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Tyrrell Hatton came into LIV Golf Andalucía with limited prep work, understandable considering he has just become a father for the first time. His training sessions earlier this week at Real Club Valderrama were, in his words, “pretty awful.” And now his first putt as a father was a 33-footer on his opening hole Thursday.
He drained it.
Hatton celebrated his first round as a father with a 4-under 67 to take a share of the lead with Scott Vincent on a challenging day at Spain’s most famous course. It was an impressive achievement as Hatton’s focus has been on his wife and daughter. Until this week, he had not hit balls outside since his last start at the PGA Championship, as his practice sessions were limited to his indoor swing studio at home.
“I was a little nervous about how bad it might be today,” said the Legion XIII star, who took the 18-hole lead for the first time in his LIV Golf career. “But just tried to have a single mind and not overcomplicate it out there. My warm-up was better and it gave me a little bit of confidence to just trust it on the golf course and I felt like I hit a lot of good shots at the end.”
Few LIV Golf players have hit more good shots of late than Vincent, who makes his fourth start in the HyFlyers GC series as a replacement for captain Phil Mickelson. Vincent, who started the season as an independent Wild Card player, has given his team its best individual results this season with three consecutive top-10 finishes, including a solo fifth last week in Korea when he played in the final group on Sunday.
The Zimbabwean continued to ride that momentum by firing one of just two bogey-free rounds on the day – Thomas Detry, who soloed three at 3 under, had the other – with the par-71 Valderrama playing to a stroke average of more than 1-1/2 strokes over par, in part because of its famous gusts.
“That’s the best 18 holes I’ve played this year,” Vincent said. “I was able to make a lot of the shots that I wanted to, and then when I got into trouble, I was able to make some great saves. All in all, it was just a great day on a great court that played really hard.”
Valderrama showed his teeth early as 47 of the 57 players in the field suffered at least one bogey in the first 90 minutes after the shotgun start. The batting average of 72.509 made it the sixth-hardest opening round in league history.
Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC, fresh off their win last week at LIV Golf Korea, shot a cumulative even par over their four individual scores to take the team lead. That’s the highest team-best score against par in any round since the Crushers opened at 3 over last year at Valderrama.
“A mystifying golf course, that’s for sure,” said DeChambeau, one of three players on his team to shoot a 1-under 70. “There’s a lot of times where you just hope. You hit good shots and they’re just not going to be rewarded at times out here. It’s a great test of golf.”
Fireball’s GC captain Sergio Garcia, a four-time Valderrama winner with 17 top-10s in 18 career starts, said the level of difficulty was extremely high on Thursday. Garcia opened with a 2-under 69 that left him in a five-way tie for fourth place.
“I’ve played it harder, but I’d put it in the top 20, 25% today,” Garcia said. “Obviously, if you play really well, you can shoot a 67 like Tyrrell and Scott did. But not only did you have to hit a lot of good shots, a lot of things had to go right – hitting it at the right time, making sure you guessed the gust the right way.”
Despite the limited prep work, Hatton guessed right most of the time on Thursday. His new daughter will be proud of her father.
“This golf course demands a lot,” he said. “It’s kind of stood the test of time, to be honest, and it’s an iconic venue. Even though I might lose even more hair around here than I’d like, it’s always good to be back here.”
TOP OF THE LEADERBOARDS
Individual top 10
T1 (-4) –Scott Vincent, HyFlyers (67); Tyrrell Hatton, Legion XIII (67)
3 (-3) – Thomas Detry, 4 Aces (68)
T4 (-2) – Cameron Smith, Ripper (69); Sergio Garcia, Fireballs (69); David Puig, Fireballs (69); Minkyu Kim, Korean (69); Branden Grace, Southern Guards (69)
T9 (-1) – Thomas Pieters, 4 aces (70); Charles Howell III, Crushers (70); Anirban Lahiri, crushers (70); Matthew Wolff, RangeGoats (70); Doyeob Mun, Korean (70); Bryson DeChambeau, Crushers (70)
Team Top 3
1 (E) – Crushers GC (DeChambeau 70, Howell III 70, Lahiri 70, Smyth 74)
T2 (+1) – Korean Golf Club (Kim 69, Mun 70, An 72, Song 75)
T2 (+1) – RangeGoats GC (Wolff 70, Campbell 71, Watson 72, Uihlein 73)
T2 (+1) – Legion XIII (Hatton 67, McKibbin 73, Rahm 73, Surratt 73)
ROUND 1 NOTES
WIND CHANGE FOR RD. 2: Fireball’s GC captain Sergio Garcia, who knows Real Club Valderrama better than anyone in the field, said the course will play differently for Friday’s Rd. 2 ridges in a change of wind direction that will blow to the east over the Mediterranean.
“If it starts blowing from Levante, it will be a completely different golf course,” Garcia said. “Like 1’s going to play down the right instead of left. 4’s and 17’s going to play downwind, 11’s going to play against the wind. It’s going to be completely different.
“The good thing is I’ve played this course in every kind of condition you can imagine. Hopefully that’s a good thing.”
Thomas Detry, one of just two players to produce a bogey-free round along with Scott Vincent, realizes he will have to adjust his game plan with the different wind.
