shots back of the lead with Ortiz and 4Aces GC’s Thomas Pieters, who had the round of the day with a 9-under 61. 

“I'm gutted,” Burmester admitted after the round. “I don't feel like I did too much wrong, honestly. Maybe tried a little too hard. I don't know. I hit some amazing golf shots out there. I hit some poor ones, probably on the wrong holes. Hit some great shots. I went bogey-free. Just didn't make any putts. Got to find a way to lift myself up tomorrow and give it a go.” 

Smash GC clings to a narrow two-stroke team lead, powered by Varner III’s scorching round, but with six teams lurking within six strokes, that gap could be eliminated in just a few holes. Expect an exhilarating shootout on Sunday’s team leaderboard.

TOP OF THE LEADERBOARDS

Individual Top 10

T1 (-17) – Jon Rahm, Legion XIII (66-62-65); Thomas Detry, 4Aces GC (64-63-66); Harold Varner III, Smash GC (66-64-63) 

T4 (-15) – Carlos Ortiz, Torque GC (60-66-69); Dean Burmester, Southern Guards GC (62-64-69); Thomas Pieters, 4Aces GC (68-66-61) 

7 (-14) – Lucas Herbert, Ripper GC (66-65-65) 

8 (-13) – Sergio Garcia, Fireballs GC (63-69-65)

T9 (-10) – Lee Westwood, Majesticks GC (67-64-67); Matthew Wolff, RangeGoats GC (65-64-69) 

Team Top 3

1 (-44) – Smash GC (Varner III 63, Gooch 69, Kokrak 69, McDowell 70; Rd. 3 total: -9) 

2 (-42) – 4Aces GC (Pieters 61, Detry 66, Kim 66, Johnson 68; Rd. 2 total: -19) 

3 (-41) – Legion XIII (Rahm 65, Surratt 65, McKibbin 66, Hatton 69; Rd. 2 total: -15) 

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ROUND 3 NOTES

PIETERS IN THE WIND: Many players struggle in the wind, but Thomas Pieters excels. After posting the low round of the day with a 9-under 61, he explained why he’s been so good in windy conditions. "I just love it when it's windy because I like to flight my ball, and I always feel like I play better or I have a better chance than the field when it's windy. So I really enjoyed it today.” 

Even when he “doesn’t miss a shot,” the Belgian admitted it isn’t as easy as it looks. “Yeah, trust me, there's still doubt in your head every time you hit a shot, but you've got to just let that be there and execute,” he said. 

Pieters, making his 45th LIV Golf start, will look to chase down his fellow Belgian and teammate Thomas Detry as well as Jon Rahm and Harold Varner III to earn his first LIV Golf victory Sunday.

RAHM LOVES HONG KONG: Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm had never been to Hong Kong until he joined LIV Golf and played at Hong Kong Golf Club in his first season in 2024. 

“I can tell you I'm kicking myself for never coming because it's such a wonderful city and wonderful venue,” Rahm said. “I hope we come here for a long, long time. 

“I didn't know anything about the course. But as soon as I started asking people, everybody immediately had a very positive reaction to it. It's a wonderful golf course. It's a wonderful city. Even friends that hadn't been to the course, about the city they always had very positive things to say. It went from somewhere where I wasn't very sure about it to all of a sudden, a date that I was really, really looking forward to, and it's been like that ever since.”

BIG HITTERS THRIVING ON A SHORT TRACK: Despite Hong Kong Golf Club being one of the shortest courses on the LIV Golf schedule at 6,711 yards, the leaderboard is littered with some of the league’s longest hitters. 

Harold Varner III weighed in on what makes Fanling play longer than the scorecard indicates. 

“It's short, but it plays a lot longer,” he said. “The hole right here (17), I don't know what hole this is, but I hit 6-iron in there today, hit 8-iron into 1, hit 6-iron into 18. It's short, but I think it's people who hit their 6-iron, 7-iron close, honestly. The par 3s are about that distance. Then when you get the lay-ups on the wedges, you just take advantage.” 

Varner, who’s played the two par 5s at a cumulative 4-under this week, added that power off the tee also makes the par 5s reachable, increasing scoring opportunities. “The par 5s, I would say, you hit it in the fairway, you've got a chance,” he said. “The first par 5 on the back or the only par 5 on the back was playing a little tougher today, but for the entirety of the week it's been pretty –– you hit it in the fairway, you've got a great chance.” 

