LIV Golf Jeddah: Day Three
Joaco seals the deal, earns second win: Joaquin Niemann now officially wins his third event in his last six outings, starting at the Australian Open in December. Today all it took was a closing round 66 to end the weekend at -17. Today’s round was capped by two of his five birdies on 17 and 18. Across the major world tours in the calendar year 2024 (LIV, PGA, and DP World), no player has more than one victory, except Joaquin Niemann. We’ll now be able to see Joaco in just over a month at the Masters while he already won an exemption into the Open with his Aussie victory. An invite to the PGA Championship is still in the cards, the PGA Championship works independently of the PGA Tour and reserves the right to invite any player based on performance. Rounding out the podium in a tie for second at -13 are Stinger GC teammates Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel. Oosthuizen wins the tiebreaker after shooting a final round 67, gaining three strokes. Two birdies on 17 and 18 helped propel Oosthuizen into this position after hovering at the top of the leaderboard all weekend. Oosthuizen also opened the day with two birdies. Schwartzel is the most improved player of the weekend, finishing on the podium after leaving Vegas in a tie for 53rd. Now moving up 51 spots, Schwartzel shot a 68 on Sunday with three birdies.
Rest of the Top 10: Standalone in fourth with the low round of the day, firing a 62, is Bryson DeChambeau. Bouncing back after a 73 dropped him to 22nd on Saturday, Bryson was bogey-free with six birdies and an eagle on his 13th hole of the day. Alone in fifth is Jon Rahm, improving two strokes from yesterday and ending the week at -11. Rahm has now played three events with LIV, finishing top 10 in all three with two top fives. Rounding out the top 10 is a five-way tie in 6th at -10 of Charles Howell III, Anirban Lahiri, Talor Gooch, Phil Mickelson, Adrian Meronk, and Jason Kokrak. Howell III fired seven birdies today to jump from 22nd to earn his second top 10 of the season. Ban saved his best for last, shooting a 65 with six birdies and moved up from 17th to earn his first top 10 of the season. Talor Gooch finished strong after opening up with a double bogey, adding in six birdies over his last 14 holes to shoot a 67 to earn his second top-10 of the season. Mickelson had his best week of the season, shooting a bogey-free 67 on Sunday with three birdies to end the weekend in the top 10 for the first time this season, jumping up 24 spots from Vegas. Meronk now sees his best result with LIV and his second top 10, shooting four birdies and an eagle on Sunday. Kokrak had two late birdies that helped save the day for his second top-10 finish of the season.
Crushers pull off the upset, shock the Stingers: Going into Sunday, the Crushers were in sixth place after ending Friday in third. Powered by DeChambeau’s 62, Howell III, and Lahiri’s surge, the Crushers picked up 20 strokes to end at -38, earning their first win of the season. Paul Casey was the fourth counting score of today, shooting a 69 to end the weekend at -4 in a tie for 29th place. Stinger finishes the weekend in second posting a score of -34. Led by Oosthuizen and Schwartzel at the top of the leaderboard, all of the members of Stinger GC finished in the top 15 with Dean Burmester and Branden Grace finishing in a tie for 15th. The three players in the top six for the Crushers were the difference but a result that few likely saw coming. Smash GC rounds out the leaderboard, led by the 66s of Graeme McDowell and Brooks Koepka. McDowell ended the day with three birdies over his last five holes to finish 31st. Koepka finishes 12th and his team now has two podium finishes over the first three events of the season, including the win in Vegas after only seeing the podium once last season.
Kim saves the best round for last: Anthony Kim shot a 74 on Sunday, improving after opening with two 76s. Today Kim shot two birdies, equaling his total from the first two days, and went on a par or better streak from holes 8 to 17.
Looking ahead: LIV heads to Hong Kong for the first time from March 8th to 10th. The venue will be the Hong Kong Golf Club, The course was founded in 1889 and has hosted the Hong Kong Open since 1959. Greg Norman won the Hong Kong Open in 1979 and 1983. Ian Poulter won the 2010 edition, shooting the record aggregate and to a par score of 258 and 22 under par respectively. Today’s RangeGoats alternate Wade Ormsby won the 2017 and 2020 editions. Several LIV players played in the 2023 Hong Kong Open with Cameron Smith the runner-up, Peter Uihlein, and Harold Varner III finishing in a tie for 8th. LIV broadcaster Dom Boulet is the chairman of the Hong Kong Professional Golfers Association and once finished fourth at the Hong Kong Open.
