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2024 LIV Golf Andalucia Tips

LIV Andalucia Event Info

Starts: 12th July 2024
Course: Real Club Valderrama, Spain
Par: 71
Length: 7,010 yards

Course Info

Type of Course - Classical, Tree Lined
Course Designer - Robert Trent Jones
Greens - Small, fast, bentgrass
Fairways - Narrow, undulating
Par 5's - 4th, 12th, 17th and 18th
Premium on - Tee to green, accuracy and scrambling.

Weather Forecast

Friday
Sunny. Wind 5-8mph.

Saturday
Light rain. Wind 5-8mph.

Sunday
Sunny. Wind 5-8mph.

Significant Info To Be Aware Of

Valderrama is located in the resort of Sotogrande, San Roque, in the Andalucia region of southern Spain a few miles from Gibraltar.

It hosted the Volvo Masters between 1988 and 1996 and again between 2002 and 2008. It also hosted the 1997 Ryder Cup when Europe were captained by the late Seve Ballesteros and Tiger Woods made his debut. More recently, it hosted the European Tour between 2016-2022.

Designed by Robert Trent Jones, this tree-lined course may look easy when looking at the yardage on the scorecard, but that couldn't be further from the truth. 

LIV Andalucia Trends

Winning score
Talor Gooch won with -12 last year. Adrian Otaegui destroyed the field in 2022 on the DP World Tour, winning with a score of -19.  Matt Fitzpatrick won the year before with a score of -6.  We saw over par winning scores in 2020 (+2) and 2016 (+1). Between 2017-2019 the winning score at Valderrama was between -10 and -12.The wind plays a big part in the final score here.

Course form
Course form does tend to hold weight at Valderrama.  Players such as Sergio Garcia, Soren Kjeldsen and Mike Lorenzo Vera have posted consistently high finishes. Debutants can also win here, as Andrew Johnston and Jeev Mikha Singh have shown, but players with course experience are preferred. Five of the last thirteen winners at events played at Valderrama had a prior top 5 finish at the course.

Incoming form
The last thirteen winners at Valderrama all had a top 10 finish in their six previous starts and Gooch had won two of his last six starts. Five had a top 15 in their previous start. Look for players at the top of the game for this tough test. 

LIV Andalucia Stats Analysis

Summary

We don't have any Strokes Gained stats from the 2023 LIV event.

We will use Strokes Gained stats from the past four tournament winners of the Andalucia Masters, Arian Otaegui, Matt Fitzpatrick, John Catlin and Christiaan Bezuidenhout.

SG: Off The Tee
Adrian Otaegui ranked 33rd last year.  Matt Fitzpatrick ranked 25th in 2021.  The two champions prior ranked inside the top 30.

SG: Approach
Adrian Otaegui ranked 1st.  Matt Fitzpatrick ranked 46th.  The two previous champions also ranked between 30th and 50th so Otaegui was very much the outlier.

SG: Around The Greens
Adrian Otaegui ranked 68th but the three champions before him ranked 1st in this category. Despite Otaegui's performance, this is still the key stat this week.

SG: Tee to Green
The past four champions on the DP World Tour ranked inside the top 5 in this category. 

SG: Putting
Adrian Otaegui ranked 2nd.  Matt Fitzpatrick ranked 41st in this category in 2021.  Catlin ranked 16th whilst Bezuidenhout ranked 1st. A hot putter certainly helps.

2024 LIV Andalucia In Play Advice

Fast or Slow Start

Gooch was two back after round one and one behind after round two last year. 

Adrian Otaegui was in sixth position (one shot off he lead) after the opening round of the Andalucia Masters played here last year on the DP World Tour.  Matt Fitzpatrick was 11th after round one in 2021.  The 2020 winner, John Catlin, led after the opening round. Christiaan Bezuidenhout led all the way through in 2019 and Garcia did as well in 2017. Round one leaders have a great record here.

2024 LIV Golf Andalucia Tips