“It’s going to be another windy day, but apparently the wind will be completely different,” Detry said. “It’s going to be an interesting day. But I’ve been here many times so I feel pretty comfortable with even a wind contact. I don’t think it’s going to bother me too much.”
VINCENT SURPRISED: Scott Vincent shot a bogey-free 67 to take a share of the first-round lead. Despite his recent hot form, Vincent said he did not expect such a low score given how he trained on Wednesday.
“I had a tough day on the course yesterday. It really hit me,” Vincent said. “But it’s just Valderrama. That’s kind of what it does. You don’t have to be that far away for it to feel like a million miles away. Today was just one of those days where it was really dialed in. I don’t know why. Yesterday was it.”
Vincent revealed that he benefited from a conversation with HyFlyer’s GC teammate Brendan Steele. Earlier this season, Vincent wouldn’t have had that discussion when he was playing as an independent Wild Card player, but this is his fourth start representing the HyFlyers as a replacement for Phil Mickelson.
“I had a really good chat with Steeley on our team driving home and that really helped,” Vincent said. “He just reminded me that this week is a grind. It’s just a grind. That’s the way this course plays. You’re going to hit it out of position and be in some really awful spots, but you’ve just got to keep ticking over it and grinding. Don’t let it get to you because it’s going to keep trying and doing it.”
DETRY’S BOUNCE BACK: Newcomer Thomas Detry has been one of LIV Golf’s most consistent players in his first season with five top 10s in his first eight starts. However, he entered Andalusia with his worst result, a tie for 41st in Korea.
He bounced back Thursday with a bogey-free 3-under 68 that left him in solo 3rd.
“Today was a much better today compared to the mindset and how it was last week,” said the 4Aces GC star. “I thought the last three days I got to rest and I managed to calm my mind a little bit because I was kind of all over it last week. I did a good job of that.
“I was frustrated on the greens. I think the frustration came primarily on the greens. I really struggled last week. I didn’t do much this week on the range or on the golf course. I just played nine holes during the pro-am; that’s all I did. But I made some good putts. I changed a few things and it really paid off. I felt like I could build the right timing and make the right timing. Quite a difference.”
Detry is one of a handful of players who still have a legitimate chance to earn LIV Golf exemption from the open championship. The highest-ranked player after this week in the season-long points race, who is not otherwise exempt, will claim a place in the final major of the year at Royal Birkdale.
HATTON AS FATHER: As anyone who follows golf knows, Tyrrell Hatton wears his emotions on his sleeve, a trait that endears him to his growing legion of fans.
Asked if fatherhood will now soften him a bit, Hatton gave an honest answer.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “When we get short on 3, I was already moaning about it. And then I three-putted, so it just gave me something else to moan about. I’m very good at moaning and I’ll continue to do that, I think.”
PUIG STARTS STRONG: Spanish native David Puig joined his Fireballs GC captain Sergio Garcia with a 2-under 69. The 24-year-old has learned a lot from Garcia about how to play Valderrama.
“Absolutely. Something that I’ve really been working on the last couple of months was kind of lowering my pitch a little bit, and that’s important here when it’s windy like this,” Puig said. “I think I did a good job today. I think I became more consistent with my trajectory and the shots I want to hit.”
QUICK HITS
- It is the first time in Tyrrell Hatton’s LIV Golf career that he has held at least a share of the lead in the first round. The only LIV Golf tournament he has led after any round came in Nashville in 2024, when he led after the second and third rounds en route to winning.
- Scott Vincent shares Rd. 1 lead for the second consecutive lead, having also held a share of the lead after 18 holes in Korea.
- Vincent had a +4.70 stroke with his Approach shots Thursday, best in the field; it is his best Strokes Gained Approach round of his LIV Golf career
- Thomas Detry was successful in all eight attempts, the sixth best performance by any LIV Golf player in a single round
- Branden Grace finished fourth at Andalusia last season, starting a streak of 11 top-20 finishes in his last 15 starts; he is now in fourth place after Rd. 1
- Cameron Smith continues his improved accuracy, hitting 72.2% greens in regulation which is the best in the field; he also hit 57.1% of his fairways, which placed him in the top 15 in that category
- David Puig finished inside the top 5 after the first round for the fourth time in his LIV Golf career
- Korean Golf Club is in second place, their highest ranking after 18 holes since 2024 Adelaide
- Only two players birdied the par-4 16th – Lucas Herbert and Danny Lee
STATISTICS MANAGERS
Round 1
Driving distance: Caleb Surratt, 341.8 yard avg.
Longest drive: Joaquin Niemann, 380.2 yards (11th hole). Official measured drives taken on holes 11 and 17 only.
Driving precision: Ben Campbell, Sam Horsfield, 78.57% (11 of 14)
Greens in the regulation: Scott Vincent, Cameron Smith, Minkyu Kim, 72.22% (13 of 18)
Scrambling: Thomas Detry (8 of 8), Scott Vincent (5 of 5), 100%
Fewer putts: Louis Oosthuizen, Miguel Tabuena, 22
Bogey-free rounds: Scott Vincent (67), Thomas Detry (68)
This piece was published by Mike McAllister in association with LIFE Golf.
