Garcia, Fireballs GC sweep titles at LIV Golf Hong Kong

HONG KONG – Sergio Garcia and his red-hot Fireballs GC team captured both trophies Sunday at LIV Golf Hong Kong, while HyFlyers GC Captain Phil Mickelson appears to have recaptured his Hall of Fame form.

Led by their captain Garcia, the Fireballs have now won back-to-back tournaments, having claimed LIV Golf Adelaide last month. They will head to next week’s LIV Golf Singapore presented by Aramco seeking to become the first LIV Golf team to win three consecutive tournaments since the league expanded to a full 14-tournament schedule in 2023.

RELATED: Final leaderboard

Garcia shot a bogey-free 7-under 63 to finish at 18 under and claim the individual title by three shots over hard-charging Dean Burmester, whose 62 was the low round of the day. Garcia, who finished third in the season-long Individual Championship race last season, moved atop the points standings after the first three events in 2025.

The 45-year-old Garcia played the final hole Sunday with a comfortable individual lead but needed to make par to avoid dropping into a team playoff with Burmester’s Stinger GC. Facing a lengthy birdie putt, he rolled it to within tap-in range to seal the Fireballs’ sixth LIV Golf team title in club history. They climbed atop the season-long team standings by 10 points over Legion XIII.

“It was nice to see not only that I was doing well and leading the tournament, but my teammates were playing great,” said Garcia, who follows teammate Abraham Ancer as individual champions in Hong Kong. “They were keeping us there with a chance to win. Obviously when you can pull the double, it's a lot sweeter than if it's just one of them. Very proud of them.”

The Fireballs and Stingers appeared headed for a playoff until Luis Masaveu, the 22-year-old Spaniard signed by Garcia in the offseason, birdied his final hole, the short par-4 10th. “It feels incredible,” said Masaveu. “… Very happy for the team to be able to hole that putt and help them.”

Masaveu shot an even-par 70, with Ancer shooting 65 and David Puig a bogey-free 67 for a three-day team total of 37 under. The South African Stingers shot 17 under as a team Sunday to finish one shot back. Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC tied for third at 34 under with Cameron Smith’s Ripper GC, the reigning Team Champions. It was the HyFlyers’ third podium result in team history.

Individually, Mickelson finished solo third after his 64 left him at 14 under. It’s the first podium finish for the 54-year-old Mickelson since joining LIV Golf as an original member in 2022, and it couldn’t come at a better time with golf’s first major just a month away at the Masters.

“The fact is, I’m hitting a lot of good shots. I’m playing some good golf,” said Mickelson, who has won three of his six majors at Augusta National. “This is a building week as I continue to build into LIV and my goal of accomplishing a win in LIV as well as winning another major or getting ready for Augusta.”

Garcia is also a past Masters champion, and his form has been superb for more than a year. Since the start of the 2024 LIV Golf season, he has two wins, three other runner-up finishes, and 13 top 20s in the last 16 LIV Golf regular season events, including 10 straight after Hong Kong.

He entered Sunday’s final round with a share of the lead but made an early statement by holing a lengthy eagle putt at the par-5 third after finding the green in two with a 6-iron. That gave him a two-shot lead, which he never relinquished.

“It really got me in a good mood,” Garcia said of the eagle. “I was very focused on what I wanted to do. But obviously when that happens, it gets you going even more.”

Always one of golf’s best ball-strikers, Garcia’s putting was dialed in at Hong Kong Golf Club, as he ranked third in the field in fewest putts during the week after switching to one of his old putters.

“I played with him yesterday,” Masaveu said. “He’s a machine.”

Asked if Garcia with a hot putter is as good as it gets in professional golf, Ancer offered a one-word response.

“Yes.”

TEAM SCORES

LIV Golf’s new scoring format this season now involves all four scores now counting in every round in the team competition. (Click here for more on the new format). Here are the final results and scores for each team after Sunday’s Rd. 3 of LIV Golf Hong Kong.

1. FIREBALLS GC -37 (Garcia 63, Ancer 65, Puig 67, Masaveu 70; Rd. 3 score: -15)

2. STINGER GC -36 (Burmester 62, Grace 67, Oosthuizen 67, Schwartzel 67; Rd. 3 score: -17)

T3. RIPPER GC -34 (Herbert 64, Leishman 65, Smith 66, Jones 67; Rd. 3 score: -18)

T3. HYFLYERS GC -34 (Mickelson 64, Steele 66, Ogletree 69, Tringale 70; Rd. 3 score: -11)

T5. LEGION XIII -33 (McKibbin 66, Rahm 66, Hatton 69, Surratt 69; Rd. 3 score: -10)

T5. TORQUE GC -33 (Niemann 66, Muñoz 67, Ortiz 68, Pereira 71; Rd. 3 score: -8)

7. RANGEGOATS GC -24 (Wolff 66, Campbell 68, Watson 69, Uihlein 70; Rd. 3 score: -6)

8. 4ACES GC -23 (Johnson 64, Reed 66, Varner III 66, Pieters 68; Rd. 3 score: -16)

