Ever since heavyweights Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, Phil Mickelson, and more like them shifted loyalties from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf, and engaged in a format (54 holes, no-cut) that was scoffed at by aficionados, their ability to be competitive on the world stage came to be questioned.
The theory was misplaced, and was quashed comprehensively at the 2023 Masters. The Augusta National was witness to a pitched battle, one that had Rahm and Koepka vying for supremacy. The former was the last man standing, and the one with the Green Jacket as Koepka suffered a meltdown on the final day.
Time was to accord him another chance at redemption at another setting, but together with Mickelson, who tied for second with Koepka, the three LIV golfers made a statement of solid intent to silence the noise.
Cut to present, and the latest 2024 LIV Golf presentation at the Old White, Greenbrier, was the opportunity for Smash GC skipper Brooks Koepka to level out the Masters’ loss. It was a fateful Sunday, August 18, which set up Koepka and Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm, in a way that it culminated in a classic showdown.
Rahm went into the final day with a two-shot lead but Koepka caught up, and it went down to the wire as both men finished regulation play tied at 19-under. Playoffs are always about the man holding nerve at that moment, and Koepka won on the first sudden death hole for his second triumph of the season.
Amid the string of records he scripted along the way to add glitter to LIV Golf’s short existence, making up for the Masters disappointment would have played prominently in the background as Koepka made par in the playoff to deny Rahm what would have been his second consecutive win in the league.
Though in denial that he was thinking about Augusta and the loss to Rahm, finishing one up on the Spaniard came through in his response nonetheless. “This [win] is probably my favourite one [on LIV]. It’s always good when you battle good players…Jon is a hell of a player. For whatever reason he’s always got the better of me a little bit as of late. So. it feels nice just to get one.
“I had a chance to win two of these, and I pulled them off.” What Koepka was hinting at was contending on a regular basis on LIV vis-à-vis Rahm. In 12 starts since he moved to LIV in December 2023, Rahm has never finished worse than 10th, and won in United Kingdom in the lead-up to Greenbrier.
“Look at Jon all year, he’s had eight-nine events where he’s top 6 or has a chance to win on the back nine. That’s what needs to happen (for me) for next year,” said Koepka.
Despite the urge to step up further, Koepka has been LIV Golf’s gold standard even before the week that went by at Greenbrier.
World No 1 for 47 weeks in 2018, Koepka is the only LIV golfer to win a Major, the 2023 PGA Championship, and post Sunday, notched another landmark with his fifth individual win on the Saudi-funded enterprise. Interestingly, three of the five titles have come through playoffs.
Asked if he considered himself the best player on LIV, Koepka wasn’t to be drawn into a response, and he found a way out. “That’s a setup question. I’m not going to answer that because I’m sure everybody will tear me apart. But you have to believe in yourself and be super confident. This year hasn’t been very good, so it’s nice to kind of try to end it on a high note. We’ve got two events left, so we’ll see what we can do.”
Despite being away from the PGA Tour for three seasons, Koepka perhaps, and rightly so, still considers the Majors a measure of excellence at the world level.
Depending on their exemption status, the season’s four Majors are the only platform that allows LIV golfers to compete with the PGA Tour’s best, and Koepka’s show has been sub-standard this year. Tied 45 at the Masters, T26 at the PGA Championship and US Open and T43 at The Open, Koepka was harsh in summing up his Major run.
“The four Majors were pretty disappointing.” Coming from a five-time Major winner, not contending even once this year is unacceptable.
The New Year isn’t far off, and like Greenbrier, Koepka will have a chance to set the record straight at the Majors as well, but till then, he will keep doing what’s within his control.
Koepka has now won a record five times out of the 31 events he’s played on LIV to lead the field by two. By notching wins regularly, and his teammates contributing admirably, the Smash GC skipper has ensured that his team climbs the ranking chart as well.
Like Brooks Koepka, who collected the top prize of USD 4 million out of the total payout of USD 20 million, Smash GC posted the 2024 season’s second win at Greenbrier (after Las Vegas) and tied the LIV Golf record of 53-under. With it, came the team prize of USD 3 million. Smash are also up to fourth in the team standings after 12 events with two to go before the season wraps up.
Finishing second best will sting Jon Rahm going into Chicago (September 13-15), the final regular event before the Team Championship the week after in Dallas. But finishing behind Koepka has helped the Legion XIII skipper overtake Torque GC’s Joaquin Niemann in the individual standings by a slender margin.
At 195.17 points to Niemann’s 192.20, Rahm and his competitor are the only ones in with a chance to wrap up the individual title, and a win in Chicago should complete the task.
Rahm is aware, and will be hoping the takeaways from Greenbrier will play a part. With just three bogeys through the week, and holing some long putts to run the winner close, Rahm has set himself up for another charge in Chicago.
The contest with Koepka was one that appealed to Rahm as well. “We’ve gone head-to-head a few times, and it’s always a fun one for the spectators. It’s fun for us and obviously more fun for whoever wins, but it always seems to come down the stretch.
Last time, I had a putt to win it on the 18th, and this time he was the one who ended up winning,” said Rahm.
(Main and featured images: LIV Golf/ Instagram)
Brooks Koepka recorded his fifth win on LIV, and second of the 2024 season after Singapore, by beating Jon Rahm on the first playoff hole after both players were tied at 19-under in regulation play.
Brooks Koepka has now won five of the 31 LIV Golf regular-season tournaments he’s played. It’s a record as no other player has won more than three times. As captain of Smash GC, Koepka also helped his team to tie the LIV team record of 53-under.
The total payout at Greenbrier was USD 20 million of which Brooks Koepka took the winner’s share of USD 4 million, followed by Jon Rahm at USD 2.25 million.
Robin Bose has covered multi-discipline sport for prominent publications in India like The Statesman and Outlook before being bitten by the golf bug in 2008. He specialised in the sport and covered it ..Read More
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