Having found the water with his tee shot on the first extra hole Sunday at Aramco LIV Golf Singapore, Bryson DeChambeau was just hoping to save par and extend his playoff against Richard T. Lee.
Related: Joaquin Niemann, Lee Westwood share 54-hole lead in Singapore
Never did the Crushers GC captain expect to win in a drama-filled finish that ended with DeChambeau getting up-and-down for par, then Lee missing a 2-foot par putt that would’ve sent the playoff back to the 18th tee for a second extra hole at Sentosa Golf Club.
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“A lot of emotion right now,” DeChambeau said after his fourth career LIV Golf individual title. “Good emotion, struggling emotion, just everything that you could possibly imagine, it’s there. But a lot of joy.”
There’s also a lot of joy involving Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC, which won for the second consecutive week in Asia, having also claimed last week’s tournament in Hong Kong that broke a streak of 32 consecutive regular-season starts without a win.
On Sunday, Thomas Pieters led the way with a bogey-free 6-under 65, while Anthony Kim (69) also went bogey-free. Johnson (69) and Thomas Detry (70) rounded out the 11-under final round, lowest of any team Sunday, for the five-shot victory.
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“Obviously the league gets better every single year. It gets harder to win,” Johnson said. “You’ve got to have four really good players if you want to have a chance to win. Right now, I feel like we do.”
Lee, the league’s first Canadian player, certainly reflects the league’s depth. The dominant winner of LIV Golf Promotions in January, his runner-up finish at Sentosa is the best result and first top-10 finish ever posted by one of the league’s independent Wild Card players.
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He put himself in position to win after a birdie at the par-5 18th in regulation to finish with a 5-under 66 and 10 under total. That forced DeChambeau, playing in the final group behind him, to also make birdie to shoot 66 and force the playoff at 14 under.
In rainy conditions that had already forced two stoppages earlier in the day, DeChambeau initially pulled 3-wood for the tee shot on 18 but then opted for driver. His ball splashed into the water hazard running down the left side of the fairway. Lee, with the advantage, followed with a tee shot that found the fairway bunker on the right side, forcing him to lay up.
After his penalty drop, DeChambeau’s third shot landed in the rough over the green, while Lee found the green, his ball finishing 10 feet away for what would’ve been the winning birdie. But he failed to sink that putt and the par that followed to extend the playoff.
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DeChambeau said he would’ve rather played the 18th hole again with Lee instead of winning on an opponent’s short miss.
“You never want to win that way – I’ll be the first to admit that,” DeChambeau said. “But it’s happened before, and golf is a fickle and uneasy game at a lot of moments. That’s just sometimes the way the cards fall, but I just didn’t like seeing it happen.”
Asked about the missed par putt, Lee noted, “It was a short putt, and I wanted to just hit it hard, and I hit it a little too hard. I think the adrenaline was pumping a little bit. Then again, I felt like I had it this week. I played really well. Hopefully next week I can try again.”
Both DeChambeau and Lee were in good form after play resumed following rain delays midway through the final round. DeChambeau was a bogey-free 2 under on his back nine while Lee birdied four of his last six holes.
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The two rallied past Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann, who held a two-shot lead prior to the rainy conditions but suffered three bogeys after the restart and eventually finished solo fourth.
Majesticks Golf Club Co-Captain Lee Westwood – making his first league appearance in the final group of a final round – shot a 69 on Sunday for solo third, his best result in LIV Golf.
“Really proud,” said the 52-year-old Westwood, making just his second start this season after returning from a wrist injury. “It’s a while since I’ve been in the final group when it’s meant something.”
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DeChambeau said his playoff opponent Lee should also be proud of the effort, despite the disappointing finish.
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“As much as winning is great, I have a lot of respect for Richard and the way he golfs his ball out there,” DeChambeau said. “He’s a real superstar, and the league should be really proud to have him as a Wild Card.”
