WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Virginia: Bryson DeChambeau stood over his 40-foot putt at the 18th hole Sunday at LIV Golf Greenbrier fully knowing the significance of the moment.
Two putts would break 60.
That’s why he had just one thought: “Don’t give myself a 3-footer.”
He left nothing to chance, holing the mammoth putt for birdie, then celebrating with a leap for the ages — and into the history books.
The Crushers GC captain set off a wild celebration on a rainy finish at The Old White course with an incredible round of 12-under 58, the lowest in LIV Golf’s young history and just the second in elite professional men’s golf.
The 58 not only proved to be the exclamation mark for his first LIV Golf individual victory, but he also considered it the “greatest moment of my career” that now includes 11 professional wins with one major.
“It’s beyond words,” said DeChambeau, who finished at 23 under to win by six strokes over a pesky Mito Pereira of Torque GC, who won theri fourth team title of the season. “I’ve been working so hard for a long time, and I knew something special was going to come at some point. I just didn’t know when.”
The day before, DeChambeau shot 61, tying the previous LIV-record low. Following a low round with another is always difficult, but DeChambeau simply built on the momentum, posting birdies on six of his first seven holes.
With Pereira supplying pressure after his own hot start – 5 under through his first eight holes, including an eagle hole-out from 159 yards on his opening hole – DeChambeau kept his foot on the gas.
“I was making birdie and he was making birdies, and then I think it was on 13 … and [I] look at the leaderboard and he was already 19-under or something and I was 14,” Pereira said. “It was like, OK, I guess today is not my day.”
DeChambeau bounced back with birdies on three of his next four holes to increase his lead, then finished with a flourish with four consecutive birdies, even as the rain that prompted an earlier shotgun start time began to make an impact.
“To even back up a 61 is really difficult,” said DeChambeau, who became the third player to break 60 during a professional tournament at The Old White course. “I had something special going on today, and I just felt super comfortable over tee shots and was able to play the course the way it was designed.”
Torque GC were also special in the team competition, with Pereira, David Puig (66) and captain Joaquin Niemann (66) supplying the counting scores Sunday. Late in the round, the Spanish-speaking lineup reached 50 under as a team before finishing at 49 under to win by three strokes over DeChambeau’s Crushers GC. Stinger GC took the last podium spot at 40 under. The 49 under is the lowest counting score ever posted by a team champion.
The win moves Torque within seven points of league-leading 4Aces GC, who finished in last place in the team standings Sunday.
“We all knew that we’ve got enough golf to beat all the other teams, and we’re proving that, and we’ve been playing great golf all season,” Niemann said.
Meanwhile, DeChambeau played historic golf on Sunday. Not only did it leave him at a loss for words, but he wasn’t sure how to celebrate it.
“Zero clue,” he said, “but I’m going to have a lot of fun.”
TEAM COUNTING SCORES
Here are the standings and counting scores for Sunday’s final round of the team competition at LIV Golf Greenbrier. The three best scores from each team count in every round for their total team score. The team with the lowest cumulative score after three rounds wins the team title.
1. TORQUE GC (-49): Mito Pereira 63, David Puig 66, Joaquin Niemann 66 (Rd. 3 score: -15)
2. CRUSHERS GC (-46): Bryson DeChambeau 58, Anirban Lahiri 65, Paul Casey 67 (Rd. 3 score: -20)
3. STINGER GC (-40): Dean Burmester 66, Branden Grace 67, Louis Oosthuizen 67 (Rd. 3 score: -10)
4. HYFLYERS GC (-39): Phil Mickelson 65, James Piot 66, Cameron Tringale 66 (Rd. 3 score: -13)
5. FIREBALLS GC (-38): Sergio Garcia 63, Carlos Ortiz 64, Eugenio Chacarra 64 (Rd. 3 score: -19)
6. RANGEGOATS GC (-36): Thomas Pieters 66, Harold Varner III 66, Bubba Watson 68 (Rd. 3 score: -10)
7. CLEEKS GC (-36): Richard Bland 65, Bernd Wiesberger 65, Graeme McDowell 67 (Rd. 3 score: -13)
8. MAJESTICKS GC (-34): Laurie Canter 65, Lee Westwood 65, Henrik Stenson 64 (Rd. 3 score: -14)
9. SMASH GC (-34): Matthew Wolff 66, Chase Koepka 68, Jason Kokrak 68 (Rd. 3 score: -8)
10. IRON HEADS GC (-20): Scott Vincent 65, Sihwan Kim 67, Danny Lee 69 (Rd. 3 score: -9)
11. RIPPER GC (-20): Marc Leishman 68, Jediah Morgan 69, Matt Jones 70 (Rd. 3 score: -3)
12. 4ACES GC (-19): Dustin Johnson 66, Pat Perez 68, Patrick Reed 69 (Rd. 3 score: -7)
