Bryson DeChambeau won the LIV Golf League event in Chicago after shooting a final round 63 at Rich Harvest Farms.
DeChambeau, for whom this was his second win of the season after he shot a final round 58 to win LIV Golf Greenbrier, started the day eight strokes off the lead, and finished at 13 under to take the title, with Anirban Lahiri and Marc Leishman tied for second at 12 under. Leishman, who shot a closing 66, took second-place points via a better final round score than Lahiri, who shot 69.
DeChambeau and Lahiri were able to celebrate the team victory together, as the Crushers shot a 15-under counting score on Sunday to finish at 33 under, three strokes ahead of Fireballs GC. Along with DeChambeau’s 63, Charles Howell III (67) and Paul Casey (68) contributed counting scores. Fireballs GC took second, while league-leading 4Aces GC claimed third via tiebreaker over RangeGoats GC.
While happy with the win, DeChambeau later admitted to feeling a little upset that it came at the expense of his teammate, Lahiri, who was seeking his first win in eight years. Lahiri, who held the lead for most of the final round after overtaking 36-hole leader Sebastián Muñoz, missed a par putt on the 18th hole that would’ve forced a playoff with DeChambeau.
“To be honest with you, I was actually sad,” said DeChambeau, who was watching from just off the green. “I really wanted him to make that putt so we could battle it off in a playoff and finish it off the right way. It was definitely a huge mix of emotions. It’s one of those things you never want to see a teammate go through, but it is what it is, and I think he will learn a lot from it. His time is coming.”
Lahiri’s tie for second is his seventh runner-up finish in all his starts since joining LIV Golf last year. He was seeking his first victory since a pair of wins in 2015. He was a bogey-free 4-under on his round through 14 holes, but he three-putted the 15th and 18th holes and admitted afterward that, “I played really bad, to be honest. I was fighting my swing the whole day.”
Meanwhile, DeChambeau birdied seven of his last 12 holes as his putter heated up. His lengthy putt at 12 left him in disbelief, as he continued to move up the leaderboard.
“I just kept trying to hit as many fairways as I could and hit the irons close and make some putts,” DeChambeau said. “That’s ultimately just kind of what happens when I get on a roll. It just doesn’t stop. Kind of like, uh-oh, here comes the train.”
DeChambeau now moves to third in the individual standings, giving him a chance for the outright title next month in Jeddah along with No.1 Cameron Smith and No.2 Talor Gooch.
The victory is the second this season for the Crushers, who moved into second place in the team standings with one regular-season tournament left next month in Jeddah. The top four teams in the standings after that event will receive byes going into the Team Championship in Miami.
“This is why I love what we’re doing,” Casey said. “It’s the individual and the team element, and the individual element is rewarding to a certain level, and the team element is rewarding to a whole other level. They’re different. You can’t compare them but boy, does it feel good to play good with these guys.”
TOP 3 TEAM SCORES
- CRUSHERS GC (-33): Bryson DeChambeau 63, Charles Howell III 67, Paul Casey 68 (Rd. 3 score: -15)
- FIREBALLS GC (-30): Sergio Garcia 67, Abraham Ancer 69, Eugenio Chacarra 69 (Rd. 3 score: -8)
- 4ACES GC (-25): Peter Uihlein 66, Pat Perez 70, Patrick Reed 70 (Rd. 3 score: -7)