Dustin Johnson’s team, 4 Aces, beat Australian Cameron Smith’s team Punch by a single stroke to win the inaugural LIV Golf Team Championship on Sunday in Miami.
Patrick Reed made the pivotal right-to-left birdie putt on the second hole of Trump National Doral to push 4 Aces ahead, and Johnson tapped in a par at the 18th to earn 4 Aces a $16 million first prize financed by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund.
“It’s been amazing,” Johnson said of the debut season of LIV Golf, during which he raked in more than $35 million in winnings. “Obviously the fans is what makes it. This week’s been incredible. The whole season has just gotten better and better, and then obviously this finale has been unbelievable.”
Two days of match play whittled LIV’s 12 teams down to four: 4 Aces, Punch, Smash and Stinger. Sunday’s final round utilized standard stroke play. All four players on each team competed and everyone’s scores counted toward the team score.
Johnson (70), Reed (70), Talor Gooch (71) and Pat Perez (70) combined for a 7-under 281 for 4 Aces, with Reed’s late birdie enough to push the team over Smith and Punch. Smith had a 7-under 65, by far the best individual round of the day, but he was weighed down by Australian teammates Marc Leishman (2-over 74), Matt Jones (2-under 70) and Wade Ormsby (1-over 73).
Leishman birdied his final hole, the par-5 first, to bring Punch level with 4 Aces at 6 under before Reed’s winner.
Smash finished a distant third with a team score of 4 over, and Stinger was fourth at 10 over.
Jason Kokrak led Smash with a 4-under 68. Captain Brooks Koepka (74), Chase Koepka (75) and Peter Uihlein (75) rounded out the team
The all-South African Stinger roster featured captain Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel shooting 1-under 71s. Hennie Du Plessis had a 76 and Branden Grace posted an 80.
Punch split $8 million for second, Smash shared $6 million for third and Stinger divvied up $4 million for fourth.
–Field Level Media