Photo by Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images
Koepka defeated Jon Rahm in a playoff to earn his fifth LIV Golf title at Greenbrier. His Smash GC team also won the event.
Brooks Koepka defeated Jon Rahm in a playoff at LIV Golf Greenbrier to win for the fifth time in this league. It is his second victory in 2024 after he won LIV Singapore earlier this season.
He fired off a bogey-free 7-under 63 to get to 19-under overall to force a playoff with Jon Rahm.
It took just one extra hole to secure the win as he made par on the 18th.
Rahm hit his tee shot over the green and into a bunker, which gave him a tough shot to get up and down. He had 25 feet for par and missed the putt as the ball grazed the edge of the cup.
“I think this is probably my favorite one [wins]. It’s always good when you battle good players,” Koepka said after he won on Sunday. “I battled Gooch for a while last year. It felt like every tournament, but 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 to get one.”
Kopeka opened his round by making birdie on three of his first four holes. He added his fourth birdie at the par-4 7th. Then the former FSU golfer made three in a row at holes 12-14 to get to 7-under.
He came home with four straight pars. As for Rahm, he birdied the first and fourth holes. His third came at the par-3 8th. Rahm made an eagle at the par-5 12th and a birdie to close the day.
Photo by Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images
Koepka’s Smash GC helped sweep the LIV Greenbrier event, winning the team portion by three strokes at 53-under.
Ripper GC came in second at 50-under overall. Rahm’s Legion XIII was third at 42-under, and Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC finished fourth at 40-under. To round out the top five was Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats GC at 36-under.
Koepka’s teammate, Jason Kokark, also shot a 7-under 63 on Sunday to claim solo third and one shot back.
Marc Leishman and Richard Bland tied for fourth at 17-under overall.
Talor Gooch posted Smash GC’s third-best score as he was T11 and 13-under. John Catlin rounded out the team in T37 with a 5-under total.
Smash GC also earned its second team victory after winning LIV Las Vegas in February. Now, they sit in fourth place behind Ripper GC in third, Legion XIII in second and Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC in first.
Koepka is No. 7 in the individual race heading into the last event of 2024, the Individual Championship at LIV Chicago on Sept. 13-15. Rahm currently leads with Joaquin Niemann in second and fellow Legion XIII teammate Tyrrell Hatton in third.
After Chicago, LIV Golf will host the Team Championship event in Dallas, Texas, on Sept. 20-22 to determine their 2024 season-long winner.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @golf_girl_sl.
