Adelaide, Australia – Talor Gooch saw his double-digit overnight lead nearly evaporate, but rallied late to win Sunday’s LIV Australia inaugural tournament at Grange Golf Club.
After two clear rounds of a bogey 10-under 62, Gooch shot a 1 on 73 to take his first victory in the LIV Golf Championship with three strokes off a fast-moving Anirban Lahiri.
As the tournament leader, the 31-year-old American started his first hole round Sunday in starting shotgun form and scored a birdie in fifth, but his bogey-free run finally ended in seventh.
He putt a putt in the eighth and the slip compounded with a double-bogey in the tenth, which saw him advance Lahiri’s fast-moving putt to just two strokes with eight holes to play.
That was as close as Gooch rallied with the Birds on the 11th and 13th and par on the 4th 18th to seal the victory and $4 million of the $20 million purse.
Lahiri shot a 65 to finish second at 16-under, two points behind before a four-way tie for third with Cameron Triangle (67), Pat Perez (67), Patrick Reed (65) and British Open champion Cam Smith (66). Finishing at 15-under-201.
Phil Mickelson finished 12-under 204 in a tie for 11th after 69. As was the case in the opening two rounds, Mickelson was a clear crowd favorite and was cheered most of the way on his tour by another sold-out crowd of 35,000 on a warm day at Grange Golf Club in Adelaide.
No doubt Chase Koepka made the day with a header in the 12th minute, which was celebrated by several thousand fans lining what was called the “watering hole”.
Play was delayed for several minutes as marshals cleared the tee area of hundreds of cups and plastic bottles that had been thrown by fans in scenes not normally associated with golf.
Koepka shot a final round six-under 66-under and 10-under overall.
Over 90,000 fans attended the three-day event, making it the most successful edition of the LIV Golf tournament, now in its second year.
The 14-event season continues next weekend at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore.