Ortiz and the Cleeks land maiden titles, good recovery by Lahiri
Two first-time winners emerged at LIV Golf Houston, Cleeks GC in the team event and Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz in the individual competition at the Golf Club pf Houston on Sunday.
- Jun 10, 2024,
- Updated Jun 10, 2024 7:21 PM IST
Anirban Lahiri fired a team best 4 under par 68 as league leaders and 2023 winners Crushers GC stook a share of fourth place behind maiden winners Cleeks GC at LIV Golf Houston on Sunday with Carlos Ortiz too climbing to the podium’s top step for the first time with the individual title.
The Cleeks had started the week as the last remaining team to not have celebrated either a team or individual win, but changed that with a determined performance at the Golf Club of Houston.
Former US Open winner Martin Kaymer’s Cleeks fired an impressive three-day total of 33 under par to end their title wait by two strokes over Smash GC and Fireballs GC before opening the champagne at LIV Golf’s 30th tournament.
Lahiri followed cards of 69 and 59 with his closing 68 to share sixth place and climb the season’s standings to 25th place, one step below a guaranteed team start for the 2025 season. The Crushers also maintained their lead at the head of the team table from Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII and individual leader Joaquin Neimann’s Torque GC.
“This is why we signed up for LIV, to play for the team,” said Germany’s Kaymer, whose Cleeks improved on their previous best of tied second at Singapore last month. “The individual race is great, but to celebrate together and to do that together, this is why we came here, and this is why LIV exists, to have that team competition.”
Torque GC’s Carlos Ortiz, who has celebrated four team victories but never an individual LIV title took top honours at Houston with a final round of 5 under 67 and a 15 under total, one stroke ahead of the Cleeks’ Adrian Meronk. Houston resident Patrick Reed (4Aces GC), who has never won in his home town was tied for third with David Puig of Fireballs GC on 13 under. It was a second title in Houston for Mexico’s Ortiz, a 2020 winner of the Houston Open, but at a different course. “I love playing here,” he said later. “Obviously Texas treats me well. It's my adopted home state. I'm just happy to get it done again in Houston.” Ortiz and Meronk quickly found themselves in a duel for most of the back nine on Sunday. While Ortiz birdied the 15th hole, Meronk dropped a shot after going off-line from the tee and needing a penalty drop. Ortiz bogeyed the last hole after missing his only green of the day, but Meronk’s birdie attempt that could have tied scores slipped past the cup. “He played unbelievable, and he put pressure all the way to the end,” Ortiz said of Meronk who had a 68 on Sunday. “It was a good battle.” Added Poland’s Meronk, “He played really great. He really deserved it. I hope I can get him next time.” And while disappointed not to win the individual title, he was happy to be part of the Cleeks’ first team celebration. “That's what's cool about LIV, to have three other guys with you on the team. Even if you don't win or you don't perform as you want individually, you still have that team performance.”
The Cleeks were well off the pace at the start on Sunday put picked up their game on the second nine with Kaymer getting five birdies, Finland’s Kalle Samooja and Meronk three each and Senior PGA champion Richard Bland getting two in a row. The Englishman sealed the title with another gained shot on his 18th hole for an unassailable two-stroke edge.
“I gave myself such a talking-to to the 11th, and I said, you'd better birdie this hole,” Bland said. “Fortunately I hit a great wedge shot to two feet and knocked it in.
“When you see other guys lifting trophies, of course, that's what you want to do,” he added. “It's easy to see that we were going in the right direction. We were. Today we were able to pull it off. What a great feeling. It's very, very special.”
Unfortunately, Ortiz will not be able to take his winning form into next week’s US Open, as he missed the cut in the final qualifier two weeks ago in Dallas.
“I've been playing great,” Ortiz said. “It's a shame I doubled the last hole to miss the qualifier. It hurt a lot. But I think with time, we're going to get back into the majors because I know that I'm one of the best players in the world right now, and I deserve to be there.” Ortiz now hopes to qualify for the Open Championship, and he is on track for the Olympic Games in Paris, representing his native Mexico.
Sunday’s result and the T2 at Singapore took the Cleeks to seventh in the points standings. 30 points shy of third place, which is the final seeding to earn a first-round bye at the team championship in Dallas in September. “The goal has changed,” Kaymer said. “I would say if you would have asked me three, four weeks ago, is top five realistic going into Dallas, I would have said, yes, it's always realistic, but it's going to be a very, very difficult path to get there.
“Singapore we did well. This week we did well. Now the goal has changed to try to get to the top three spots because it doesn't really matter if you finished fourth or 13th. So top 3 is the new goal. “Now is the time we need to keep pushing. We need to keep working hard because we only have two-and-a-half months left of the year for the LIV events, so we need to keep grinding. We need to make a proper push to give ourselves a good chance to finish in the top three.”
