Tabuena fights back with 68, surges into LIV Golf Andalucia mix

MANILA, Philippines -- In a dramatic 24-hour turnaround, Filipino ace Miguel Tabuena transformed his fortunes at the Real Club Valderrama, battling back with a three-under 68 on Friday (Saturday Manila time) to storm back into contention at LIV Golf Andalucia in Spain.

Flashing the trademark resiliency that has defined his professional career, Tabuena plummeted toward the near-tailend of the elite 57-player field after an ego-deflating opening-round 76 on Thursday. However, his blistering second-round performance allowed him to leapfrog several competitors, settling into a joint-26th position at the halfway point of the $20-million individual showpiece.

The par-71 layout at Valderrama is notoriously unforgiving, but Tabuena cracked its code early on Friday. The Filipino star ignited a sensational birdie blitz, picking up strokes on four of his first six holes, highlighted by a magnificent string of three consecutive birdies starting from the fourth hole.

He sustained his aggressive charge into the back nine, draining another birdie on the 10th. While a faltering windup on the closing stretch saw him go bogey-bogey-birdie-bogey, his explosive head start provided an essential cushion.

Tabuena’s 68 successfully propelled him into the middle of the pack with a two-over 144 aggregate, tying him with several world-class players, including his former 4Aces teammate and major champion Dustin Johnson.

The turnaround stood in stark contrast to Tabuena's opening five-over card, a round plagued by four bogeys and a double bogey against a birdie as the Filipino struggled to read the course layout and find scoring opportunities.

With 36 holes left to play, Tabuena still has an uphill battle to climb to breach the leaderboard's upper echelons, but a historic milestone is well within arm's reach.

Currently navigating his debut season in the breakaway league, Tabuena's journey through eight tournaments has been a learning curve marked by missed opportunities, including a tough tied-50th finish at the recent LIV Golf leg in South Korea.

His current season-best finish sits at a joint-25th place effort achieved in Virginia. Given his newfound momentum on the Spanish turf, a steady final round could comfortably secure him a new career-best LIV Golf finish, keeping his ultimate goal of a top-10 breakthrough alive.

At the top of the field, Tyrrell Hatton set a blistering pace, carding a second-round 69 to build a two-stroke advantage at 136 over Thomas Detry, who carded a 70 for a 138.

Meanwhile, a star-studded bottleneck is forming just behind them. Talor Gooch charged back into the picture with a brilliant 67, tying him for third at 139 alongside Cameron Smith, Sergio Garcia, and Scott Vincent, who matched 70s.

Local hero Jon Rahm also fired a 67, moving into a tie for seventh at 140 alongside four others, leaving the top of the leaderboard heavily congested ahead of the final round.

Despite the steep learning curve of the elite league, Tabuena remains deeply optimistic about delivering standout results with only five legs remaining in the season. The high-stakes tour will cross the English Channel next for LIV Golf United Kingdom from July 23-26, before heading across the Atlantic for a rapid-fire American swing – New York from August 6-9, Indianapolis from August 20-23 and Michigan from August 27-30.

While Tabuena focuses on securing his future on the leaderboard, the breakaway league itself faces a looming cloud of uncertainty. The Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia, the financial engine behind the tour, recently confirmed it will officially cease funding LIV Golf at the close of the 2026 season.

After disrupting the global golf landscape in 2022 by luring away some of the sport's biggest icons with astronomical purses, the league's long-term fate beyond this year remains entirely up in the air.

For Tabuena, however, the immediate mission is simple: channel Friday’s brilliance, conquer Valderrama's closing stretch, and claim his stake among golf's elite.