ROCESTER, England: On a day of familiar winners but high drama, Torque GC captain Joaquin Niemann and Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII exerted their dominance Sunday at LIV Golf UK by JCB, continuing the winning form that keeps them atop the season-long standings.
Niemann won for a record fifth time this season, shooting a 3-under 68 to finish at 17 under and hold off a spectacular back-nine challenge from RangeGoats GC captain Bubba Watson.
Legion XIII won their second consecutive and fourth team title of the year, this time led by their youngest player, 21-year-old Caleb Surratt, who earned the first podium finish of his LIV Golf career.
With the three-shot victory, Niemann extended his lead in the individual points race to 37.64 points over Rahm and now can clinch the individual championship at next month’s LIV Golf Chicago on Aug. 8-10. Niemann becomes the first player to win five times in a season; the 26-year-old from Chile now has seven LIV Golf wins, most of any individual player.
“If I play my best game, I know I can win,” Niemann said. “I think that’s the only thing that kind of matters for me, is to find that A-game more often.”
After entering the final round with a six-shot advantage, Niemann admittedly didn’t have his A-game on Sunday, but his steady play allowed him to build his advantage to eight shots with 10 holes to play.
That’s when Watson, the 46-year-old from Florida, produced the best six-hole stretch in LIV Golf history.
It started with a birdie at the par-3 ninth when his tee shot landed inside 3 feet. He then eagled the par-5 10th with a brilliant driver off the deck on his second shot that finished inside 6 feet. He followed with birdies at the 11th and 12th hole, then used another driver off the deck at the par-5 13th to set up another eagle from 21 feet. He finished the amazing stretch with a birdie at the par-3 14th from 12 feet.
“It’s almost like you black out,” Watson said. “When that stretch happens, you’re just kind of unconscious, right? One of those moments, an hour-long stretch, that was unbelievable. … That was crazy. Throwing in the eagles with two drivers off the deck was pretty special, pretty spectacular.”
Watson’s 8-under stretch allowed him to move within two shots of the lead going into the par-4 15th. That’s when Niemann responded with a terrific approach shot from 140 yards off a difficult lie in the rough, followed by a 5-foot birdie putt that stemmed the tide and gave him some much-needed breathing room.
“I never thought he was in the picture,” Niemann said of Watson. “(Then] he started making those moves, started making a big charge, and I was in a way feeling a little bit more uncomfortable with my lead. … Was able to hit a great shot on 15. That put me back into my place.”
Watson ultimately shot 65 to finish solo second at 14 under, while Surratt also shot 65 to finish another stroke back, the best individual results for each player since joining LIV Golf
Surratt’s play was especially important on the team side, as it sparked Legion XIII to produce another final-round rally with a cumulative 14-under total on Sunday to win by eight strokes over Torque, with Rahm also shooting 65 to tie for fifth. Not only was it Surratt’s first-ever top 10 finish on LIV Golf, it was the first time he had led his team in scoring after a tournament.
“It means a lot,” Surratt said. “Shows me a lot. It’s very hard to be at the top of the leaderboard out here, especially for the first time … To be able to do it on a day where I knew it was going to be really, really hard means a lot to myself.”
Said Rahm: “Getting his first top 10 and finishing third is a big deal, a big week.”
Legion XIII has now won two consecutive tournaments, and their lead is 46.66 points over Crushers GC. Rahm’s team has the opportunity to guarantee itself the top seed in the Team Championship with a good result in Chicago.
As for Niemann, he’s close to wrapping up the most successful regular season by any player in LIV Golf’s young history. Only Rahm or DeChambeau can catch him for the championship now.
“Obviously I want to win the season,” Niemann said. “I think there is a lot of golf to play yet. Jon, we know how good of a player he is, also Bryson.
“There is not much I can think about other than worry about what I’m doing, how I can improve and get better and play my best golf for the next two weeks. I feel like that’s all I’m worrying about it right now.”
TEAM SCORES
Here are the results and scores for each team after Sunday’s Rd. 3 of LIV Golf UK by JCB:
1. LEGION XIII -35 (Rahm 65, Surratt 65, Hatton 70, McKibbin 70; Rd. 3 score: -14)
2. TORQUE GC -27 (Niemann 68, Muñoz 69, Pereira 71, Ortiz 73; Rd. 3 score: -3)
3. STINGER GC -26 (Burmester 66, Oosthuizen 66, Schwartzel 66, Grace 69; Rd. 3 score: -17)
T4. FIREBALLS GC -23 (Ballester 65, Garcia 68, Puig 69, Ancer 71; Rd. 3 score: -11)
T4. CRUSHERS GC -23 (Lahiri 64, DeChambeau 69, Casey 71, Howell III 71; Rd. 3 score: -9)
6. RIPPER GC -17 (Smith 67, Herbert 70, Leishman 70, Jones 73; Rd. 3 score: -4)
T7. CLEEKS GC -14 (Kaymer 67, Bland 68, Meronk 69, Kjettrup 75; Rd. 3 score: -5)
T7. HYFLYERS GC -14 (Ogletree 69, Steele 69, Tringale 70, Mickelson 72; Rd. 3 score: -4)
9. SMASH GC -9 (Gooch 66, Kokrak 68, McDowell 70, Koepka 73; Rd. 3 score: -7)
10. RANGEGOATS GC -6 (Watson 65, Uihlein 67, Campbell 70, Wolff 71; Rd. 3 score: -11)
11. 4ACES GC -5 (Reed 66, Varner III 68, Pieters 71, Johnson 75; Rd. 3 score: -4)
12. MAJESTICKS GC -3 (Horsfield 69, Poulter 72, Stenson 72, Westwood 74; Rd. 3 score: +3)
13. IRON HEADS GC +7 (Na 66, Jang 67, Kozuma 69, Lee 74; Rd. 3 score: -8)
