LIV GOLF ADELAIDE: GOOCH WINS BY 3; 4 ACES BACK ON TOP

Januar April 23, 2023 in Latest News, LIV Golf, News, Tournament Tagged golftour, golftournament, koepka, livgolf, livgolfadelaide - 12 Minutes

GRANGE, Australia – Talor Gooch, a former member of 4Aces GC who joined Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats GC in the offseason, completed a wire-to-wire victory Sunday at LIV Golf Adelaide. Meanwhile, his old team captured its first trophy of the 2023 LIV Golf League.

Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces, which had podium finishes in the first three events of the season, produced a sizzling final round in a tight team battle at The Grange Golf Club. With Patrick Reed shooting a 7-under 65, new member Peter Uihlein contributing a 66 and Johnson adding a 67 (Pat Perez shot the same score), the Aces finished with a LIV Golf-record 47 under to win by a stroke over the RangeGoats. The all-South African Stinger GC took third.

Last year, the all-American 4Aces won four regular-season events and the Miami Team Championship, all on home soil. Their performance in Adelaide was their most impressive, with all four members finishing in the top 10 in points.

“Obviously, it was a great week,” said Johnson, whose team increased its lead atop the season-long points standings to 44 points. “All four guys played well. To get our first win outside the U.S. was nice.”

Gooch, meanwhile, had to endure some tight moments despite entering the day with a 10-shot lead thanks to consecutive 10-under 62s. A four-hole stretch in which he suffered his first two bogeys of the week, followed by a double bogey at the par-5 10th, whittled his deficit. At one point, he led by only two shots.

But after his double bogey, he responded with birdies at the 11th and 13th holes to restore some breathing room, then parred in the rest of the way for a 1-over 73, leaving him at 19 under for the tournament. That ties the all-time LIV Golf best score for three rounds.

“Golf is just really hard,” said Gooch as he proudly cradled the LIV Golf trophy while wearing the Goat Chain, his team’s nod to winning performances. “It’s hard to put back-to-back days together like I did and even harder to do it three times in a row. I actually played fine out there today. The golf gods, I think, said, ‘We don’t want this first win to be easy on you.’

“Had a couple bad breaks here and there, so it made things interesting, but it was cool to kind of overcome the adversity and dig deep after I made a double on No. 10. It was kind of a point of we’re either going to dig deep and do this or you’re going to stumble coming in. It was cool to dig deep and get the job done.”

Crushers GC’s Anirban Lahiri shot a 65 to claim second place at 16 under while four players tied for third at 15 under: Reed, Perez, Cameron Tringale of HyFlyers GC and Cameron Smith, the captain of Rippers GC, the all-Australian team that were the crowd favorites this week. Reed took third in points via the tiebreaker.

“There’s obviously a want in Australia, I think, for really high-quality golf, and I think the fans here really enjoyed what LIV offers,” Smith said. “There’s no reason why we can’t make it bigger.”

While Gooch is used to celebrating team titles as a member of the 4Aces last year, he was hoping to celebrate another one with his new team. Although the RangeGoats came up one shot short, the podium finish was their first as a team.

“It was frustrating that we couldn’t get the win for sure, but it was a step in the right direction for us as a team,” Gooch said. “I think it’s just a matter of time before we’re up on that podium.”

THE ACE AT 12: A ‘CRAZY EXPERIENCE’ FOR CHASE KOEPKA

_{Chase Koepka Aces hole in one Watering Hole Sunday 2023 LIV Golf Adelaide © LIV Golf}

GRANGE, Australia – Chase Koepka stepped up to his tee shot on Sunday at The Watering Hole – the par-3 12th that has been the scene of the biggest party at this week’s LIV Golf Adelaide – hoping to hear a song from the Australian hip-hop band Hilltop Hoods.

He had requested a change from his initial walk-up selection in order to honor the sold-out crowds attending this week’s event at The Grange Golf Club. But there wasn’t enough time to make the switch.

