Emotional first ever LIV team playoff in Adelaide, Steele tops individual event

LIV Golf saw its first team playoff after 28 tournaments since it’s launch in mid-2022 on Sunday Adelaide and the result could not have been scripted better with the all-Australian Ripper GC captained by Cameron Smith, getting the better of the South Africans of Stinger GC led by Louis Oosthuizen.

While there have been as many as seven playoffs to decide individual winners, including one involving Indian star Anirban Lahiri, there had never been a team shootout. That stood corrected at the Grange Golf Course and as the cherry on the icing it resulted in what was effectively a ‘home’ victory.

In all the excitement surrounding the team title, US golfer Brendan Steele quietly brought home his first LIV Golf title, beating Oosthuizen by one stroke in the individual competition.

It was a first tournament win for the 41-year-old after 2017, and Steele credited Phil Mickelson for the outcome. “He's the reason that I'm here and the reason that I'm improving,” Steele said. “To be honest, I'm 41 years old and I'm getting better, and it's mostly because of him.” With Steele on the verge of winning the team’s first trophy of any kind, HyFlyers captain Mickelson provided some advice and words of encouragement before Sunday’s round.

“He was like, how are you feeling? What are you thinking?” Steele explained. “I said, well, if I can play freely like I did the last couple days, I feel like I'll have a good chance. He's like, that's great. Let's reframe it. Let's make it when I play freely, I can play freely, I will play freely. Let's reframe it into that.” After Steele’s one-stroke victory built around a final 4 under 68 card and an 18 under par total, Mickelson was on the 18th green to give his teammate a congratulatory hug.

Lahiri closed out at Adelaide with a 5 under 67 that gave him a share of 14th place on 13 under 203 alongside Smith and fellow Ripper Marc Leishman. Crushers skipper Bryson DeChambeau and Charles Howell III added 10 under scores while Paul Casey finished on 9 under as the team tied for seventh place.  The Rippers needed a second playoff hole to capture the victory after Oosthuizen and Dean Burmester fluffed their chances the first time around at an event that drew in excess of 90,000 over the three days of play.

“This is unreal,” said Smith, standing on the 18th green and draped in an Australian flag with teammates Leishman, Matt Jones and Lucas Herbert. “It’s a dream come true for us. This week has far exceeded my vision for what was ahead,” Smith said later.  “I think I always knew internally that Australia would really embrace LIV with the culture, with the music, with the entertainment, everything that goes on around it. I always felt like this was the place where it was going to make it big, and how it's been the last couple of years has been just insane.”

“Really surreal,” said Steele, whose win was the 11th of his professional career but a first since 2017. “I’m pretty overwhelmed, but to win this event is really special. I can't say enough good things about the fans and the golf course and the whole experience this week.” Steele started Sunday with a one-stroke lead and produced five consecutive birdies to build himself enough of a cushion against the twice-unfortunate Oosthuizen, who shot a 7-under 65. Five players tied for third on 16 under par, HyFlyers teammate Andy Ogletree (65), Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm (64), Stingers Charl Schwartzel (64) and Dean Burmester (67) and Torque GC captain Joaquin Niemann (66).

Steele was able to hold off all challengers, and the Rippers appeared to be doing the same for most of the final nine holes, riding the support of the Adelaide fans to the top of the leaderboard. At one point, the Australians led by five strokes until the Stingers launched their charge. When Smith bogeyed his last hole of the day, the 18th, and Oosthuizen birdied his next-to-last hole, both teams finished at 53 under for the week – a record-low counting score in LIV Golf history. It set up LIV Golf’s first team playoff, with Smith and Leishman representing the Rippers. Oosthuizen and Burmester represented the Stingers, with scores of all four players counting on each playoff hole.

The Stingers had the advantage on the first playoff hole, with Oosthuizen and Burmester setting up makeable but challenging birdie putts on the 18th hole. Both failed to convert, Oosthuizen watching his effort lip out. Meanwhile, Smith was in trouble off the tee and found the bunker with his approach, while Leishman’s approach came up short and rolled back toward the fairway. But both managed to save par. “How we got out of that, I don't really know,” Leishman said. “We were done and dusted by the looks of it.”
 
On the second playoff hole. Leishman was on in two and made par, while both Stingers found the back greenside bunker, resulting in bogeys. Smith had two putts for a bogey to win and needed both of them to set off raucous celebrations from the packed galleries. “I definitely didn't have my best stuff today,” Smith said. “I told Sam (Pinfold, his caddie) on the 7th green, I said, ‘Mate, I'm absolutely sh--ting myself here. I had just made a birdie, but it seemed like I was just tight and tense. Just had a lot of pressure, and then the way that the boys were playing, it almost added another element of pressure, like I really have to pull my finger out here because everyone else is going good.”

"You couldn’t have staged a better place to do the first playoff,” said a gracious Oosthuizen in defeat. “Probably couldn’t script it better with the Rippers winning. We had chances. We had two putts on the first hole. And I hit a good putt on the second playoff hole as well. Some days they go in, some days they don’t.”

Final scores

1. Ripper GC -53 (Herbert 65, Leishman 65, Jones 68, Smith 70)
 
2. Stinger GC -53 (Schwartzel 64, Oosthuizen 65, Burmester 67, Grace 68)
 
3. HyFlyers GC -48 (Ogletree 65, Steele 68, Mickelson 70, Tringale 71)
 
4. Torque GC -46 (Niemann 66, Muñoz 69, Pereira 69, Ortiz 73)
 
5. Legion XIII -42 (Rahm 64, Hatton 67, Surratt 68, Vincent 70)
 
6. Iron Heads GC -41 (Kozuma 68, Na 69, Lee 71, Vincent 73)
 
T7. Cleeks GC -40 (Kaymer 64, Meronk 66, Bland 69, Samooja 69)
 
T7. Crushers GC -40 (Lahiri 67, Casey 68, DeChambeau 70, Howell III 71)
 
9. RangeGoats GC -38 (Pieters 67, Wolff 69, Uihlein 71, Watson 71)
 
10. Fireballs GC -35 (Ancer 64, Garcia 66, Chacarra 67, Puig 69)
 
11. Smash GC -31 (Koepka 66, Kokrak 69, Gooch 70, McDowell 71)
 
12. 4Aces GC -30 (Perez 68, Johnson 69, Reed 72, Varner III 72)
 
13. Majesticks GC -11 (Westwood 69, Horsfield 71, Stenson 71, Poulter 74)