MIGUEL Tabuena opened his fourth round with a birdie. Sadly, that was the only bright spot for the Filipino star who finished with 17 straight pars and wound up with a one-under-par 69 at the end of LIV Golf Hongkong on Sunday that saw Jon Rahm win the championship, his third in the Saudi-backed tour, by three strokes.
Four straight birdies on the back nine, beginning on the 13th, capped a dominant performance by the Spaniard, one of the chief attractions of the rebel league whose creation four years ago stunned the golf establishment with its multimillion-dollar prizes and contracts.
READ Tabuena lurks at LIV Golf HK, Jon Rahm leads at 17-under
Rahm shot a 6-under-par 64 to pull away from Thomas Detry and Harold Varner III who started the round tied with him at the top at 17 under par. Rahm finished at 23-under par despite an untidy finish when he drove into the trees on the 18th and bogeyed the hole .
Detry, whose appearance here was saved by Rahm who rented a jet to ferry him and six other players to Hong Kong when they were stranded in Dubai because of the US-Iran war, took second place at 20 under par after shooting a 67.
Third was Thomas Pieters who posted a 66 and a 19 under par total, while Varner was fourth after a one-under 69, five strokes behind Rahm who won the winner’s prize of $4 million.
Meanwhile, Tabuena’s third straight subpar round did nothing to improve his overall standing. The 31-year-old, who was named a wild card to LIV Golf following a stunning win at the International Series Philippines last year, settled for 52nd place, retaining his spot after the third round.
It was his worst finish in three legs of the 14-tournament series. He was 48th in Riyadh in the opening leg, and 44th in Adelaide, Australia two weeks ago.
Still, it was a week well spent in Hong Kong for Tabuena who still took home $50,000 (about P2.9 million), the prize for players finishing 50th to 57th.
He finished 2 under par overall on scores of 72-69--68-69 – 278.
In the team event, the Aces, the team Tabuena played for in the opening leg in Riyadh, won the competition and the top prize of $3 million to be divided among Dustin Johnson, Pieters, Detry and Anthony Kim, the comeback kid who won in Adelaide and who replaced Tabuena in the team.
Next week, however, is another chance for Tabuena to make an improvement as LIV Golf moves to Singapore for the fourth leg beginning Thursday.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
