WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. – Smash GC Captain Brooks Koepka extended his LIV Golf record by winning LIV Golf Greenbrier for his fifth individual title. For the third time, he won via playoff. But his victory Sunday at The Old White course was a bit more special, given the opponent.
Koepka beat Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm on the first playoff hole with par in a thrilling finish. It’s the first time the two have dueled since Rahm joined LIV Golf in the offseason, and it was reminiscent of the final round at the 2023 Masters – only with a different outcome.
Koepka has now won five of the 31 LIV Golf regular-season tournaments that he’s played. No other player has won more than three times. He said Sunday’s win was his favorite.
“I think this one just meant a little bit more, for the last few years playing Jon and obviously he got the better of me at Augusta,” Koepka said. “I just wanted to beat him. He played phenomenal today. The way he finished down the stretch was pretty clutch, and it was fun to watch him this week.”
Koepka’s Smash team also claimed the team title, tying a LIV Golf record with a 53 under total counting score to beat Ripper GC by three shots. Koepka and Jason Kokrak led the team with 7-under 63s, with Talor Gooch shooting 69. Reserve player John Catlin, filling in for Graeme McDowell, shot a 67.
Rahm rallied past Koepka to win the Masters last year and was hoping to claim his second consecutive LIV Golf title, having won in England three weeks ago. He entered the final round with a two-shot lead, but Koepka caught him after six holes.
From there, the two went back-and-forth while others joined the fray, including 51-year-old Richard Bland, who briefly had the outright lead after an eagle at the 12th hole.
Koepka made three straight birdies on his back nine and led by two shots with three to play. But Rahm caught him with birdies at 16 and 17.
They both parred the 157-yard par-3 18th, and then played the hole again in the playoff. Koepka’s tee shot left him with a 25-foot birdie putt while Rahm found the back bunker, leaving him with an awkward lie on the short side. He blasted out to 23 feet past the pin. But after Koepka missed his birdie attempt, Rahm could not save par.
“We’ve gone head-to-head a few times, and it’s always a fun one for the spectators,” said a disappointed Rahm. “It’s fun for us and obviously more fun for whoever wins, but it always seems to come down the stretch. Last time I had a putt to win it on 18, and this time he was the one that ended up winning.”
Rahm did have a significant accomplishment despite coming up short, as he overtook Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann in season-long points. Those two will battle it out for the 2024 Individual Championship next month at LIV Golf Chicago, while Koepka has an outside shot at the bonus-paying third place.
“There’s still obviously a lot of good things to think about,” Rahm said. “But right now it hurts more than anything.”
As for Koepka, there’s nothing he can do now about a disappointing major season, but he has a chance to finish 2024 with more champagne celebrations, especially if his Smash team can claim the Team Championship in Dallas.
“This year has not been very good,” Koepka said. “It’s nice to kind of try to end it on a high note. Obviously, we’ve got two events left, so we’ll see what we can do.”
