Spaniard Sergio Garcia and his red-hot Fireballs GC team captured both trophies on 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 this 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.
Garcia, who is familiar with the Fanling Composite course layout, shot a bogey-free 7-under 63 to finish at 18 under par and claim the individual title by three shots over hard-charging South African 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 to the top of 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, under no particular stress, but needed to make par to avoid dropping into a team playoff with Burmester’s Stinger GC. Driving short and right, he crunched a very good iron shot onto the green. Then, 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 to the top of 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 too,” said Garcia, who follows teammate Mexican-American 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 Spaniard David Puig a bogey-free 67 for a three-day team total of 37 under. The South African Stinger 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 veteran 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 had 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.
