At A Glance
- Miguel Tabuena seemingly ran out of steam and fumbled with a one-over par 73 to end his campaign at joint 44th in the LIV Golf Adelaide at the The Grange East Course on Sunday, Feb. 15.
Miguel Tabuena seemingly ran out of steam and fumbled with a one-over par 73 to end his campaign at joint 44th in the LIV Golf Adelaide at the The Grange East Course on Sunday, Feb. 15.
The Filipino golfer started out strong with a blistering 69 in the first round but cooled down with back-to-back 71 in the next two for a four-round total of 284 – 19 shots behind winner Anthony Kim who stamped his class with a 265.
Starting things off on the ninth hole, it was a roller-coaster opening for Tabuena as, after a birdie on his first hole of the round, fumbled with a double bogey on the 12th.
He recovered with a birdie on the 13th and an eagle on the 15th but his struggles continued throughout the round after only carding a birdie against two bogeys and a double bogey in the last six holes to finish the tournament in tie with five others.
Left without a team after losing his spot in the 4Aces Golf Club, Tabuena, who earned a wildcard in the LIV Golf, looked like having all the motivation when he fired 69 in the opener for a share of the ninth spot.
He sustained the splendid showing up until the first nine holes of the second round where he fired three birdies before suddenly losing touch after carding a lone birdie against three bogeys to finish with a 71 and slide 16 spots to No. 25 at the end of the second round.
Things spiraled down from there for Tabuena as he had to dig deep and bank on two birdies in the last two holes to save the round with a 71 although that was still not enough to prevent him from falling further to the 33rd spot.
Kim, who took Tabuena’s spot in the 4Aces team, meanwhile, bagged the top prize of $4,000,000 after carding a flawless 9-under par 63 in the final round.
It was an emphatic comeback from Kim, who was down at the third spot and five strokes behind co-leaders Jon Rahm and Bryson Dechambeau, heading into the fourth. Rahm settled for second with 268 while Dechambeau ended up tied with two others at the third spot with 271.