Talor Gooch wins second Valderrama title in three years, Legion XIII take team crown
US golfer Talor Gooch came through a testing back nine to hold off Spanish star Jon Rahm and win his second Valderrama title in three years as Rahm’s Legion XIII topped the team competition at LIV Golf Andalucia
- Jul 16, 2025,
- Updated Jul 16, 2025 2:29 PM IST
Talor Gooch came through a testing final day to with the individual title at LIV Golf Andalucia for the second time in three years at the Real Club Valderrama by one stroke from local favourite Jon Rahm.
There was plenty of consolation for the burly Spaniard as his Legion XIII team picked up their third title at the expense of another Spain-led unit, Sergion Garcia’s Fireballs GC, who were the defending team champions at Valderrama along with their captain who edged out Anirban Lahiri to top the individual competition.
Rahm (6 under 66) chased overnight leader Gooch all the way in a spirited final round battle but ended one stroke short, as the Smash GC star shot a 1 under 70 to finish at 8 under par for the title in the face of vocal support for the former, LIV Golf said.
“The fans, they’re great even if you’re not a Spaniard,” said Gooch later. “Obviously I know that they want one of their own to win, but I never felt like the spoiler. They’ve embraced me so much. Having won here two years ago, I think I’ve garnered a few more fans.
“I just can’t describe how special it is to beat Rahmbo. While all the fans may not love that part, it makes it a little bit more special for me. It’s been two years of a lot of hard work, a lot of time put into this craft and a lot of blood, sweat and tears shed to get back here.
“The patience and hard work has paid off, and I couldn’t be happier for it to have paid off here at Valderrama.”
Added Rahm, who took great pleasure from his team win, “Can’t believe back-to-back years we got a win with a Spanish member on the team, so at least keep it in the family. That’s something I’m happy about. What a great Sunday we had.
“Today I played one of the better rounds of golf I've played in a very long time. I made one bad swing, which was a really bad one, but besides that it was nothing but really good ones, which is hard to do on this golf course.”
On Sunday, Legion XIII shot a collective 12 under, the best score of the final round, to rally from a five-stroke deficit to start the day. With overnight leaders 4Aces GC struggling, Legion faced some resistance from the Fireballs, who shot a collective 11 under.
Having set off four strokes ahead of the rest, Gooch was forced into making a series of pressure-packed shots with Rahmm breathing down his neck Nothing was more clutch that his approach shot from 210 yards into the 18th green while needing to protect a one-shot lead against Rahm.
It landed pin high and finished softly on the back fringe to set up a two-putt winning par. “There's a few shots on that back nine that I'm going to never forget kind of moments,” Gooch said later. “Obviously the second shot on 18 is one of those moments. …
“My caddie, when we got done, he said that second shot on 18, he said, that's the best iron shot he can remember seeing. It was not the place you want to be to try to win a golf tournament, but we hit a phenomenal golf shot and got it done.”
The result also saw the Crushers’ three-tournament streak came to an end as Bryson DeChambeau’s team shot just 1 under to finish in seventh place on 10 over for the week. The Crushers also fell to second place in the season’s standings to Andalucia champs Legion XIII.
Talor Gooch came through a testing final day to with the individual title at LIV Golf Andalucia for the second time in three years at the Real Club Valderrama by one stroke from local favourite Jon Rahm.
There was plenty of consolation for the burly Spaniard as his Legion XIII team picked up their third title at the expense of another Spain-led unit, Sergion Garcia’s Fireballs GC, who were the defending team champions at Valderrama along with their captain who edged out Anirban Lahiri to top the individual competition.
Rahm (6 under 66) chased overnight leader Gooch all the way in a spirited final round battle but ended one stroke short, as the Smash GC star shot a 1 under 70 to finish at 8 under par for the title in the face of vocal support for the former, LIV Golf said.
“The fans, they’re great even if you’re not a Spaniard,” said Gooch later. “Obviously I know that they want one of their own to win, but I never felt like the spoiler. They’ve embraced me so much. Having won here two years ago, I think I’ve garnered a few more fans.
“I just can’t describe how special it is to beat Rahmbo. While all the fans may not love that part, it makes it a little bit more special for me. It’s been two years of a lot of hard work, a lot of time put into this craft and a lot of blood, sweat and tears shed to get back here.
“The patience and hard work has paid off, and I couldn’t be happier for it to have paid off here at Valderrama.”
Added Rahm, who took great pleasure from his team win, “Can’t believe back-to-back years we got a win with a Spanish member on the team, so at least keep it in the family. That’s something I’m happy about. What a great Sunday we had.
“Today I played one of the better rounds of golf I've played in a very long time. I made one bad swing, which was a really bad one, but besides that it was nothing but really good ones, which is hard to do on this golf course.”
On Sunday, Legion XIII shot a collective 12 under, the best score of the final round, to rally from a five-stroke deficit to start the day. With overnight leaders 4Aces GC struggling, Legion faced some resistance from the Fireballs, who shot a collective 11 under.
Having set off four strokes ahead of the rest, Gooch was forced into making a series of pressure-packed shots with Rahmm breathing down his neck Nothing was more clutch that his approach shot from 210 yards into the 18th green while needing to protect a one-shot lead against Rahm.
It landed pin high and finished softly on the back fringe to set up a two-putt winning par. “There's a few shots on that back nine that I'm going to never forget kind of moments,” Gooch said later. “Obviously the second shot on 18 is one of those moments. …
“My caddie, when we got done, he said that second shot on 18, he said, that's the best iron shot he can remember seeing. It was not the place you want to be to try to win a golf tournament, but we hit a phenomenal golf shot and got it done.”
The result also saw the Crushers’ three-tournament streak came to an end as Bryson DeChambeau’s team shot just 1 under to finish in seventh place on 10 over for the week. The Crushers also fell to second place in the season’s standings to Andalucia champs Legion XIII.