The final round at Bolingbrook got underway on a blustery Sunday as both Tom McKibbin and Graeme McDowell’s earlier efforts had them well out of contention as they tried to finish their weekend on a high note.
McKibbin began his final round on the 12th and got off to a birdie-start on the par-5, and remained one-under for the day until he reached the first. He struggled on the first hole over the weekend and another bogey here saw him drop back to level-par.
Another bogey came on the par-3 fourth, but the Belfast native found a way to birdie three of his final nine holes and record his best score of the week and his round of two-under resulted in a one-over overall tally and a tie for 34th place.
It was a weekend to forget for 2010 U.S. Open winner Graeme McDowell as the 46-year-old only managed three birdies over the whole weekend.
Four bogeys on the final day sees the Portrush native end his final round on three-over-par, ending an unsatisfactory weekend for him as he finished in T52 on eight-over.
The final round saw drama at the other end of the leaderboard as a three-way tie for first place forced a playoff between South Africa’s Dean Burmester, two-time major champion Jon Rahm and rookie Josele Ballester – all on nine-under-par.
Burmester, who had a two-stroke overnight lead heading into the final round, began his round with three bogeys in a row but the 36-year-old kept a level head to finish his Sunday round at even-par.
Burmester got the job done after one playoff hole, making a clutch birdie putt on the par-4 18th as both Rahm and Ballester made par and the South African let out a flood of emotions at the 18th green that not only had been building during a tense final round but also due to challenges off the course.
“I’ve been going through a bit of a rough time, personal stuff, and I’ve just been grinding and trying to get better … After three bogeys in a row to start… The head was nowhere. But I just kept at it, and Jason, my caddie, was just phenomenal. We’re not going to give up. We’ve been through too much crap to give up,” said Burmester.
A few minutes later, he had more reason to celebrate, as his Stinger GC teammates Branden Grace and Charl Schwartzel each birdied the 18th to win a team playoff against Torque GC, allowing the South African team to sweep both trophies at Bolingbrook Golf Club – ending the teams 31 consecutive regular season tournaments without a win.
“The moment after the emotion of trying to win a golf tournament, there’s nothing sweeter than that,” Burmester said. “Then to have these two boys do it right behind me, all three of us birdie the playoff hole, is special,” he added.
Although a first win of the season did not come for Rahm, he did manage to close the gap on Joaquin Neimann in the season-long Individual Championship race which will now come down to those two players at next week’s LIV Golf Indianapolis.
21-year-old Spaniard, Ballester got his closest taste to a win in professional golf in just his fifth start on LIV Golf as he handled pressure well.
“When you lose in a playoff to a birdie, there’s not much you can do,” said Ballester.
LIV Golf now heads to The Club at Chatham Hills next week to see out the end of the regular season.
Leave a comment