Sergio Garcia Claims Home Victory For Spain at Valderrama

Sergio Garcia ended a four-year winless drought when he defeated Anirban Lahiri in a playoff to claim the LIV Golf Andalucia title at his beloved Valderrama - his favourite golf course, located in his homeland of Spain.

The Spaniard found himself in a playoff for the third time this year on the LIV Golf League and fourth time since joining the circuit. This was his first victory.

Garcia shot five-under 66 to get into a playoff with Lahiri, and then he won with a par on the second playoff hole to get his first professional victory since the 2020 Sanderson Farms.

For Garcia, the win was extra special coming in his home country at Valderrama. He bogeyed his final hole to drop to five under overall, but Lahiri missed a putt of about two feet to win outright, leading to a playoff.

There was also a playoff for the team title. On the first playoff hole, Abraham Ancer and David Puig from Fireballs GC, captained by Garcia, beat Crushers GC’s Bryson DeChambeau and Paul Casey on the first playoff hole for the $3 million team prize.

Player Profile

Sergio Garcia was born in Castellon, Spain, on January 9, 1980.

He turned professional in 1999 and played on the DP World Tour and PGA Tour prior to joining LIV Golf in 2022.

He has won 37 international tournaments as a professional, most notably the 2008 Players Championship and the 2017 Masters.

He was also the Chairman of Spanish football team CF Borriol.  

Garcia has spent much of his career in the top 10 of the world rankings, including more than 300 weeks in the top 10 between 2000 and 2009, and more than 450 weeks in the top 10 in total. 

He reached his highest career ranking, second, after winning the HSBC Champions in November 2008. 

Garcia has career earnings of more than $47m.

As a player, he is noted for strong iron play and accuracy from the tee. 

In the Ryder Cup he competed in ten of the 11 matches playing during his professional career cumulatively earning a record 28.5 points during those matches.

Garcia began playing golf at the age of three and was taught by his father, Victor, who is a club professional. Garcia won his club championship at age 12. Four years later, he set a record as the youngest player to make the cut at a European Tour event, the 1995 Turespana Open. 

He turned professional in 1999 after shooting the lowest amateur score in the 1999 Masters. His first title on the DP World Tour came in his sixth start as a professional, in July 1999 at the Irish Open. He first achieved worldwide prominence with a duel against Tiger Woods at the 1999 PGA Championship, where he finished second, losing by one stroke. Late in the final round, Garcia, with his ball up against a tree trunk in the right rough on the 16th hole, and the green hidden from view, swung hard with his eyes shut and hit a low curving fade that ran up onto the green. As the shot traveled, he sprinted madly into the fairway and then scissor-kick jumped to see the result. Shortly afterwards he became the youngest player ever to compete in the Ryder Cup.

There were many near-misses in majors before he finally beat Justin Rose to win The Masters in 2017 and he has also been involved in several controversies throughout the course of his career.

He has won 11 times on the PGA Tour and 16 times on the DP World Tour.

He averages 305 yards from tee, hits 65.71% of fairways and finds 71.85% of greens in regulation. He gets up and down from the sand 71.05% of the time, averages 28.62 putts per round and 4.3 birdies.