9. CRUSHERS GC -22 (Casey 69, Lahiri 69, DeChambeau 70, Howell III 70; Rd. 3 score: -2)

10. IRON HEADS GC -21 (Na 65, Jang 66, Lee 66, Schniederjans 68; Rd. 3 score: -15)

11. CLEEKS GC -20 (Bland 65, Kaymer 67, Kjettrup 69, Meronk 69; Rd. 3 score: -10)

12. SMASH GC -17 (Koepka 68, McDowell 68, Gooch 69, Kokrak 70; Rd. 3 score: -5)

13. MAJESTICKS GC -6 (Westwood 68, Poulter 69, Horsfield 73, Stenson 74; Rd. 3 score: +4)

Wild Cards: C. Lee 67 (T12), Kim 67 (T50)

ROUND 3 NOTES

MICKELSON’S BEST WEEK: 54-year-old HyFlyers GC Captain Phil Mickelson ended his best week on LIV Golf with a terrific approach shot into the 18th green, leaving him a tap-in birdie for a 6-under 64. That allowed him to claim solo third on the leaderboard – his first individual podium result – and also moved the HyFlyers into a share of third place in the team competition.

Mickelson was encouraged with his team’s performance as well as his own play. It’s the team’s third podium finish in their history. Brendan Steele shot a 66 with Andy Ogletree shooting a 69 and Cameron Tringale an even-par 70 on Sunday.

“A great steppingstone for us as we continue to build,” Mickelson said. “We had a great opportunity. We were up on the leaderboard most of the day, and we fell three shots shy, but we are really starting to hit stride. All four of us are progressing, and we’re playing like we know we can, we believe we can, and now we’re starting to get some results.”

Mickelson, who has been golf’s best short-game player for most of his career, has struggled in that area the last two years. But he appears to have regained his touch. “I had a rough couple of years,” Mickelson said. “My short game is really sharp now.”

Mickelson, who missed the season opener with an injury, has now produced top-24 points in both his starts this season and is ranked 12th in points.

BURMESTER GOES LOW: Stinger GC’s Dean Burmester tried to chase down Sergio Garcia, but the Spaniard was flawless in the final round. Even so, Burmester was pleased to shoot the day’s lowest round, an 8-under 62, to finish solo second. It’s his best result since winning LIV Golf Miami last year.

“That was a good round of golf. Really solid,” Burmester said. “I didn't leave much out there. A couple putts I left in the throat that maybe could have gone in. Sergio played a hell of a weekend there. I'm just glad I was up there. It was good to get those feelings again. I just kind of had that feeling all week that I was going to be close.”

MASAVEU’S BOUNCE BACK: Young Luis Masaveu endured a tough stretch in his final nine holes when he bogeyed the par-5 third and par-3 fifth, then doubled the par-4 sixth. At the time, his Fireballs were battling it out with several teams for the lead and could ill afford the loss of four strokes.

But Masaveu showed impressive fortitude for a 22-year-old, making birdie on his final hole, the 10th, to give the Fireballs the solo lead and avoid a playoff with Stinger GC.

“Standing on No. 7, I just knew I had to score at least 1-under,” Masaveu said. “Started playing a little better from there. Then on No. 10 I saw on the screen that I needed to make birdie, so I tried my best, and thankfully I did it.”

Although it prevented his Stinger team from a chance at victory, Dean Burmester was impressed. “I saw the young kid Luis make a birdie, and that's special,” he said. “For a kid like that, that's awesome. So, kudos to him.”

2-FOR-2 CADDIE: A year ago, Benji Thompson was on the bag when Abraham Ancer won the 2024 LIV Golf Hong Kong. Ancer and Thompson split after the season, and Ancer’s Fireballs Captain Sergio Garcia picked up Thompson as his caddie.

After Garcia’s win Sunday, Thompson has a perfect record at LIV Golf Hong Kong.

“I'm giving him a nickname. I'm calling him King Kong. He's the king of Hong Kong,” Garcia said. “Yeah, he's got something on this course for sure.”

RAHM’S STREAKS CONTINUE: Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm shot a bogey-free 4-under 66 to finish tied for sixth at 11 under. That continues Rahm’s streak of finishing inside the top 10 in all 15 LIV Golf tournaments that he’s completed; the only start he’s made without a top 10 came in Houston last season when he had to withdraw in the second round due to injury.

Rahm also extended his rounds under par streak to 18, which is two shy of the league record held by Bryson DeChambeau. Rahm can break the record next week in Singapore.

ROUND 3 STATS LEADERS

Driving accuracy: Branden Grace, 100% (14 of 14 fairways hit)

Driving distance: Dustin Johnson, 342.8 yards avg.

Longest drive: Bryson DeChambeau, 378.9 yards, 11th hole

Greens in regulation: Tom McKibbin, 94.44% (17 of 18 greens)

Scrambling: 10 players at 100%, led by David Puig, 6 of 6

Putting: Graeme McDowell, 1.33 putts per hole

Bogey-free rounds: Dean Burmester (62), Sergio Garcia (63), Marc Leishman (65), Richard Bland (65), Jon Rahm (66), Cameron Smith (66), David Puig (67)