TEAM COUNTING SCORES
Standings and counting scores for Sunday’s final round of the team competition at LIV Golf Greenbrier. 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. SMASH GC -53 (Koepka 63, Kokrak 63, Catlin 67, Gooch 69; Rd. 3 score: -18)
2. RIPPER GC -50 (Leishman 64, Smith 67, Herbert 67, Jones 68; Rd. 3 score: -14)
3. LEGION XIII -42 (Rahm 65, Surratt 67, Vincent 67, Hatton 69; Rd. 3 score: -12)
4. FIREBALLS GC -40 (Puig 65, Garcia 66, Ancer 68, Chacarra 68; Rd. 3 score: -13)
T5. RANGEGOATS GC -36 (Pieters 64, Uihlein 65, Watson 66, Wolff 67; Rd. 3 score: -18)
T5. TORQUE GC -36 (Niemann 65, Muñoz 66, Ortiz 70, Pereira 71; Rd. 3 score: -8)
7. IRON HEADS GC -31 (Lee 65, Kozuma 67, Vincent 68, Na 69; Rd. 3 score: -11)
8. CRUSHERS GC -30 (Lahiri 65, DeChambeau 66, Casey 68, Howell III 70; Rd. 3 score: -11)
9. STINGER GC -28 (Oosthuizen 60, Grace 64, Burmester 69, Schwartzel 72; Rd. 3 score: -15)
T10. 4ACES GC -27 (Reed 63, Varner III 65, Johnson 66, Perez 69; Rd. 3 score: -17)
T10. HYFLYERS GC -27 (Tringale 63, Ogletree 67, Steele 67, Mickelson 75: Rd. 3 score: -8)
12. CLEEKS GC -23 (Bland 65, Kaymer 68, Meronk 68, Samooja 72; Rd. 3 score: -7)
13. MAJESTICKS GC -17 (Westwood 66, Stenson 68, Campbell 69, Poulter 69; Rd. 3 score: -8)
RAHM VS NIEMANN FOR INDIVIDUAL TITLE: Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm and Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann are atop the Individual points standings after LIV Golf Greenbrier and are the only two players remaining with a mathematical chance of winning the season-long title.
With his runner-up finish, Rahm moved ahead of Niemann by less than three points, 195.17 to 192.20. It’s the first time any player other than Niemann, who won two of the first three tournaments, has topped the individual standings this season.
Rahm’s Legion XIII teammate Tyrrell Hatton remained in third place at 143.49 points after failing to finish inside the top 24 for the first time this season. With 40 points for a victory, he’s too far behind to catch the top two.
That means it’s Rahm vs. Niemann at Bolingbrook Golf Club, Sept. 13-15.
“I’m probably going to need to win,” said Rahm, who has finished inside the top 10 in each of his 11 completed LIV Golf tournaments. “He’s going to be up there. I’m going to need another good week, and hopefully get it done.”
Said Niemann: “He’s been playing great lately, so obviously he’s probably going to keep doing the same. I’ve got to try to bring my ‘A’ game and try to show some good golf, and hopefully it’ll be enough.”
While those two players are guaranteed to claim the top two bonus-earning positions, third place also offers a season-long bonus. Hatton has an 8-point lead over Fireballs GC Captain Sergio Garcia, with Stinger GC Captain Louis Oosthuizen, Ripper GC Captain Cameron Smith and Smash GC Captain Brooks Koepka – thanks to his Greenbrier victory – still mathematically alive.
CRUSHERS, LEGION XIII CLINCH BYES: The league-leading Crushers GC claimed just a single point Sunday in finishing eighth at Greenbrier, but it was enough to keep them atop the team points standings – only by a half-point.
The defending team champion Crushers have 176.50 points with Legion XIII moving to 176.00 with its solo third. Those two teams are guaranteed to have first-round byes for the Dallas Team Championship, although their seeding position remains undecided.
Ripper GC finished second in Greenbrier and retained third place in the standings, nearly doubling its lead. Smash GC moved from seventh to fourth with the victory, and Torque GC dropped to fifth. Those three teams will battle for the third remaining bye, and Ripper GC also has a chance to claim one of the top two seeds in the final regular-season tournament in Chicago.
DECISIVE 18TH: Jon Rahm was happy with his 9-iron swings off the tee at the par-3 18th, both in regulation and the playoff. But he wasn’t happy with the results.
The first one left him with a 36-foot birdie putt and the second ended up in the bunker behind the green with an awkward lie. He blasted out but couldn’t convert the long par-saving putt to extend the playoff with Brooks Koepka.
“Those two 9-irons on 18 were both the same swings, and the landing discrepancy was about 12 yards, which is quite surprising, to be honest,” Rahm said. “I still can’t believe either one of those was that far from the pin, and then on 18 to not only go in the bunker but on the downslope and not the best lie in the bunker, I had no chance of getting it close. I was just hoping for a putt. Yeah, I thought that putt was in the whole way.”
