DeChambeau battles to first individual LIV Golf title of season; Crushers top team event 

US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau overcame a string of Sunday near-misses with a battling two-stroke win over Crushers GC teammate Charles Howell III, finally converting a 36-hole lead into a LIV Golf victory at Incheon in Korea on Sunday. DeChambeau’s 6 under par 66 and Howell’s stunning 9 under 63 also helped their team to a first title of the season. 

With Paul Casey and Anirban Lahiri turning gritty performances on May 4 at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club, the Crushers tracked down. Then they swept past front-runners Smash GC, led by Brooks Koepka, to annex the LIV Golf Korea presented by Coupang Play team crown by a dominant nine-shot margin. 

“Charles and I had a great battle out there,” said DeChambeau, who totalled 19 under for the event. “He never wavered today. It was fun and we had a great time today, but it was intense. Super-intense. I’m so proud of Chuckie, and the way he fought there today. Seeing that type of grit, oh my gosh, that’s why I have him on the team. That’s why I love every one of them. 

“The future’s bright for the Crushers. I’m just excited to be part of this story. This is so awesome. That’s what LIV is all about.” 

Added Howell, who was sidelined for a part of the season with an ankle injury and recorded his best LIV Golf finish since winning at Mayakoba in Mexico two years ago, “I knew today would be a tough day to catch Bryson and even to try to beat him, but I gave it my best. I definitely would’ve thought 9-under would have done it, and clearly it didn’t. … Any time you shoot 9-under par in the last group, and you still don’t win, it’s a tough day.” 

It was DeChambeau’s third individual title in LIV Golf and his first since 2023. Thrice in the recent past, he has seen final day leads slip away, at the previous two LIV Golf events in Miami and Mexico City and last month’s Masters in which he led with 16 holes left only to see Rory McIlroy outplay Justin Rose in a first-hole playoff at Augusta National. 

DeChambeau set out on Sunday leading by four shots but Howell who was five behind at the start carded three consecutive birdies to be four under at the turn. And with DeChambeau dropping his only bogey of the week the lead had shrunk to one shot. Once Howell had levelled scores, it was an intense battle till hole 16 where he dropped a shot and DeChambeau birdied for the outright lead. 

The two-time US Open winner would go on to seal the win with a closing birdie and a final two-stroke margin over his teammate. Others challenged briefly including 4Aces GC’s Thomas Pieters who birdied five of his first six holes and the strongly finishing Smash’s Talor Gooch, but the title battle came down to the two Crushers teammates and close friends. 

Behind them, Casey opened with a 4 over 76 but carded 71 and 67 over the weekend to tie for 29th while Lahiri added a 72 on Sunday to rebound from his 79 the day before that included an unlucky 

break when an approach shot bounced off the flagstick and rolled into a water hazard, resulting in a double bogey and derailing his momentum. 

“I really wanted to get on that podium for the team,” Lahiri said. “I had a tough weekend, but Paul and I were both grinding out there.” Added Casey: “Charles and Bryson won this for us. Our job was to not mess it up if I’m being honest.” 

The result carried DeChambeau into second place in the rankings behind Torque GC captain Joaquin Niemann, and he is just 0.19 points ahead of third-place Jon Rahm of Legion XIII, with Niemann leading by just over 20 points. 

Legion XIII leads the team standings by more than 21 points ahead of Fireballs GC, with Crushers now in third by less than two points over Ripper GC. The top three teams in the standings after the final regular-season tournament in Indianapolis in mid-August will wrap up byes for the following week’s Michigan Team Championship. 

For Rahm, it was a 19th consecutive Top 10 finish since he joined the LIV Golf ranks last year, a stunning and unmatched run of consistency that saw him to the individual title last year and keeps in the hunt this time too. His only non-top 10 was when he withdrew last year in Houston with a foot injury.