Fireballs solid through the week, but miss podium narrowly
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. – It’s rare in LIV Golf that all four players in a team score sub-par rounds on all three days. Fireballs GC did that in LIV Golf Greenbrier and can consider themselves unlucky that despite the consistency all across, they could only end up finishing 4th in the team championship.
In fact, the lowest score all week by a Fireball member was a 2-under 68 as they tallied 40-under and missed a podium finish by two shots to Legion XIII (-42).
Looking back, the only criticism of the side would be that they did not make enough birdies in Friday’s opening round when Abraham Ancer started with a 4-under 66, Captain Sergio Garcia made a 67, and young Spaniards David Puig and Eugenio Chacarra were 68 for a 9-under par total. That day, they only dropped four shots, but were placed 7th in the team leaderboard.
Fireballs surged on Saturday with Garcia shooting a 7-under 63, and he was backed up by Ancer’s 64 and Puig’s 65. Those low rounds helped them tally 18-under for the day and pushed them to 5th place.
With all four scores counting on Sunday, the in-form Puig shot a second successive 5-under 65. Garcia carded another flawless 66, while both Ancer and Chacarra contributed 68 each.
The 4th place wasn’t exactly the result Garcia and his men were looking for, as the 12 points could not elevate their position enough. The Valderrama team champions remained in 6th place with 112.83 points. What it means is even if they win the team title in LIV Golf Chicago, the 32 points will not be enough to push them inside the top-three and be eligible for a bye on the opening day of the Team Championship in Dallas.
Garcia, the Individual champion in Valderrama, was the best-placed Fireballs member at tied 8th on 14-under. The man with magic touch around the greens was the best among all players when it came to scrambling, making all nine ups-and-downs that he faced during the week.
It was Garcia’s 5th top-10 of the season, and keeps him in reckoning to improve to 3rd position in the season-long standing. No.3 Tyrrell Hatton has a healthy eight-point lead over Garcia, which means he would have to finish at least inside the top-10 in Chicago and then hope for some help from the Englishman who won the title in Nashville.
Puig finished tied 13th at 12-under, which takes him to within one spot of the Lock Zone (1-24 in season-long standings). The 22-year-old made a late bogey, but it would not have mattered in the end as Brendan Steele has a solid lead of 9.5 points over him. Depending on how Steele finishes, Puig will need at least a top-10 finish in Chicago.
Ancer was tied 13th as well and moved one place up in the Individual Standing to No12. Chacarra was tied 28th at 8-under total.
STAT REVIEW
Field ranking in parentheses
Fairways Hit
Garcia – 33 (3)
Puig – 18 (50)
Ancer – 29 (T14)
Chacarra – 26 (T24)
Driving Distance Avg.
Garcia – 327.7 (14)
Puig – 341.4 (3)
Ancer – 319.5 (27)
Chacarra – 325.7 (T16)
Greens in Regulation
Garcia – 45 (T10)
Puig – 39 (T35)
Ancer – 42 (T18)
Chacarra – 41 (T25)
Total Putts
Garcia – 85 (T17)
Puig – 82 (T6)
Ancer – 86 (T21)
Chacarra – 89 (T37)
Total Birdies
Garcia – 15 (T15)
Puig – 18 (T5)
Ancer – 14 (T19)
Chacarra – 11 (T35)