“I told my caddie, ‘Damn, they didn’t play my song,” the Smash GC member said.

Never mind. A few moments later, Koepka swung his 9-iron – and created an even better experience for the packed fans surrounding the hole.

His ball found the green, then rolled into the cup for the second ace in LIV Golf’s history and the sixth in Koepka’s career. None of the previous five elicited the kind of response as Sunday’s did, with fans showering the players with beer in celebration.

“I was just trying to hit kind of like a trap draw 9-iron, something that we’ve just been working on all week, just trying to make sure I drew it,” Koepka said. “I hit it, and I knew it was good. I kind of thought if anything it was going to be a little deep, and I saw it kind of pitch in the up slope and take a soft bounce, and I was like, ‘Oh, it’ll be close,’ and then the roars just kept getting louder and louder and louder. …

“I smelled like beer the whole entire rest of the day. Yeah, it was wild. Crazy experience. I mean, obviously to do it on a hole like that was super-special. It definitely gave the fans something to remember.”

His playing partners, Paul Casey of Crushers GC and Ian Poulter of Majesticks GC, were just as excited. They each chest-bumped Chase, enjoying the scene and celebration.

For Casey, it was reminiscent of the time in 1997 when Tiger Woods aced the 16th hole at the Phoenix Open, prompting fans to shower the tee box with cups. Casey was at the hole that day but not playing; he was working as a member of ESPN radio.

“It was my first month or two actually in Arizona,” Casey said. “Before any grandstands. That was just the mounds. That was a scene. This one probably louder because it’s more intimate, this one.

“But I’m not comparing or doesn’t matter which one is — but it’s lovely. It’s just very cool to be in that kind of atmosphere.

“To me this has been such a successful week anyway. Everybody here in Adelaide has had just the best time. They’re so starved of world-class golf. I think this is the best field they’ve ever had assembled in Australia outside of maybe a Presidents Cup or something like that. They’ve embraced it.

“For Chase to give them the hole-in-one, I think was just fantastic.”

As for Koepka … well, the good wishes extended for the remainder of his round, which turned out to be one of his best on LIV – a six-under 66 for a three-day total of 10 under.

“The next couple hours I was out there, I was just getting ovation after ovation every time I walked up to every shot, every tee box,” Koepka said. “It was pretty cool. That’s probably what Cam Smith felt like the entire week, but at least I got a glimpse of it.”

^{Final Round Highlights | LIV Golf Adelaide}

TEAM COUNTING SCORES

Here are the standings and counting scores for Sunday’s final round of the team competition at LIV Golf Adelaide. The three best scores from each team count in every round for their total team score. The team with the lowest cumulative score after three rounds wins the team title. The 4Aces posted a record 47 under to win at The Grange Golf Club.

1. 4ACES GC (-45): Patrick Reed 65, Peter Uihlein 66, Dustin Johnson 67 (Rd. 3 score: -18)

