BY LIV GOLF STAFF
MIAMI – Defending Masters champion Jon Rahm and Legion XIII teammate Tyrrell Hatton will head to Augusta National this week after celebrating their second LIV Golf team victory of the season. Stinger GC’s Dean Burmester isn’t in the field for the year’s first major, but he made a bold statement Sunday on one of golf’s toughest courses.
Rahm and his expansion team survived a rollercoaster final round to win the team title at LIV Golf Miami by one shot over RangeGoats GC. It’s a unique way to begin his Masters title defense, which begins Thursday with 13 LIV Golf players in the field.
“It was a great week,” said Rahm, who tied for fourth in the individual competition as he remained the only player this season with top 10s in each of the first five starts. “Hopefully I can keep doing all the good things I’ve done this week next week and avoid a couple of silly mistakes and hopefully go back-to-back.”
One player he won’t see next week is Burmester, who beat Sergio Garcia on the second playoff hole at Trump National Doral with a par. During the offseason, Burmester won back-to-back events back home in South Africa – including the South African Open – and now has his first LIV Golf victory as he continues to showcase his world-class talent. He finished T3 in the LIV Golf season opener at Mayakoba.
“Probably the best golf of my career,” said Burmester. “If I look at it that way, the amount of wins, the amount of top 10s, tops 5s that I’m producing is some really special stuff.”
It was made even more special on a Blue Monster course that remains one of the most demanding tests in pro golf.
Garcia, the Fireballs GC captain, entered the day with a two-shot lead but was eventually caught by multiple players. At one point on the back nine, five players – Burmester, his Stinger Captain Louis Oosthuizen, Garcia, Hatton, and Matthew Wolff – shared the lead.
Burmester grabbed the solo lead with a birdie at the drivable 16th but bogeyed the difficult par-4 18th after an errant drive. Meanwhile, Garcia grabbed the lead with a 40-footer birdie putt at 17, but he three-putted the 18th to fall back into a tie and force the playoff.
After matching pars on the first playoff hole, Garcia found the water with his approach shot at the 18th while Burmester safely landed on the green for a two-putt par to win.
“This is a monster of a place and it’s hosted so many great championships over the years,” Burmester said. “Now it’s hosting us, and I feel privileged to have won here.”
Garcia, who has played more than 50 competitive rounds on the Blue Monster, lost for the third time in a LIV Golf playoff. He went four holes against Joaquin Niemann at Mayakoba and also lost last year in Singapore to Talor Gooch.
“Obviously when you’re that close, you want to win it,” Garcia said. “Unfortunately, that only happens to one guy, and it wasn’t meant to be me.”
Legion XIII was led by Rahm’s 3-under 69, with Caleb Surratt contributing a 70, Hatton a 71 and Kieran Vincent a 77 to finish at 1 under for the day and 22 under for the week. They were in command for a large part of the day until Hatton started struggling off the tee, while Vincent hit a rough patch with four consecutive bogeys.
“I decided to stick it in reverse standing on the 10th tee and just carried on going that way and just navigate myself through the back nine looking backwards,” Hatton said. “Made it a lot harder for the team, and it was a pretty miserable 2-1/2 hours, to be honest.”
It ended with a champagne celebration.
“I knew we would find our stride at some point,” Rahm said. “It was definitely a surprise to end up winning the first week, and I would say it was no surprise that we ended up winning this week.”
TEAM COUNTING SCORES
Standings and counting scores for Sunday’s final round of the team competition at LIV Golf Miami. The three best scores from each team count in the first two rounds while all four scores count in the final round. The team with the lowest cumulative score after three rounds wins the team title.
1. LEGION XIII -22 (Rahm 69, Surratt 70, Hatton 71, Vincent 77; Rd. 3 score: -1)
2. RANGEGOATS GC -21 (Wolff 69, Pieters 69, Uihlein 73, Watson 74; Rd. 3 score: -3)
3. STINGER GC -15 (Burmester 68, Oosthuizen 71, Grace 72, Schwartzel 75; Rd. 3 score: -2)
T4. TORQUE GC -13 (Muñoz 68, Ortiz 68, Niemann 70, Pereira 78; Rd. 3 score: -4)
T4. FIREBALLS GC -13 (Ancer 68, Garcia 70, Puig 71, Chacarra 76; Rd. 3 score: -3)
6. CRUSHERS GC -11 (DeChambeau 68, Casey 69, Howell III 70, Lahiri 77; Rd. 3 score: -4)
7. SMASH GC -7 (Kokrak 68, McDowell 70, Gooch 73, Koepka 77; Rd. 3 score: E)
8. 4ACES GC -5 (Varner III 70, Reed 72, Johnson 74, Perez 76; Rd. 3 score: +4)
9. CLEEKS GC E (Bland 73, Meronk 74, Kaymer 76, Samooja 77; Rd. 3 score: +12)
10. RIPPER GC +4 (Jones 69, Leishman 69, Campbell 73, Herbert 81; Rd. 3 score: +4)
11. IRONHEADS GC +5 (Vincent 72, Lee 72, Na 73, Kozuma 76; Rd. 3 score: +5)
T12. MAJESTICKS GC +6 (Poulter 71, Stenson 73, Westwood 73, Horsfield 73; Rd. 3 score: +2)
T12. HYFLYERS GC +6 (Tringale 71, Steele 72, Ogletree 75, Mickelson 76; Rd. 3 score: +6)
ROUND 3 NOTES
BURMESTER’S MASTERS THOUGHTS: With three wins in his last nine worldwide starts, including his first LIV Golf title and two DP World Tour events, Stinger GC’s Dean Burmester is one of golf’s hottest golfers. But the only major he’s qualified to play this year is the Open Championship, thanks to his win in November at the Joburg Open.
