Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton each birdied the second hole of a unique playoff at the LIV Golf Team Championship and lifted the trophy for Legion XIII on Sunday at the end of a long week in Plymouth, Mich.
Rahm’s Legion XIII and Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC each finished 18 holes of stroke play 20 under par at The Cardinal at Saint John’s, necessitating the playoff. Each team sent two players into sudden death — Rahm and Hatton for Legion XIII, DeChambeau and England’s Paul Casey for Crushers.
On the first replaying of the par-4 18th hole, Hatton birdied for Legion XIII and DeChambeau did the same for Crushers as each team finished a combined 1 under par. They headed back to the 18th tee, but Legion XIII made sure the playoff wouldn’t last much longer.
Rahm and Hatton, the star players from Spain and England, respectively, stuck their approach shots close and made their birdies. Both DeChambeau and Casey settled for par, handing the win to the 13th and newest LIV Golf franchise.
“It’s always hard to put into words,” Rahm said. “Neither Tyrrell or I were having a great day today, and even during the whole week, I don’t think we played our best. But the young guys kind of were a beacon of strength playing good and out there today as well. They carried us all the way to the end.”
Rahm ditched the PGA Tour for LIV Golf on a massive contract before the 2024 season, and Hatton followed to join Rahm’s team. Rahm won the individual title last year but could not compete in the team championship due to illness.
This year, Rahm repeated as the individual champion and followed that by guiding Legion XIII to their first team title. They won $14 million that will be split among the franchise and the individual players — Rahm, Hatton, Caleb Surratt and Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin.
“The golf course was there to sort of get, and everyone played really nice, which was cool,” McKibbin said.
It was neither Rahm nor Hatton but Surratt who posted the best score of the day for Legion XIII. He shot a 6-under-par 64, while McKibbin and Rham had 65s and Hatton a 66.
“I think towards the end of the week, you just feel a sense of urgency to go out and take it,” said Surratt, 21. “Those were kind of my words today, and I was definitely proud of this Sunday.”
DeChambeau was trying to carry Crushers to their second title in three years. He fired a bogey-free, 8-under 62 Sunday, the best round of any player in the championship bracket. Casey and India’s Anirban Lahiri posted 65s and Charles Howell III a 68.
Three teams advanced to the tournament’s championship bracket via match play Friday and Saturday. The third team was the all-South African Stinger GC, captained by Louis Oosthuizen. They finished eight shots back of Legion XIII and Crushers, as Dean Burmester posted a 5-under 65, Charl Schwartzel a 66, Branden Grace a 67 and Oosthuizen a 70.
Smash GC, captained by Brooks Koepka, went 18 under on Sunday to take fourth place in the second-tier rankings bracket against HyFlyers (fifth) and Torque (sixth). Dustin Johnson piloted 4Aces GC to seventh ahead of Fireballs (eighth) and Ripper (ninth). Rounding out the bottom three were RangeGoats, Majesticks and Cleeks.
The tournament concluded LIV Golf’s fourth season, and the league is planning to be back for a fifth with a 14-event schedule that’s been partially released.
–Field Level Media