DEAN’S PUTTING: Dean Burmester’s putter went cold Saturday, ruining an otherwise excellent performance from tee to green. 

Burmester’s bogey-free 69 included his lone birdie at the par-3 eighth from 5 feet. He saved par with a 6-footer at the 11th and made an 18-footer to save par at the 17th. Otherwise, he left himself with tap-in range for the other 15 holes. 

“I hit three putts that didn't go in,” Burmester said. “I made one birdie all day. You're not going to win a golf tournament like that.” 

VARNER’S NEW CAPTAIN: Harold Varner III is in his first season with Smash GC, which has a new captain in Talor Gooch. Varner will be chasing an individual title while also hoping to lead Smash GC to their first team trophy with Gooch at the helm. 

Varner and Gooch are long-time friends and also former teammates with RangeGoats GC in 2023 when Gooch won the league’s Individual Championship. Varner said having Gooch as captain is a driving force to play his best. 

“I hate losing to Talor. Like, it's tough,” Varner said. “He's like a really good friend. I love that competition. I've known him since I was 23, 22. He's a captain, but in my eyes he's like a peer that he's going to make me better. I played well when we were on the team at the RangeGoats and he beat everybody in the league. 

“I just know I'm going to be better at life and golf, which is important to me. Those two things are very important.” 

NEWS AND NUGGETS

• No bogeys made on the par-3 12th on Saturday. This marks only the third time in LIV Golf history there have been no bogeys made in a round on a par 3. The previous times were the second hole in Rd. 3 at Indianapolis 2025 and the 2nd hole in Rd. 2 at Singapore 2023 

• Despite the course playing well under par (-1.70), the 17 double-bogeys in the third round were the most in a LIV Golf round at Hong Kong Golf Club 

• Crushers GC made only two bogeys today in Rd. 3, which is their lowest number of bogeys made as a team in any of their cumulative rounds on LIV Golf 

• Four shots separating the top five teams is tied for the closest top 5 heading into the final round (Miami 2025) 

• This week marks the first time Harold Varner III has led going into the final round. When he won LIV Golf DC in 2023, he started the round in second place  

• Thomas Detry has played 11 total rounds on LIV Golf and has finished the round in the top 5 in five of them 

• Graeme McDowell 's streak of hitting the green on 19 consecutive par 3s came to an end when he missed the green on the 8th hole in Rd. 3. McDowell’s streak was the 4th longest par 3 Greens in Regulation streak in LIV Golf history

• Rahm (20) and Branden Grace (19) have continued their rounds under-par streak, with Rahm moving to one round behind his LIV Golf record of 21 rounds

• Rahm has only won one time when playing in the final group (Chicago 2024). He has been in the final group 6 times in his LIV Golf career

STATS LEADERS 

Round 3 

Driving Distance: Sam Horsfield, 335.9-yard avg. 

Longest Drive: Dustin Johnson, 367.7 yards (11th hole) 

Driving Accuracy: Joaquin Niemann, 92.86% (13 of 14) 

Greens in Regulation: Harold Varner III, Thomas Pieters, Louis Oosthuizen, Sebastián Muñoz, Charl Schwartzel, Caleb Surratt, Younghan Song, Byeong Hun An, 88.89% (16 of 18) 

Scrambling: 10 players at 100%, led by Dean Burmester, Branden Grace and Miguel Tabuena (4 of 4) 

Fewest Putts: Cameron Smith, 25 

Bogey-free rounds: Thomas Pieters (61) Harold Varner III (63), Paul Casey (64), Lucas Herbert (65), Caleb Surratt (65), Sebastián Muñoz (66), Branden Grace (67), Charles Howell III (67), Miguel Tabuena (68), Dean Burmester (69) 

Cumulative 

Driving Distance: Bryson DeChambeau, 334.3-yard avg. 

Driving Accuracy: Younghan Song, 90.48% (38 of 42) 

Greens in Regulation: Thomas Detry, 85.19% (46 of 54) 

Scrambling: Charles Howell III, 92.86% (13 of 14)  

Fewest Putts: Carlos Ortiz, 77 

Most Birdies: Carlos Ortiz, 22