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Captain Dustin Johnson of 4Aces GC wins in a
playoff at Cedar Ridge Country Club. (Photo by Montana
Pritchard/LIV Golf)
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– On a day filled with record-tying scores, a
nearly two-hour weather delay, a drama-filled afternoon, a triple
bogey by the eventual winner and a three-man individual playoff in
front of the best-attended LIV Golf event held in the United
States, two familiar names returned to the top of the podium at LIV
Golf Tulsa.
4Aces GC Captain Dustin Johnson won the individual trophy for the
second time in his LIV Golf career with a birdie on the first
playoff hole to defeat Branden Grace and Cameron Smith. Grace’s
Stinger GC also won for the second time, by one stroke over the
4Aces in a victory sealed by Grace’s par putt on the final hole of
regulation.
In becoming last year’s season-long Individual Champion, Johnson
won a three-man playoff in Boston, making eagle on the first
playoff hole. With his win Sunday at Cedar Ridge Country Club, he
becomes the third two-time winner in LIV Golf, joining Brooks
Koepka and Talor Gooch, and he moves to sixth in the individual
points standings after a slow start to his season.
“Next time I’d like to win without going into a playoff,” Johnson
said. “Would be a lot less stressful.”
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Stinger GC celebrates on stage after capturing
the LIV Golf Tulsa team title. (Photo by Amy Kontras/LIV Golf)
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For
the all-South African Stingers, it was a long time between wins,
nearly a year since they won the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational
tournament in London last June. They wore blue ribbons all week in
memory of legendary South African golfer John Bland, who passed
away Tuesday at the age of 77.
“It’s amazing how these things happen,” said captain Louis
Oosthuizen. “Blandy was an inspiration to all of us growing up
watching him play … It was just nice to sort of know in the back of
our minds that he was there with us this week.”
Sunday was a day of low scores, with Smith and RangeGoats GC’s
Harold Varner III tying the LIV record-low score of 61 (9 under)
set by Grace in Friday’s first round. Yet when play was suspended
two hours into the final round, Johnson and his 4Aces appeared in
control. Johnson was a bogey-free 3 under on his day and led Grace
by three strokes, while the 4Aces led the Stingers, also by three
shots.
But then play resumed, and the leaderboards tightened.
At the par-4 10th, the most difficult hole this week, Johnson’s tee
shot landed left of the cart path, and his second shot got away
from him, finding the water on the left side of the green. After a
penalty stroke, his fourth shot found the greenside rough. He found
the green on his fifth shot, then two-putted for triple bogey. That
left Grace as the leader, with Johnson a stroke back.
“I wish I could blame it on the rain delay,” Johnson said. “It
wasn’t the rain delay’s fault, though. No. 10 was really the only
hole where I had a little bit of a hiccup. Everything that could go
wrong went wrong on that hole.”
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Captain Cameron Smith of Ripper GC celebrates his
birdie putt on the 18th hole at Cedar Ridge Country Club. (Photo by
LIV Golf)
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Johnson
steadied himself with a birdie on the next hole to tie Grace atop
the leaderboard, but now the hopes were raised for several chasers
in the pack – primarily Ripper GC Captain Smith, who was reeling
off four consecutive birdies at the time. When Smith birdied his
final hole for his 61, he had the solo lead at 17 under.
Grace then birdied the 17th to tie Smith at 17 under with one hole
to play. Johnson, his playing partner in the final group, was at 16
under. But Johnson then rolled in a clutch birdie putt on the final
hole to join the playoff. Meanwhile, Grace sealed the Stinger win
with his par putt to finish with a 5-under 65 to go with counting
rounds from Dean Burmester (64) and Charl Schwartzel (66).
“I actually hit a great first putt that was straight on line,” said
Grace. “Just nice finishing it out and then knowing that the team
was successful.”
On the playoff hole, all three players saw their approach shots
finish in the same general area below the hole. Grace missed his
attempt, then Johnson knocked his in. Smith had the closest look
but for one of the few times Sunday could not find the bottom of
the cup.
“I thought it was pretty good. Just kind of didn’t come back,”
Smith said of his attempt. “I holed a lot of putts today. Can’t
really be angry at the greens.”
Grace, who had rallied past Johnson to win last year in Portland,
said winning the team title helped make up for coming up short in
the playoff. “At the end, it was not bittersweet,” Grace said. “But
I know I put in a lot of hard work and it’s paid off, and the team
really wanted this one.”
As for Johnson, the victory gives him plenty of momentum going into
next week’s PGA Championship, the second major of the season.
“Feel like I’m doing everything really well right now,” Johnson
said. “I’m really looking forward to next week.”
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Branden Grace helped Stinger GC capture
their first team title of the season. (Photo by Katelyn
Mulcahy/LIV Golf)
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TEAM
COUNTING SCORES
Here are the standings and counting scores for Sunday’s final round
of the team competition at LIV Golf Tulsa. The three best scores
from each team count in every round for their total team score. The
team with the lowest cumulative score after three rounds wins the
team title.
