LIV Golf stars ready for ‘world class’ Valderrama challenge

SOTOGRANDE, Spain: LIV Golf is preparing for its first stop of the season in continental Europe with the LIV Golf Valderrama set to take place at the Real Club Valderrama in Sotogrande, Spain, from June 30 to July 2. 

General admission tickets and hospitality packages are now available for Spanish fans to see local hero and former Masters champion Sergio Garcia competing alongside compatriots Eugenio Chacarra and David Puig, marking the young Spanish stars’ professional debuts in their home country.

Some of the biggest names in golf will be challenging for the title, including five-time major winner and 2023 PGA Champion Brooks Koepka, reigning Open champion Cameron Smith, six-time major champion Phil Mickelson and two-time major champions Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson.

Garcia, the captain of Fireballs GC, has won three professional titles at Valderrama – site of LIV Golf’s eighth event of 2023 for the league’s 48 players and 12 teams.

The field features 13 major champions including Bryson Dechambeau, Patrick Reed, Henrik Stenson, Louis Oosthuizen, Graeme McDowell, Martin Kaymer, and Charl Schwartzel, as well as rising stars including Abraham Ancer, Joaquin Niemann and Talor Gooch.   

Mickelson competed in the 1997 Ryder Cup and 1999 WGC American Express Championship at Valderrama.

Unlike the World Golf Hall of Famer, many of LIV Golf’s international stars – notably those from the US – will be teeing it up in Spain for first time.

The venue will be familiar territory for a number of the field’s European players, including former world number one Lee Westwood who competed in the 1997 Ryder Cup and won the Volvo Masters in that same year, Ian Poulter, who won there in 2004, and McDowell, who also won at