Jeddah Round 3 Video Highlights & Recap

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia – Just over a year ago, Brooks Koepka described himself as “glass.” His body was breaking down. The cumulation of severe knee, wrist and hip injuries threatened to compromise a career that has produced four major titles. He knows he’ll eventually need knee replacement surgery.

But he was determined to recover and return to the kind of elite-level golf he expects from himself. On Sunday at the LIV Golf Invitational Jeddah presented by ROSHN, all that hard work paid off, as he beat Smash GC teammate Peter Uihlein with a birdie on the third playoff hole to capture his first LIV Golf individual title and his first worldwide win in 20 months.

In addition, his Smash GC, which also includes Brooks’ brother Chase and Jason Kokrak, won its first team title of the season by 6 strokes over Fireballs GC, last week’s winner in Bangkok. Crushers GC claimed third place via tiebreaker over 4 Aces GC.

The combination of the team victory, and battling against Uihlein – his good friend, ex-roommate and now teammate – made for a special weekend at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club.

“Honestly, to me the big thing today was getting the team win,” said Koepka, who shot a final-round 69 to finish regulation at 12 under with Uihlein. “I told my brother I’d buy him a Lambo if we won the team thing, so I’ve got to go by one.”

Chase has already selected the color. “Lime green,” he said.

With the win, Smash GC finishes in fifth place in the season-long team standings. While the top four will receive day-one byes at the Miami Team Championship on Oct. 28-30, Smash will get to choose its opponent for the first day of match play.

“I kept thinking about it all week,” Koepka said. “Being able to pick who we are going to play is going to be important. We’re excited for Miami.”

Sunday’s playoff was the second of the inaugural LIV Golf season, with Dustin Johnson winning in dramatic fashion in Boston with an eagle on the first playoff hole. It took three playoff holes, all at the par-5 18th, to determine the winner in Jeddah.

After Koepka and Uihlein each birdied the 18th in regulation – eliminating the hopes of Sergio Garcia and Joaquin Niemann, who had finished at 11 under – they each produced birdies in the first two playoff holes. Uihlein, in particular, showed off some skillful wedge play to set up his tap-in birdie putts.

But on the third playoff hole, Uihlein’s luck ran out, as his third shot from a greenside bunker flew past the pin and rolled into the water. After Uihlein missed his chip for par, Koepka made it a moot point by rolling in his birdie putt with the skies darkening.

“It’s always fun battling against your friends, and I think it’s special,” Koepka said of Uihlein. “Pete is knocking on the door.”

Financially, it was a bittersweet result for Uihlein. A victory would have given him not only the $4 million tournament prize but also second place in the season-long Individual Champion final standings, with the bonus prize of $8 million. Instead, he won $2.125 million for finishing second, and $4 million for finishing third in the season-long race (in addition to his $750,000 share of the $3 million team victory).

“Consolation,” said Uihlein, who had entered Sunday with a one-shot lead over Koepka. “… Still a good chunk of change.”

Considering that his front nine consisted of two double bogeys and a three-putt for par, Uihlein could easily have been discouraged heading to the back nine. But he responded with a bogey-free 3 under on his final nine holes to close out an even-par round of 70 and make the playoff.

“Fought back and played solid on the back,” he said. “Holed some nice putts for par. I felt like if I can keep staying one back of the lead going into the last couple, I could at least give myself a chance.”

Indeed, several players were in the mix down the stretch, including Garcia, Niemann, Matthew Wolff, Paul Casey and even Dustin Johnson, who made a late charge after an eagle. But ultimately it came down to Koepka and Uihlein, who had never before played in the same group until Sunday when they were in the final group.

“Pretty cool,” Koepka said. “We’ve known each other for so long. That’s what you want to do, right? You want to compete with some of your very good friends, go toe-to-toe.”

It was extra special given that they are now teammates. “I’m so excited,” Koepka said. “This team thing has revived me.”

TOP THREE FOR INDIVIDUAL CHAMPION

As the regular-season finale, LIV Golf Invitational Jeddah presented by ROSHN represented the last chance for players to move into the top three in the season-long Individual Champion standings and claim one of the bonus prizes from the $30 million purse.

Dustin Johnson, the winner in Boston and the most consistent player this season, locked up the top spot and the $18 million prize. Fifteen other players entered Jeddah with a mathematical chance to grab one of the other spots.

Portland winner Branden Grace entered the week in second and remained there, despite a WD last week in Bangkok due to injury and being slowed this week. Grace finished outside the top 24 and thus netted zero points in Jeddah, but his 79 overall points and victory in Portland allowed him to claim the $8 million prize for second place.

Peter Uihlein would’ve moved into second had he won the playoff against Brooks Koepka and claimed the 40 points for first. Instead, he received 30 points for finishing second, which moved him to 79 points. He lost the tiebreaker to Grace, since the South African had the better single-tournament result this year (a win) to Uihlein’s best (a runner-up).

Uihlein did win the tiebreaker and the third-place prize of $4 million over Patrick Reed, who also finished with 79 points after receiving three points for his 17th place in Jeddah. Uihlein’s two best results this season are two runner-ups, while Reed has one runner-up and one third-place finish.

