Skubal is so back.
5 IP | 2 H | 0 R | 0 BB | 6 K
The @tigers ace racked up 16 swings-and-misses while throwing 44 of 54 pitches for strikes in a rehab start with the @wmwhitecaps.
LIV Golf Andalucia Final Thoughts:
1)With spectacular and historic Valderrama producing a Major Championship level test, brand new father Tyrrell Hatton held on to beat his close friend and teammate Jon Rahm to claim his 2nd LIV Golf Individual Championship!
2)Real Club Valderrama is truly the greatest golf course on the LIV Golf schedule, in my opinion slightly ahead of Sentosa in Singapore. It is one of the greatest courses in Europe and it really stood up to the test this week! Only 15 out of the 57 golfers finished under par on the week! The course isn't very long but requires great shot making abilities, with that being evident by which golfers rose to the top of the scoreboard! The leaderboard also looked like a Major type of leaderboard, and it was extremely pleasing to watch! What a course and what an event!
3)Hatton missed last week after the birth of his daughter, and I wasn't sure that he would make it to this event either. But wow did he ever show up!! What a week as he was under par every round! On 18, with the pressure of Rahm being close, Tyrrell made a nice recovery out to the trees and then hit an amazing flop shot to seal the deal! A deserved champion! Tyrrell has been so close at winning his first Major and maybe the time is coming soon?! I hope so!
4)It is evident and obvious how much this course and this tournament means to the Spanish golfers. 3 Spanish golfers finished in the Top 5, and young Luis Masaveu had a great tournament finishing in the Top 20! The only Spaniard that didn't play well was uber talented Josele Ballester, who had a horrible week. Maybe his power was too much for this shot maker course?
5)Rahmbo started off the week with a rough 73 in Round 1, but he was the best golfer on the course over the last 3 days, shooting 67-68-67 to get right back to the top. On Hole 15 of Round 4, Rahm hit a phenomenal tee shot that came within inches of an ace! The crowd pop was massive and it amazes me the kind of shots these guys can hit with that much pressure on the line! Once again, though, Rahm wasn't able to win at the course that he so desperately wants to win at! He has now finished 2nd here multiple times! He wants it bad!
6)Going into the final round, the 4Aces held a HUGE lead in the Team Competition, but they absolutely fell apart on Sunday with a team +11. Legion XIII was the only team in the field that shot under par as a team on Sunday and they came storming back to win once again on the LIV Golf league! After the Crushers set a new record with their 10th team win last week in Korea, Legion now won their 10th to tie back again for the all-time lead! This team has been a force from the beginning and seem to have great team chemistry. Even when Surratt are struggling individually, it is evident that they keep battling for the team!
7)It's hard not to feel gutted for Thomas Detry, who during this Major Championship season has had so many close calls on qualifying and has come up short in all of his chances. He's barely outside the OWGR cut-off, he lost a playoff during the US Open qualifying to miss out on a spot, and then going into the 4th round of this tournament he was in prime position to qualify for BOTH the US Open and The Open Championship via the LIV Golf exemption... but a really rough Sunday knocked him out of both of those spots. Joaquin Niemann now claimed the exemption for The Open after Detry dropped down. Even with this disappointment, Detry still rallied to finish 5th, and he has been a great addition to the league this year!
8)The love affair between Sergio Garcia and Valderrama is unbelievable. On the broadcast they mentioned that this is the 18th Top 10 in 19 career tournaments at this course, including 4 wins! And once again this week, Sergio was right there in contention and finished 4th! Sergio and Hatton were the only 2 golfers to be under par in all 4 rounds! At 46 years old, Sergio continues to impress and he's in 10th on the Season Long standings. His hard work and longevity are amazing!
9)The round of the week belonged to Dustin Johnson, who in Round 3 shot and unbelievable 7 under 64, which, as Mike McAllister pointed out, included a 1,2,3,4,5 and 6 on his scorecard! I'm sure that hasn't happened very often if golf history! DJ continued his much continued improved play, as did the rejuvenated Cam Smith, who both finished tied for 5th! Cam had one crazy tournament as he couldn't find the fairway and yet at times was leading the tournament at greens in regulation. From 150 yards and in, it is tough to find a better golfer in the world than Cam! As I've said before, the golf world is better with DJ and Cam playing well!
10)Well, LIV Golf is entering into a 7-week mid-season break that could be the most important 7 weeks in LIV Golf history. The entire future of the league is most likely to be determined during these 7 weeks, with investor meetings happening and future plans being laid out. Flushing It Golf has been laying out what he has been hearing as the future plans for the league, with 5 team majors and 5 signature events and reduced purses. He even mentioned that a lot more match play might be introduced, which would be awesome. One thing that might be a tough reality is that there is a chance that this was the last event here in Spain, at least for now. Flushing It reported that the the 5 "Team Majors" might be played in Australia, South Africa, Hong Kong, England, and Mexico (5 different continents), with the 5 "Signature Events" being played potentially in the USA built around the Major Championships. Not sure how I feel about it all, but I sure hope LIV Golf continues and that the best players in the league, especially Bryson and Rahm, stay in the league. Investors, in my opinion, have a great product here that has so much potential! Before LIV Golf tees it up at JCB in late July, there will have been 2 Major Championships played (Go LIV Golfers!!) and potential answers on if LIV Golf will continue or not.
Thank you all for reading! Hope to check in with you with good news over the next few months!
#LIVGolf
Thought this was pretty funny.
Jon Rahm on Tyrrell Hatton a new father: "He asked for advice on car seat the day he was leaving the hospital, which is something I thought he'd figured out by then."