Defending Masters champion Jon Rahm and Legion XIII teammate Tyrrell Hatton will head to Augusta National this week after celebrating their second LIV Golf team victory of the season.
Stinger GC’s Dean Burmester isn’t in the field for the year’s first major, but he made a bold statement Sunday on one of golf’s toughest courses. Rahm and his expansion team survived a rollercoaster final round to win the team title at LIV Golf Miami by one shot over RangeGoats GC.
It’s a unique way to begin his Masters title defense, which begins Thursday with 13 LIV Golf players in the field.
“It was a great week,” said Rahm, who tied for fourth in the individual competition as he remained the only player this season with top 10’s in each of the first five starts.
“Hopefully I can keep doing all the good things I’ve done this week next week and avoid a couple of silly mistakes and hopefully go back-to-back.”
One player he won’t see next week is Burmester, who beat Sergio Garcia on the second playoff hole at Trump National Doral with a par.
During the off-season, Burmester won back-to-back events back home in South Africa – including the South African Open – and now has his first LIV Golf victory as he continues to showcase his world-class talent. He finished T3 in the LIV Golf season opener at Mayakoba.
“Probably the best golf of my career,” said Burmester. “If I look at it that way, the amount of wins, the amount of top 10’s, tops 5’s that I’m producing is some really special stuff.”
It was made even more special on a Blue Monster course that remains one of the most demanding tests in pro golf.
Dubai based Adrian Meronk finished in 17th place with rounds of 72, 66 and 74 and his Cleeks GC Team finished in ninth place.
Talking about his week, the Pole said: “I spent the last couple weeks working really hard on my game.
“It’s nice to see the hard work is paying off. You always want to get in shape before any major. I like what I’m seeing, said Meronk.
Garcia, the Fireballs GC captain, entered the day with a two-shot lead but was eventually caught by multiple players. At one point on the back nine, five players – Burmester, his Stinger Captain Louis Oosthuizen, Garcia, Hatton, and Matthew
Wolff – shared the lead. Burmester grabbed the solo lead with a birdie at the drivable 16th but bogeyed the difficult par-4 18th after an errant drive.
Meanwhile, Garcia grabbed the lead with a 40-footer birdie putt at 17, but he three-putted the 18th to fall back into a tie and force the playoff.
After matching pars on the first playoff hole, Garcia found the water with his approach shot at the 18th while Burmester safely landed on the green for a two-putt par to win.
Results
D, Burmester (RSA) 68. 69. 68. 205. S. Garcia (Spain) 67. 68. 70. 205. Garcia won on the first play-off hole. M. Wolff (US) 68. 69. 69. 206.
ALSO READ