Members of Ripper GC celebrate their first team title of the season at LIV Golf Miami on Sunday. Image courtesy LIV Golf/Chris Trotman.
From a Correspondent
Miami: Ripper GC held a preseason training camp in January on the Blue Monster at Trump National Doral. The weather was cold, misty and windy. The 10th fairway was inaccessible. The conditions were brutal – but the payoff came Sunday at LIV Golf Miami.
The all-Australian Rippers won a battle of survival under the harshest scoring circumstances in league history, with popular veteran Marc Leishman claiming his first LIV Golf individual title after shooting the week’s only bogey-free round.
His Rippers won the team title with a cumulative 4 over total, the first time any team have won with an over-par score.
“It kicked our butts when we were here in January for the training camp, and it did the same again this week,” Leishman said. “I guess it kicked our butt less than everyone else.”
Leishman conquered the Blue Monster on Sunday by posting a 5 under par 67 to finish at 6 under, one stroke better than Stinger GC’s Charl Schwartzel. Fireballs GC captain Sergio Garcia was another stroke back in solo third.
It’s the 14th time in LIV Golf history that a team have swept both trophies.
Maiden trophy
And it’s the first win of any kind in four years for the 41-year-old Leishman, who had three runner-up finishes and five other top 10s since joining LIV Golf with Cameron Smith in the middle of the inaugural 2022 season.
“It’s been a long time coming for Leish,” Smith said. “He’s knocked on so many doors, and at times has felt probably unlucky. Even for me as a mate, I’ve felt like he’s been unlucky.”
In Singapore last month, Leishman tied for 51st, his worst result in LIV Golf. But on a demanding course toughened by wind gusts and firm greens, Leishman produced a masterpiece of steady, patient play.
“It was pretty disgusting how I played there,” Leishman said of Singapore.
“To come back on a golf course like this where there’s trouble around every single corner, I think playing so bad in Singapore helped me today just not letting my guard down at all.”
Leishman started Sunday three shots off the lead but quickly moved up the leaderboard with birdies in two of his first four holes.
He shared the lead with overnight leader Bryson DeChambeau through eight holes, but the Crushers GC captain went bogey-double bogey around the turn to effectively end his chances.
Leishman’s final birdie of the day at the par-5 10th gave him a three-shot cushion and he nursed it with eight consecutive pars to end his round, never providing his challengers with an opening.
Even so, several players made a charge on the back nine.
Falling away
Stingers GC’s Charl Schwartzel reeled off four straight birdies to climb into contention, while teammate Dean Burmester, the defending LIV Golf Miami champion, also made noise before a disastrous final two holes.
Garcia, seeking his second win of the season, was 3 under during a 11-hole stretch. His birdie at the 17th after a brilliant approach shot moved him within a shot of Leishman’s lead.
Leishman, playing in the group ahead of Garcia, found the trees with his tee shot at the 18th and had to punch out. His third shot left him 13 feet above the pin, but he knocked in the clutch par putt to keep the lead.
“I wanted this one pretty bad, especially having a two-shot lead teeing off 18,” Leishman said. “Probably the worst hole in the world to have – two shots is nothing on that hole.”
Garcia ultimately bogeyed the 18th, hitting his tee shot into the trees, then finding the water with his approach.
“I had an opening there with a 3-iron, and then I just needed three or four more feet, and it would’ve been great,” Garcia said of his second shot.
Leishman was on the practice green, watching on the videoboard when he saw Garcia’s ball in the water.
That’s when he knew the championship was his, a well-deserved victory on a course that wasn’t so friendly a few months earlier.
“I’ve played well in a lot of LIV events,” Leishman said. “I’ve had chances to win, haven’t won. You wonder if you’re going to win again … I doubted myself but that just made it all so much sweeter today.” (courtesy LIV Golf)
Final scores
1. Ripper GC +4 (Leishman 68, Smith 70, Jones 71, Herbert 74; Rd. 3 score: -5)
2. Crushers GC +12 (Lahiri 69, Howell 71, Casey 73, DeChambeau 75; Rd. 3 score: E)
3. 4Aces GC +17 (Varner III 68, Pieters 73, Reed 74, Johnson 79; Rd. 3 score: +6)
4. Legion XIII +19 (Hatton 70, McKibbin 73, Surratt 73, Rahm 74; Rd. 3 score: +2)
5. Fireballs GC +20 (Garcia 71, Puig 71, Masaveu 74, Ancer 80; Rd. 3 score: +8)
6. Stinger GC +24 (Schwartzel 66, Grace 75, Oosthuizen 75, Burmester 76; Rd. 3 score: +4)
7. HyFlyers GC +27 (Mickelson 73, Steele 73, Tringale 74, Ogletree 75; Rd. 3 score: +7)
8. Iron Heads GC +29 (Lee 71, Song 74, Jang 75, Na 84; Rd. 3 score: +16)
T9. Torque GC +30 (Ortiz 66, Muñoz 72, Niemann 75, Pereira 78; Rd. 3 score: +3)
T9. Smash GC +30 (Gooch 69, Koepka 73, Kokrak 78, McDowell 78; Rd. 3 score: +10)
T11. Cleeks GC +47 (Kaymer 69, Meronk 71, Bland 74, Kjettrup 75; Rd. 3 score: +1)
T11. RangeGoats GC +47 (Wolff 72, Uihlein 74, Watson 74, Campbell 82; Rd. 3 score: +14)
13. Majesticks GC +50 (Horsfield 71, Poulter 75, Stenson 80, Westwood 81; Rd. 3 score: +19)
Wild Cards: Kim 67, C. Lee 77
Round 3 stats
Driving accuracy: Anthony Kim, 78.57% (10 of 14 fairways hit)
Driving distance: Bryson DeChambeau, 347.1 yards avg.
Longest drive: Matthew Wolff, 402.8 yards, 1st hole
Greens in regulation: Tyrrell Hatton, 88.89% (16 of 18 greens)
Scrambling: Marc Leishman (4 of 4), Carlos Ortiz (4 of 4), Charl Schwartzel (3 of 3), 100%
Putting: Matt Jones, 1.33 putts per hole
Bogey-free rounds: Marc Leishman (68)
Also read: DeChambeau holds day two lead at punishing LIV Miami venue
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