If LIV Golf has any hope of flourishing, it needs its teams format to work. Finally, it has a pulse.
On a day of high drama at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide, Cameron Smith’s all-Australian Ripper GC team featuring Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert and Matt Jones rode a wave of home emotion – and bronx cheers from rabid fans aimed at their rivals – for a dramatic teams win on Sunday.
It took until the second play-off hole for the ledger to be settled – only after a miraculous escape on the first – before thousands of fans swarmed the 18th green in a parochial atmosphere perhaps only bettered in the Ryder Cup.
The large galleries let out loud jeers every time South Africa’s Dean Burmester and Louis Oosthuizen, from Stinger GC, played their shots near the green during the play-off, a move from traditional golf etiquette.
“Today, you saw a whole country embrace one team and that’s something that doesn’t happen very often,” Leishman said. “It shows it’s going somewhere and a force to be reckoned with.”
For Smith (-13), it was the highlight of his mega money move to the Saudi-backed circuit as he was treated like a rock star everywhere he moved in Adelaide, despite a disappointing final round two-under 70 which left him tied 14th in the individual standings.
Australia’s Ripper GC team of (l-r) Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert, Cameron Smith and Matt Jones celebrate their teams win at LIV Golf Adelaide.Credit: Getty
“This week has far exceeded my vision for what was ahead [when I joined LIV],” Smith said. “I thought this was the place that would make it big, and the last couple of years has been insane. It’s so cool.
“We just don’t get to experience this, and being the home team makes it so more special.”
Ripper GC appeared to be cruising to a win when five shots up in the last hour, until it all turned upside down.
Smith bogeyed his last hole in regulation as Stinger GC finished with a rush to force a play-off, one in which the 2022 Open Championship winner opted to pair himself with Leishman against Burmester and Oosthuizen.
It should have been over on the first extra hole.
All four players made par, but Smith and Leishman were forced to scramble for their fours – Smith from a greenside bunker – while Burmester and Oosthuizen missed eight-footers for birdie from nearly identical positions.
“How we got out of it I don’t know,” Leishman said. “We were done and dusted by the looks of it.”
Again, the balls of Burmester and Oosthuizen would follow each other on the second extra hole.
‘If we’re in a play-off with the Stingers, they can do whatever the hell they want to us.’
Leishman on the home fans’ treatment of South Africa’s Stinger GC team
Unfortunately for the South Africans, they were in the back bunker after both approaches skipped long. Burmester couldn’t get out of the trap on his first try and Leishman signed for par as the other three players lodged bogeys, handing the Australians a win in the two-ball aggregate format.
On the bronx cheers for the South Africans, Leishman said: “I think the only time we’ll embrace that [again] is the first time we go to South Africa. And if we’re in a play-off with the Stingers, they can do whatever the hell they want to us.
“It takes a fair bit to get me nervous, and that tee shot on the first play-off hole, I was nervous. The first teams play-off is going to be remembered, and I’m going to remember it for positive things.”
Meanwhile, Brendan Steele (-18) closed out his first individual LIV title by one shot from Oosthuizen after a closing four-under 68. Spain’s Jon Rahm (-16) is still searching for his first LIV win despite a final round 64.
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