rewrite this title Deadspin | Tyrrell Hatton still leads at LIV Golf Andalucia; local favorites lurking

England’s Tyrrell Hatton maintained his two shot lead through three rounds of LIV Golf Andalucia after shooting a 4-under-par 67 on Saturday at Valderrama, Spain.

Hatton got off to a fast start on the challenging Real Club Valderrama course, finishing the front nine at 3 under. He had a bogey at the par-4 10th hole before getting right back on track with a birdie at No. 11 and another at 17.

Haton has played hole Nos. 11 and 17 each at 3 under this week and sits at 10 under through three rounds.

“Got off to a great start making birdie on (the first hole),” Hatton said. “I feel like the front nine generally played pretty solid, so I was happy with that. Then yeah, making bogey on 10 wasn’t ideal. But a good bounce-back making birdie on 11.”

Thomas Detry of Belgium remained in second place after matching Hatton at 4 under during Saturday’s round.

Lurking just off the top two are a pair of local favorites. Spain’s Sergio Garcia shot 3 under and is at 6 under for the tournament and alone in third place. Countryman Jon Rahm was another shot back in a tie for fourth after also shooting 3 under Saturday.

Garcia, who reiterated Saturday that the Real Club Valderrama course is his favorite in the world, recorded a par on every hole of the front nine then had birdies at Nos. 10, 11 and 17.

“Well, it’s going to take something good. Obviously Tyrrell is playing amazing, and he’s 10-under,” Garcia said when asked his chances of winning Sunday. “There’s a lot of great players there that they know what they’re doing. It’s just going to take a really good round.”

Garcia has four tournament victories on this weekend’s course across multiple golf tours, and he has a top-10 finish in 17 of the 18 events he has played at Real Club Valderrama.

“This course, obviously being my favorite and just being in front of the Spanish crowds and everything, makes it a little extra nice,” Garcia said of being in contention for the title.

Rahm fought through an up-and-down day that included two bogeys and five birdies. He finished the three par-5 holes on the course at 1 over for the day.

Dustin Johnson had the low round of the day at 7 under and vaulted into fourth place along with Rahm, Abraham Ancer (67) of Mexico and Cam Smith (69) of Australia. A third native of Spain, David Puig (69) was tied for eighth place at 4 under with Bubba Watson (67).

Johnson, who started his round at No. 8, had a red-hot finish at 5 under through his final seven holes, including a hole-in-one at No. 3.

“The previous two days I had hit really good shots (on No. 3), just did not turn out good,” Johnson said. “Today when this one was in the air, I was like, ‘This is as good a shot as I can hit; if it’s not good, I don’t know what to do.’ And it went in the hole. Obviously it was a bit lucky to go in, but I hit a really nice shot.”

–Field Level Media