Said Koepka: “I figured he was going to give it a good run. Played with him the last few days, and he’s holed a few 20 to 30-footers that he needs to hole, kind of momentum putts. You’re expecting to go back to the tee, and anything better is just a great result.”
OOSTHUIZEN SHOOTS 60: Stinger GC Captain Louis Oosthuizen recorded the third lowest round in LIV Golf history, shooting a 10-under 60 on Sunday that included 11 birdies and one bogey.
Bryson DeChambeau’s 58 last year at Greenbrier and Joaquin Niemann’s 59 to start this season at Mayakoba are the two best scores in LIV history.
Oosthuizen, who famously shot 57 at his home course in South Africa, credited his putter for his low score. His 60 left him at 14 under, as he finished tied for 8th.
“I made so many putts today,” Oosthuizen said. “I’m going to go watch it all because I’ve never seen myself make that many putts in my life. So yeah, it was pretty cool to be on that end for a change.”
Oosthuizen birdied his opening hole, the par-4 seventh, then reeled off four consecutive birdies from holes 9-12. Another birdie at the 14th, and consecutive birdies at 17 and 18 had him at 8 under through 13 holes. That’s when he began thinking about shooting 59, telling his caddie Colin Byrne, “Three more, let’s do it.”
But the weather then changed just as he reached the No. 1 tee.
“I made bogey on 1, just when the rain started, driver squirted off, and I was in no man’s land, and I ended up making a good 5,” Oosthuizen said. “… But then made a long putt immediately to get back. So, all of a sudden, I had four more holes left for birdie.
“Then made a great putt on 3, over the edge, and then I knew I had to birdie the last three. Birdied 4, and then 5, I just pulled it, and I knew it was done. Then the last putt was just a bonus.”
KOKRAK NOW IN LOCK ZONE: Thanks to a solo third place, Smash GC’s Jason Kokrak moved from 32nd in points to 22nd, putting him inside the top 24 Lock Zone that are guaranteed spots for next year’s LIV Golf League.
Kokrak shot a final-round 63 and had a lengthy birdie putt at 18 that would’ve put him in the playoff with his captain Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm.
“It was a birdie-fest,” Kokrak said. “Hit a lot of fairways, gave myself a lot of chances. Very pleased with how I finished. I would have liked to be in the playoff with these guys, but nonetheless, pleased with how I played this week.”
Torque GC’s Sebastián Muñoz also moved into the Lock Zone (from 25th to 23rd) with a tie for sixth. Graeme McDowell (23rd to 27th) and Sam Horsfield (24th to 30th) did not play this week and moved outside the Lock Zone.
ROUND 3 STATS LEADERS
Driving accuracy: Sebastián Muñoz, Branden Grace, 85.71% (12 of 14 fairways hit)
Driving distance: Mito Pereira, 351.9 yards avg.
Longest drive: Mito Pereira, 359.4 yards, 17th hole
Greens in regulation: Sebastián Muñoz, Caleb Surratt, Matthew Wolff, John Catlin, Harold Varner III, 94.44% (17 of 18 greens)
Scrambling: David Puig (6 of 6), Patrick Reed (5 of 5), Andy Ogletree (5 of 5), Lee Westwood (4 of 4), Marc Leishman (4 of 4), Joaquin Niemann (4 of 4), Henrik Stenson (4 of 4), Anirban Lahiri (4 of 4), Jason Kokrak (3 of 3), Sergio Garcia (2 of 2), Brooks Koepka (2 of 2), Sebastián Muñoz (1 of 1), Caleb Surratt (1 of 1), Harold Varner III (1 of 1)
Putting: Louis Oosthuizen, 1.22 putts per hole
Bogey-free rounds: Brooks Koepka (63), Jason Kokrak (63), Patrick Reed (63), Marc Leishman (64), Anirban Lahiri (65), Sebastián Muñoz (66), Sergio Garcia (66), Patrick Reed, Andy Ogletree (67)
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