Andalucía Preview: RangeGoats GC has real good memories from Real Club Valderrama

Team: RangeGoats Golf Club
Previous event team finish: 11th
Season-long team standings: 9th
Top finisher from previous event: Matthew Wolff, T16
Fun stat: The team continues to widen its gap as the League’s longest-hitting team and is first in Driving Distance at 312.1 yards per drive. Matthew Wolff is third in driving distance at 317.9 yards per drive.

Preview

Some fond memories of Real Club Valderrama coupled with some recent positive results could bode well for RangeGoats Golf Club entering LIV Golf Andalucía.

The RangeGoats saw a ton of success here in 2023, and despite having a different looking roster this season, the good energy remains. The team commanded Real Club Valderrama last year and finished on the podium with a second-place finish. Now it’s time for some new faces to make their marks. Thomas Pieters, an original member of RangeGoats GC, returns to Spain where he finished T18 last season. Captain Bubba Watson posted a 34th-place finish while current teammates Peter Uihlein (43rd) and Matthew Wolff (44th) gained valuable experience.

Wolff continues his reemergence in 2024 and is coming off another fine finish, this time at LIV Golf Nashville. Wolff finished T16 in Music City and is 16th in the season-long standings. He has two top-five finishes this season, and Watson couldn’t be happier for his new team member.

Pieters, meanwhile, flashed nicely recently with two top-nine finishes, but he has finished outside the top 20 in his last two events. He does have some momentum coming into Spain, however, after finishing T9 last week at the BMW International Open.

Uihlein has finished outside the top 40 in his last two LIV Golf events and is looking to get back to his form from Las Vegas where he had a second-place podium finish. Uihlein competed at the International Series Morocco last week on the Asian Tour and finished T42 with rounds of 74-72-72-73.

Watson is doing a fine job as captain by working with teammates who are tweaking some things while keeping Wolff locked in as the team’s best player this season. As for Watson’s on course contributions, he’s coming off a T35 finish in Nashville where he finished with a nice 2-under 69 in the final round in tough conditions.

Real Club Valderrama will be a familiar venue for most players. The historic course is beloved by amateurs and professionals alike. Known as one of the most iconic holes in golf, the par-5 17th features a natural amphitheater and has been the setting for sun-drenched comebacks, triple bogeys, and even an albatross from LIV Golf member Graeme McDowell.

It hosted the Volvo Masters off and on from 1988-2008, the Andalucía Masters from 2010-2011 and 2017-23, the WGC-American Express Championship from 1999-2000, and the Ryder Cup in 1997. The course, which is shorter than most professional venues, is known for its ability to test the game’s top players and has plenty of trouble sprinkled throughout. Players who can hit a wide variety of shots typically do well on the famed layout.

Four tournaments are left in the regular season, followed by the Team Championship in Dallas in September, which allows the RangeGoats some time to make a jump in the standings.