That means he’s not going to be in the field at the year’s first major, the Masters.
“I want to be in the field, obviously,” the South African said. “I feel like I’ve played some really great golf over the last five, six months. The two wins back home in South African before Christmas were special, two tournaments I’ve wanted to win for a long time. To win the South African Open, which is the second oldest tournament in the world, is a privilege. I thought I held myself really well there, and to come here on a golf course like this that’s major worthy and to beat major champions, I’m happy to have done that.
“Do I want to be at Augusta? Yeah, I’ve never been there before. So yeah, I want to be there.”
SERGIO ON HIS PLAYOFF LOSSES: There have been nine playoffs in LIV Golf history, and Fireballs GC Captain Sergio Garcia has participated in three of them. He’s still looking for his first win, having lost to Talor Gooch in Singapore last year, Joaquin Niemann in Mayakoba earlier this year and now Dean Burmester on the Blue Monster.
“It’s not the playoffs,” Garcia said. “I’m doing it myself. Obviously, a couple of shots here and there. But it’s what it is. You’ve got to keep giving yourself chances and wait for it to happen.”
CADDIE ISSUES FOR LEGION XIII: Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton both needed to use replacement caddies on Sunday. Rahm’s caddie became sick. Hatton’s caddie injured his shoulder and will be out a month.
“My caddie fell over last night after dinner,” Hatton said. “Now, his reputation is an interesting one, so I don’t know how the fall really occurred. But either way, he landed on his shoulder.”
BURMESTER’S NEW FRIENDS: Dean Burmester had a large group of South African supporters cheering for him this weekend. They even serenaded him during his final round. After winning Sunday, he went over to them and celebrated.
He had never met any of them until Saturday.
“Yesterday was the first day I met any of them,” he said. “They all work on the yachts and they’re here for a conference. … They came out yesterday and screamed for me pretty much the whole day. … Super-proud to have done it in front of them and in front of my friends and family.”
ANOTHER PODIUM FOR WOLFF: Having been acquired by RangeGoats GC via an offseason trade, Matthew Wolff continues to prove that his value to his new captain Bubba Watson.
Wolff finished solo third at 10 under after a 3-under 69 in Sunday’s final round. It was his third sub-70 round of the week; winner Dean Burmester was the only other player to post all three rounds in the 60s. In addition, Wolff led the field in driving distance average for the week, while ranking T1 (with Watson) in most fairways hit.
“It was a great week overall,” said Wolff, who finished one stroke out of the playoff. “I’m extremely happy with the week. … My ball-striking was great.”
Wolff finished fourth in Las Vegas, giving him two top-5s in four starts with his new team (he missed Jeddah with an illness). He made an adjustment with his putting, and no longer uses a line to help his aim. Instead, he is focusing on feel putting. Although he burned plenty of edges Sunday, he likes the direction his game is going.
“I’m giving it my all,” he said. “I think soon enough these putts are going to drop and I’m going to be hoisting a trophy.”
FIRST TO THREE FOR STINGERS: With Dean Burmester’s win at Doral, Stinger GC becomes the first team to celebrate wins by three different individuals. Charl Schwartzel (London) and Branden Grace (Portland) won LIV Golf’s first two events during the inaugural 2022 season.
ROUND 3 STATS LEADERS
Driving accuracy: Matt Wolff, Graeme McDowell, 78.57% (11 of 14 fairways hit)
Driving distance: Jon Rahm, 346.9 yards avg.
Longest drive: Kieran Vincent, 376.0 yards, 1st hole
Greens in regulation: Carlos Ortiz, 94.44% (17 of 18 greens)
Scrambling: Thomas Pieters (5 of 5), Carlos Ortiz (1 of 1), 100%
Putting: Louis Oosthuizen, 1.33 putts per hole
Bogey-free rounds: Carlos Ortiz (68)
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