SEEDS, BYES SET FOR MIAMI

The 12 seeds for the Miami Team Championship on Oct. 28-30 at Trump National Golf Club Doral were finalized on Sunday.

The top four teams in points receive day-one byes and will select their opponents on day two.

1. 4 Aces GC, 152 points
2. Crushers GC, 96 points
3. Fireballs GC, 93 points
4. Stinger GC, 72 points

Teams finishing 5th through 8th will select, in order of finish, their opponents for day one.

5. Smash GC, 62 points
6. Majesticks GC, 61 points
7. Torque GC, 38 points
8. Hy Flyers GC, 37 points
9. Iron Heads GC, 32 points
10. Cleeks GC, 21 points
11. Punch GC, 16 points
12. Niblicks GC, 13 points

FINAL TEAM LEADERBOARD

In addition to the individual stroke-play competition, players are also competing as four-man teams during LIV Golf events. The best three scores in Round 1, the best three scores in Round 2, and the best three scores in Round 3 will combine to produce the team score.

The total team prize money for each event is $5 million, with the winning team dividing $3 million, second place dividing $1.5 million and third place dividing $500,000 among its four team members.

Smash GC won its first team title, with Fireballs GC – last week’s winners in Bangkok – finishing second and Crushers GC winning the tiebreaker over 4 Aces GC for third.

Here is the leaderboard and Sunday’s counting scores in the final round at Royal Greens. Note: Iron Heads GC played with three players due to captain Kevin Na’s WD (illness) on Saturday, and Cleeks GC played with three players due to captain Martin Kaymer’s WD (wrist injury) on Sunday:

1. Smash GC, 33 under (Chase Koepka 68, Brooks Koepka 69, Peter Uihlein 70)

2. Fireballs GC, 27 under (Sergio Garcia 68, Carlos Ortiz 69, Abraham Ancer 70)

3. Crushers GC, 26 under (Charles Howell III 66, Bryson DeChambeau 68, Paul Casey 68)

4. 4 Aces GC, 26 under (Talor Gooch 67, Dustin Johnson 67, Patrick Reed 69)

5. Hy Flyers GC, 25 under (Bernd Wiesberger 65, Matthew Wolff 66, Cameron Tringale 70)

6. Torque GC, 20 under (Joaquin Niemann 65, Jediah Morgan 68, Hideto Tanihara 72)

7. Majesticks GC, 18 under (Henrik Stenson 66, Sam Horsfield 68, Lee Westwood 68)

8. Cleeks GC, 18 under (Graeme McDowell 68, Richard Bland 68, Laurie Canter 68)

9. Stinger GC, 18 under (Branden Grace 67, Louis Oosthuizen 69, Charl Schwartzel 70)

10. Punch GC, 12 under (Cameron Smith 68, Marc Leishman 69, Matt Jones 70)

11. Niblicks GC, 12 under (Hudson Swafford 69, Harold Varner III 71, James Piot 72)

12. Iron Heads GC, 11 under (Phachara Khongwatmai 67, Sadom Kaewkanjana 71, Sihwan Kim 71)

PLAYER QUOTEBOARD

Brooks Koepka (on the playoff):

Coming down 18 (in regulation), I just wanted to make sure that the team thing was wrapped up before me and Pete could kind of go at it.

Peter Uihlein (on his multiple bunker shots at 18):

I almost was playing a little Russian roulette unfortunately. There’s a lot of rocks in those bunkers. Obviously the first few were executed really well but it was only a matter of time before something like that [his last bunker shot into the water] was going to happen.

Jason Kokrak (on Smash GC):

Practicing together, we saw Brooks playing some incredible golf. We’ve seen Pete all year play really, really well. Chase has been absolutely solid from top to bottom all year. I’ve been kind of dragging behind, but I show up when they need me. I’m looking forward to Miami. I think we’ve got a good group and we are all trending in the right direction and we are starting to play our best golf. I don’t think anybody wants to play us in match play right now.

Chase Koepka (on Smash GC):

The individual wins must feel pretty good but these team wins are pretty cool, too.

PERFORMANCE STATS

Fairways hit – Laurie Canter, Matthew Wolff 79% (11 of 14 fairways)

Driving distance – Dustin Johnson, 338.2-yard average

Greens in regulation – Richard Bland, Joaquin Niemann, 89% (16 of 18 greens)

Fewest putts ­– Branden Grace, 25

Lowest round ­– Joaquin Niemann, Bernd Wiesberger, 65

Most birdies – Joaquin Niemann, 8

HOLE STATS

Easiest hole – 569-yard par-5 4th, which played to a stroke average of 4.413.

Hardest hole – 211-yard par-3 3rd, which played to a stroke average of 3.261, and the 470-yard par-4 6th, which played to a stroke average of 4.261.

Course stroke average: Rd. 1 (68.458). Rd. 2 (67.851). Rd. 3 (69.239). Par is 70.

WRITTEN BY LIV GOLF STAFF

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