1. STINGER GC (-40):
Dean Burmester 64, Branden Grace 65, Charl Schwartzel 66 (Rd. 3
score: -15)
2. 4ACES GC
(-39): Patrick Reed 64, Pat Perez 66, Peter Uihlein
67 (Rd. 3 score: -13)
3. RANGEGOATS GC
(-35): Harold Varner III 61, Talor Gooch 67, Thomas
Pieters 67 (Rd. 3 score: -15)
4. CRUSHERS GC
(-34): Anirban Lahiri 65, Charles Howell III 66,
Bryson DeChambeau 67 (Rd. 3 score: -12)
5. SMASH GC
(-34): Jason Kokrak 63, Brooks Koepka 65, Chase
Koepka 67 (Rd. 3 score: -15)
6. FIREBALLS GC
(-33): Carlos Ortiz 63, Eugenio Chacarra 64, Sergio
Garcia 65 (Rd. 3 score: -18)
7. RIPPER GC
(-32): Cameron Smith 61, Matt Jones 66, Marc
Leishman 69 (Rd. 3 score: -14)
8. TORQUE GC
(-31): Sebastián Muñoz 62, Joaquin Niemann 65, Mito
Pereira 68 (Rd. 3 score: -15)
9. MAJESTICKS GC
(-30): Andy Ogletree 62, Laurie Canter 65, Henrik
Stenson 65 (Rd. 3 score: -18)
10. HYFLYERS GC
(-21): Cameron Tringale 65, James Piot 67, Brendan
Steele 68 (Rd. 3 score: -10)
11. IRON HEADS GC
(-21): Scott Vincent 64, Kevin Na 68, Sihwan Kim 68
(Rd. 3 score: -10)
12. CLEEKS GC
(-19): Bernd Wiesberger 66, Martin Kaymer 68,
Richard Bland 70 (Rd. 3 score: -6)
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NOTES
VARNER, SMITH TIE
LIV-RECORD LOW: RangeGoats GC’s Harold Varner III
and Ripper GC Cameron Smith each shot 9-under 61 on Sunday,
equaling the LIV record-low set by Branden Grace on Friday.
Varner was on pace to break 60 after carding two eagles in his
first four holes and was 10 under with four holes to play. But his
tee shot at the par-3 11th bounced off the rocks and into the
bunker, and he could not get up and down to save par. He finished
at 13 under and solo fourth.
Smith reeled off four consecutive birdies from holes 12-15 and then
birdied his final hole for 61 and make the playoff.
“There was probably still a couple of shots that I left out there
that in the end could have been the decider,” Smith said. “It was
really good stuff but still just a little bit disappointing.”
OGLETREE SUBS FOR
WESTWOOD, SHOOTS 62: Andy Ogletree, the first
reserve this week, took Majesticks co-captain Lee Westwood’s spot
in the lineup Sunday after Westwood suffered an injury to his
medial ligament in his left knee. The International Series Order of
Merit leader shot a bogey-free 8-under 62 that included an eagle at
the par-5 14th.
"Rather than play today, just give it another day to
recover," he said. "If you're not going to go out there
100%, then there's not really any point going out there."
Westwood expects to be ready for LIV Golf DC in two weeks.
THE BRAAI IMPACT:
Stinger GC Captain Louis Oosthuizen cooked a braai – South Africa’s
version of a BBQ – earlier this week at the team’s rental house.
After Branden Grace shot a LIV-record 61 in Friday’s first round,
Oosthuizen decided it was a stroke of good fortune, and so
continued to braai after each round.
“Yeah, I was the cook, the chef this week,” Oosthuizen said. “So,
boys, if you do that every week, I’ll be the chef every time. It
was good fun.”
STANDINGS UPDATE:
With the team victory, Stinger GC moves into second place in the
season-long team standings, 36 points behind the 4Aces.
In the individual standings, Dustin Johnson is now sixth, while
Cameron Smith moves to third with his runner-up finish, and Brooks
Koepka moves to second with his sixth-place finish. Talor Gooch
remains the points leader.
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RD.
1 STAT LEADERS
Driving distance – Peter
Uihlein, 328.1-yard average
Longest drive
– Matthew Wolff, 336.8 yards (18th hole)
Driving accuracy
– Henrik Stenson, Jediah Morgan, 86% (12 of 14)
Greens in
regulation – Jason Kokrak, Sebastián Muñoz, 94% (17
of 18)
Fewest putts
– Harold Varner III, 23 putts
Most birdies
– Cameron Smith, Sebastián Muñoz, 9
Bogey-free rounds
– Cameron Smith (61), Andy Ogletree (62), Jason Kokrak (63),
Patrick Reed (64), Dean Burmester (64), Branden Grace (65), Anirban
Lahiri (65), Cameron Tringale (65), Talor Gooch (67)
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