Anirban Lahiri fired a team best 4 under par 68 as league leaders and 2023 winners Crushers GC stook a share of fourth place behind maiden winners Cleeks GC at LIV Golf Houston on Sunday with Carlos Ortiz too climbing to the podium’s top step for the first time with the individual title.
The Cleeks had started the week as the last remaining team to not have celebrated either a team or individual win, but changed that with a determined performance at the Golf Club of Houston.
Former US Open winner Martin Kaymer’s Cleeks fired an impressive three-day total of 33 under par to end their title wait by two strokes over Smash GC and Fireballs GC before opening the champagne at LIV Golf’s 30th tournament.
Lahiri followed cards of 69 and 59 with his closing 68 to share sixth place and climb the season’s standings to 25th place, one step below a guaranteed team start for the 2025 season. The Crushers also maintained their lead at the head of the team table from Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII and individual leader Joaquin Neimann’s Torque GC.
“This is why we signed up for LIV, to play for the team,” said Germany’s Kaymer, whose Cleeks improved on their previous best of tied second at Singapore last month. “The individual race is great, but to celebrate together and to do that together, this is why we came here, and this is why LIV exists, to have that team competition.”
Torque GC’s Carlos Ortiz, who has celebrated four team victories but never an individual LIV title took top honours at Houston with a final round of 5 under 67 and a 15 under total, one stroke ahead of the Cleeks’ Adrian Meronk. Houston resident Patrick Reed (4Aces GC), who has never won in his home town was tied for third with David Puig of Fireballs GC on 13 under. It was a second title in Houston for Mexico’s Ortiz, a 2020 winner of the Houston Open, but at a different course. “I love playing here,” he said later. “Obviously Texas treats me well. It's my adopted home state. I'm just happy to get it done again in Houston.” Ortiz and Meronk quickly found themselves in a duel for most of the back nine on Sunday. While Ortiz birdied the 15th hole, Meronk dropped a shot after going off-line from the tee and needing a penalty drop. Ortiz bogeyed the last hole after missing his only green of the day, but Meronk’s birdie attempt that could have tied scores slipped past the cup. “He played unbelievable, and he put pressure all the way to the end,” Ortiz said of Meronk who had a 68 on Sunday. “It was a good battle.” Added Poland’s Meronk, “He played really great. He really deserved it. I hope I can get him next time.” And while disappointed not to win the individual title, he was happy to be part of the Cleeks’ first team celebration. “That's what's cool about LIV, to have three other guys with you on the team. Even if you don't win or you don't perform as you want individually, you still have that team performance.”
The Cleeks were well off the pace at the start on Sunday put picked up their game on the second nine with Kaymer getting five birdies, Finland’s Kalle Samooja and Meronk three each and Senior PGA champion Richard Bland getting two in a row. The Englishman sealed the title with another gained shot on his 18th hole for an unassailable two-stroke edge.
“I gave myself such a talking-to to the 11th, and I said, you'd better birdie this hole,” Bland said. “Fortunately I hit a great wedge shot to two feet and knocked it in.
“When you see other guys lifting trophies, of course, that's what you want to do,” he added. “It's easy to see that we were going in the right direction. We were. Today we were able to pull it off. What a great feeling. It's very, very special.”
Unfortunately, Ortiz will not be able to take his winning form into next week’s US Open, as he missed the cut in the final qualifier two weeks ago in Dallas.
“I've been playing great,” Ortiz said. “It's a shame I doubled the last hole to miss the qualifier. It hurt a lot. But I think with time, we're going to get back into the majors because I know that I'm one of the best players in the world right now, and I deserve to be there.” Ortiz now hopes to qualify for the Open Championship, and he is on track for the Olympic Games in Paris, representing his native Mexico.
Sunday’s result and the T2 at Singapore took the Cleeks to seventh in the points standings. 30 points shy of third place, which is the final seeding to earn a first-round bye at the team championship in Dallas in September. “The goal has changed,” Kaymer said. “I would say if you would have asked me three, four weeks ago, is top five realistic going into Dallas, I would have said, yes, it's always realistic, but it's going to be a very, very difficult path to get there.
“Singapore we did well. This week we did well. Now the goal has changed to try to get to the top three spots because it doesn't really matter if you finished fourth or 13th. So top 3 is the new goal. “Now is the time we need to keep pushing. We need to keep working hard because we only have two-and-a-half months left of the year for the LIV events, so we need to keep grinding. We need to make a proper push to give ourselves a good chance to finish in the top three.”