2. RANGEGOATS GC (-46): Bubba Watson 67, Harold Varner III 69, Thomas Pieters 70 (Rd. 3 score: -10)

3. STINGER GC (-44): Dean Burmester 67, Charl Schwartzel 68, Louis Oosthuizen 70 (Rd. 3 score: -11)

4. HYFLYERS GC (-40): James Piot 66, Cameron Tringale 67, Phil Mickelson 69 (Rd. 3 score: -14)

5. CRUSHERS GC (-38): Anirban Lahiri 65, Charles Howell III 67, Bryson DeChambeau 69 (Rd. 3 score: -15)

6. SMASH GC (-34): Jason Kokrak 65, Chase Koepka 66, Brooks Koepka 70 (Rd. 3 score: -15)

7. TORQUE GC (-32): Sebastián Muñoz 67, Mito Pereira 69, Joaquin Niemann 70 (Rd. 3 score: -10)

8. RIPPER GC (-31): Marc Leishman 65, Cameron Smith 66, Jediah Morgan 68 (Rd. 3 score: -17)

9. FIREBALLS GC (-30): Sergio Garcia 68, Abraham Ancer 70, Carlos Ortiz 71 (Rd. 3 score: -7)

10. IRON HEADS GC (-28): Kevin Na 67, Danny Lee 68, Scott Vincent 71 (Rd. 3 score: -10)

11. MAJESTICKS GC (-27): Ian Poulter 66, Henrik Stenson 68, Laurie Canter 70 (Rd. 3 score: -12)

12. CLEEKS GC (-24): Martin Kaymer 71, Bernd Wiesberger 71, Richard Bland 72 (Rd. 3 score: -2)

NOTES

CHASE WITH 2ND LIV ACE: Smash GC’s Chase Koepka recorded the second hole-in-one in LIV Golf with his ace at the 150-yard par-3 12th on Sunday. The celebration was as momentous as the shot.

The 12th, otherwise known as The Watering Hole, is completely circled by stands and fans. When Koepka’s ball rolled in the cup, fans celebrated by by showering Koepka with beer on the tee box while he chest-bumped his caddie as well as playing partners Ian Poulter and Paul Casey.

“A once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said Koepka, who used a 9-iron to record the sixth hole-in-one of his career. “It’s something to always remember. Yeah, it’s pretty cool. I can just say that. I don’t know if I can duplicate what I just did out there, but it’ll be really cool coming back here because I know everyone will remember it.”

Last year, Matthew Wolff recorded LIV’s first ace in Boston.

RIPPERS PLEASED WITH HOME SUPPORT: The all-Australian Ripper GC moved up in the team standings to finish in the points in eighth place. It wasn’t the result they had hoped at the beginning of the week, but the success of the event and the support from the sold-out crowd all three days left Cameron Smith and team in good spirits.

“I expected it to be huge, somewhat like this,” Marc Leishman said, “I was saying this morning, I’ve had chances to win majors, albeit not in Australia, to have the home crowds like that, that was a highlight of my golfing career, along with all my wins. You can’t separate wins, which one was better than another, because they’re all special in different ways.

“But on the whole, this week was really, really special and something I’ll remember forever, and hopefully we can keep coming back here for years to come.”

Smith shot a final-round 66 to move up the individual standings, finishing just four shots off the lead. He supplied several highlight moments on Sunday, including holing out from the bunker at the 14th.

“Pretty exhausted,” Smith said. “It was a big week to get through, with lots of commitments and the fans. It’s so cool to have those people behind you, but it’s also really draining, as well, having the ovations on every green and tee. Yeah, it was an epic week but a very tiring week.”

UIHLEIN’S TWO TEAMS, TWO WINS: Peter Uihlein becomes the first player to win team titles with two different teams. Last year, he was on the winning Smash GC team that won in Jeddah, and now he’s on the 4Aces team that won in Adelaide.

“I don’t know if that’s good or not, but yeah, that’s pretty cool,” Uihlein said. “I’m thrilled to be a part of the team this week, and just trying to do what I can to contribute. These are three horses over here, I’m just trying to hitch a ride. It’s been fun.”

GOOCH APPRECIATES AUSSIE CADDIE: Winner Talor Gooch said his Australian-born caddie, Malcolm Baker, was a huge help this week. As Gooch conducted his press conference Sunday, Baker was in the back, celebrating by hoisting an Australian flag into the air.

“His green-reading ability out here is incredible,” Gooch said. “I leaned on him more this week than I have in a long time. He was so spot on early on, and it just gave me confidence in him, and I think it gave confidence in himself.

“I made a bunch of putts the last couple days, a bunch of 8-, 10-, 12-footers, and without him, I don’t make as many putts, plain and simple.”

Gooch also cited Baker’s help as his lead shrank throughout the day.

“He did a really, really good job of just not wavering and just being himself and just acting like this is another round of golf, even though it was a huge round of golf for us,” Gooch said. “His constant mentality and emotions, just how he conducts himself in those moments are huge for me for keeping me calm and making things easier than what they feel like they are in the moment.”