SAN ROQUE, Spain–On a blustery day in Spain with winds howling at 33 mph and lightning-fast greens, Valderrama delivered one of the toughest rounds golf fans will witness this season. At 5:07 p.m. local time, conditions were deemed unplayable as the balls would no longer stay on the greens due to the high winds.
Round 1 will resume at 8:00 a.m. local time on Saturday, with Round 2 scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. local time.
RELATED: Leaderboard
When play was suspended at LIV Golf Andalucia, there was a 5-way tie at the top of the leaderboard with Torque GCCaptain Joaquin Niemann, Ripper GC Captain Cameron Smith, Majesticks GC Co-Captain Lee Westwood, Stinger GC’s Branden Grace and Smash GC’s Talor Gooch all at 1-under par.
Niemann, who has won four times this season, is bogey free on his round with two holes left to play. The only player to have a bogey-free round at Valderrama on LIV Golf was Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau in 2023 (Rd. 2).
Fireballs GC Captain Sergio Garcia got off to an up-and-down start in his title defense. The Spaniard who’s won four times in his career at Valderrama made two birdies and four bogeys to sit at 2-over par for his round, but only three shots off the lead.
A handful of stars including Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm (E), Crushers GC’s Paul Casey (+1), RangeGoats GC Captain Bubba Watson (+1) and Legion XIII’s Tyrrell Hatton (+1). are also within striking distance.
The scoring average for the round was a brutal 3.05 and 16 of the 18 holes played over par. The only exceptions were the 5th (-0.11) and the 11th (-0.41).