Koepka breaks a LIV barrier at Sentosa with his fourth individual title

With wife Jena and infant son Crew on-site, Brooks Koepka made it a lucrative Sunday, carving out a comfortable LIV Golf Singapore victory at the Sentosa Golf Club even as Ripper GC rode the momentum of their Adelaide triumph to a second successive team win.

The result gave Koepka, who will defend his PGA Championship title in two weeks, his fourth individual title, the first to do so on the LIV Golf roster and was also his 20th career professional title worldwide.

“Super awesome,” Koepka, holding his son, said with a huge smile. “It's great to have him out. Like I said earlier in the week, it's been kind of disappointing because he's watched me finish 45th, which is kind of embarrassing. It's something I've always dreamed of is having Jena and Crew there when I win. To have them here is super special and something I'll never forget.”

This week was Crew’s third live tournament. His father, who turned 34 on Friday, had finished tied for 45th the first two times, at LIV Golf Miami and at the Masters last month. Koepka senior will hope the Singapore result will fire up his title defence at Valhalla in two weeks.

Led by Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman, the all-Australian Rippers overcame any concerns of a hangover effect after their emotional victory in Adelaide, shooting a combined final round of 10 under par on the Serapong course beat Fireballs GC and Cleeks GC into joint second by three strokes as the 2024 season reached its halfway point.

“I kind of knew all year that we were going to get the ball rolling at some point,” said Smith, whose team finished at 32 under and are now third behind Crushers GC and Legion XIII in the season-long points standings. The Crushers, who include India star Anirban Lahiri in the lineup, had a second disappointing weekend in a row and have seen their runaway lead cut to single figures after Singapore.

“I think internally that we're the best team out here, and we're going to be tough to beat when we all have our best stuff,” added Smith, who even autographed his shoes before drinking out of them, then he handed the pair to fans who helped the team celebrate.

“Even though I've had a couple of wins, they're only a few weeks old, so I feel like I should go and get them back, to be honest,” Smith joked.

The Rippers had plenty of support at Sentosa as well.

“It's a pretty easy flight from Australia,” said Matt Jones, “and I think they're either expats or a lot of people travelled up here, so it was great to have Ripper fans out here again this week. Hopefully there's more and more. The more we play, there's more Ripper fans everywhere we go.”

The Rippers celebrated their second consecutive win in a very Aussie manner, with shoeys on the podium just like last week in Adelaide. “I said to the boys, surely we've got to draw the line somewhere, don't we?" Marc Leishman said on the event website. “They're like, no, we're doing it. I'm like, all right, so we did.”

On Sunday, Koepka shot a 3 under par 68 to finish on 15 under for a two-stroke victory over Smith and Leishman, and will head into the PGA Championship at Valhalla in two weeks feeling confident about his chances to win a sixth career major.

“It’s all starting to come around,” said Koepka, who became the first LIV Golf player to win a major with victory last year at Oak Hill. “I like the way things are trending. I felt the heat, but it was mainly because of how hot it was. Just played very consistent, missed it in the right spots. When you're playing with a lead, you do that. You don't have to force anything.”

Koepka started the day with a three-shot lead, but a variety of challengers closed the gap throughout the round. Koepka never gave up the lead, though, and he bounced back from his only bogey – a three-putt at the ninth – with a birdie.

A late Leishman birdie narrowed the gap to one shot, but the Australian bogeyed his final hole gave Koepka a two-shot lead going into the par-5 18th, and he avoided the water and calmly holed his par putt after going wide right off the tee.

The Rippers started the day one stroke behind Smash but went ahead by the day’s 11th hole as joint runners-up Smith and Leishman saw their game heat up. Past Open champion Smith was 6 under during a 10-hole stretch to bring in a closing 7-under 64, which tied for the lowest round of the day.

Leishman added a 66, Matt Jones had a 70 while Lucas Herbert shot a 74 but steadied his round after suffering a double bogey on his sixth hole. “It's amazing,” Jones said. “Last week was a very special week for us, but to come out here this week and do it again, it's really special.”

Final Singapore scores

1. Ripper GC -32 (Smith 64, Leishman 66, Jones 70, Herbert 74)

T2. Fireballs GC -29 (Chacarra 68, Garcia 68, Puig 68, Ancer 71)

T2. Cleeks GC -29 (Samooja 64, Bland 69, Kaymer 71 Meronk 71)

4. Smash GC -28 (Gooch 67, Koepka 68, McDowell 71, Kokrak 73)

5. Legion XIII -26 (Hatton 66, Rahm 67, Surratt 71, Vincent 71)

T6. Torque GC -25 (Ortiz 64, Niemann 67, Pereira 70, Muñoz 71)

T6. RangeGoats GC -25 (Watson 67, Uihlein 68, Pieters 69, Wolff 76)

T8. 4Aces GC -21 (Johnson 66, Reed 66, Perez 71, Varner III 72)

T8. HyFlyers GC -21 (Mickelson 67, Ogletree 67, Steele 71, Tringale 71)

10. Stinger GC -19 (Burmester 68, Grace 69, Oosthuizen 71, Schwartzel 71)

11. Crushers GC -17 (DeChambeau 69, Casey 70, Lahiri 70, Howell III 71)

12. Iron Heads GC -6 (Na 67, Lee 69, Kozuma 76, Vincent 76)

13. Majesticks GC E (Horsfield 70, Poulter 73, Stenson 73, Westwood 75)