Sergio García (-4) has once again come close to victory at the LIV Golf Miami. Don’t be misled by the final scoreboard. The two-shot difference with the champion Marc Leishman (-6) doesn’t truly reflect what happened this Sunday at the Blue Monster in Doral. The magic was provided by the Spaniard. It was Sergio who hit one of those shots that are worth the price of any tournament ticket. It happened on the 17th hole, a tough par 4 played with a strong headwind.
When the man from Borriol reached the 17th tee, only one birdie had been made there all day. It was achieved by Harold Varner III. The difference is that the American played it much earlier with just the right amount of pressure, if any. In contrast, Sergio was two shots behind Marc Leishman and a birdie was a must to keep his chances of victory alive.
The 2017 Masters champion hit a great drive, down the fairway, but he still had almost 170 metres to the flag, with a headwind, we insist, positioned in a very awkward spot, at the back and to the right, very close to the water. That’s when he pulled a rabbit out of the hat. His shot was monumental. He crafted a perfect low ball, bouncing in the middle of the green and rolling firmly and decisively towards the hole. “Please,” he said to the ball as it left the club. “Pleeease,” he repeated halfway through the flight with more intensity. “Pleeeeeeeease,” he shouted hoarsely just as it bounced on the green, begging it to be good.
And indeed it was. It stopped a metre past the hole. The shot of the day on one of the most difficult holes and with all the pressure of an all-or-nothing situation. Sergio made the putt and moved to within one shot of Leishman. At the same time, the Australian had left himself a rather serious par challenge on the 18th. He missed the drive to the right, couldn’t do much more than get it back to the fairway, hit a great third shot, very brave and determined, but still had to make a putt of about three metres to save par.
It was the putt of the tournament. No more. The key to everything. Sergio missed to the right the very delicate drive on the 18th of the Blue Monster (we much prefer its original name to the Trump National Doral) and with Leishman’s par, he didn’t have many more options. He was one shot behind. If he wanted to tie and go to a playoff, he had no choice but to risk an (almost) impossible shot to give himself a birdie chance. He was in a similar situation to Leishman, and the logical shot was to get it back to the fairway. However, Sergio, brave, in champion mode, went for it, tried it, and it didn’t work out by a whisker…
It was a beautiful shot, low, through the trees, seeking a devilish slice from 190 metres to try and land it on the green. It wasn’t far off. The ball tried to hold on, fought against the centrifugal force pushing it towards the lake, but eventually gave in and took a dip. Hence the Blue, for the water, and the Monster, a beast. That’s where his chances ended, although he managed to save the bogey to finish third on his own. Last year, he also ended up in the water in the playoff to finish second against Dean Burmester, but the situations are as different as night and day.
In 2024, it slipped away when he had it in his grasp, and this Sunday, he did everything he could to win it, only to find himself up against a guy who held on by making par putts as if there were no tomorrow. Leishman delivered a bogey-free 68 at Doral. That’s almost a feat given how the wind was blowing. The Australian, who has always fared well in windy and tough conditions, wins again more than five years later. His last victory was with Cameron Smith at the Zurich Classic pairs event in 2021, but individually, you have to go back to 2020, just before the pandemic. He won the Farmers. The reality is that since he moved to LIV Golf, someone who was always a secondary alternative in the majors, secondary, yes, but an alternative nonetheless, had disappeared from the map.
Leishman won by one shot over Charl Schwartzel (-5). The South African, heavenly with the putter today, took advantage of his finish on the 1st hole, an easy par 5, to gain a spot over Sergio. The Spaniard finishes third on his own. He moves to second in the LIV ranking, just ahead of Jon Rahm and behind Joaquín Niemann. He remains in the fight for a spot in the US Open and the Open Championship.
Jon Rahm (+1) added another top 10 despite the setback he suffered on the 17th hole. In fact, the man from Barrika was in the fight for victory practically the entire round. Two bogeys on the 9th and 11th halted his climb, but he kept trying. His tee-to-green game was much better than in the first two days, and that’s what he’s taking to Augusta, and the putter is in a sweet spot. Another good sign for the Masters. Perhaps what he’s missing and will need to find between now and next Thursday to have a chance of winning the first major of the year is his traditional consistency. He’s struggling to round off very good rounds from start to finish. In any case, he’s arriving well enough to be considered. Even arriving poorly, he should be… On the 17th hole, he went into the water twice, resulting in a quadruple bogey that dropped him from the fight for third and fourth place to ninth.
A lot of credit goes to David Puig (+3), coming back from a +5 on the first day with two splendid under-par rounds to finish in 14th place. Only Leishman and Sergio, who went under par all three days, the only ones in the tournament, beat the course in the second and third rounds as David did. He continues to progress. He remains sixth in the ranking. Finally, Luis Masaveu, with a round of +2 today, finished in 24th place. Another solid and very serious tournament from the young golfer from Madrid.
