SAN ROQUE, SPAIN: Real Club Valderrama wasted no time reminding the LIV Golf field exactly of their competitive nature.
Gusty, swirling winds turned an already demanding par 71 into an even more difficult test during Thursday’s opening round of LIV Golf Andalucia. The field averaged 72.51, the hardest first round of the 2026 season by over a shot, and the sixth hardest opener in league history.
Tyrrell Hatton and Scott Vincent share the lead at four-under 67, one clear of Thomas Detry in third. It was, in every sense, a fitting way to begin a week at Valderrama.
For Hatton, the round carried a significance that went well beyond the leaderboard. The Englishman missed last week’s event in Korea following the birth of his first child and was off to a hot start as a new father.
Hatton went out in 33 with birdies on the first, third and sixth before adding birdies on the 12th and 17th on the back nine against a single bogey to card an impressive 67.
Hatton’s teammate and Spanish hero, Jon Rahm, had a round that served as a reminder that no reputation offers protection at Valderrama. He made birdies on the second and fifth but gave them back with bogeys on the sixth and 11th, finishing two-over in front of the home crowd.
With a wind shift forecast for Friday that will effectively present the field with an entirely different golf course, Rahm will need a turnaround to get into contention, though few players on the planet are more capable of producing one.
Vincent, meanwhile, continues a run of form that has been one of the quiet stories of the 2026 LIV Golf season. The Zimbabwean, who is filling in for HyFlyers GC captain Phil Mickelson, has now finished in the top eight in three consecutive starts.
And on Thursday he added a meticulous 67 at one of the most demanding venues on the schedule. He made birdies on the sixth, 12th and 17th. Vincent went out in 34 and came home in 33.
Detry sits alone in third, firing a three-under 68 and finds himself in a particularly significant position given the Open Championship qualifying race.
The 4Aces GC man is 44.36 points behind Joaquin Niemann in the standings and needs to beat the Torque GC captain by a meaningful margin this week to put real pressure on the exemption. A round like Thursday’s is the template he needs to follow.
At T4 and two-under, five players sit within striking distance: Cameron Smith, Sergio Garcia, David Puig, Minkyu Kim and Branden Grace. Of those, Garcia’s presence at the top of the leaderboard will surprise absolutely nobody who has followed his career at this venue.
The Fireballs GC captain has now finished in the top 10 in 17 of his 18 starts at Valderrama. Garcia’s record of consistency at one venue is almost without parallel in professional golf, and on Thursday he produced a typically gritty 69 despite the tough conditions.
“Well, I’m very happy,” Garcia said after his round. “Valderrama is already tricky enough, and with these gusty winds, I got two huge gusts on 16 and 17. (At) 16 I hit my eight-iron 120 yards (109 meters) and I tried to keep it down.
“It doesn’t make any sense. Then on the next, I had like 215 yards to carry the water, and I hit it like 200 yards with a three-iron and I flushed it.”
Smith’s 69 deserves attention. The Ripper GC captain has been working with new swing coach Claude Harmon III and has shown encouraging signs over the last two weeks — a T7 at the PGA Championship at Aronimink followed by improved driving accuracy numbers in Korea.
On Thursday, Smith’s game looked noticeably more controlled from tee to green, and a two-under round at Valderrama in these conditions represents genuine progress. If that improvement holds through the weekend, the conversation around Smith’s resurgence will grow considerably louder.
In the team competition, Crushers GC lead at even-par. DeChambeau, Howell III and Lahiri each carded 70, while Travis Smyth, filling in again this week for the injured Paul Casey, shot 74. Korean Golf Club and RangeGoats GC share second at two-over.
