What looked set to be Tom McKibbin’s best-ever finish on LIV Golf gradually slipped away on the final day at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, as the Northern Irishman carded a one-over-par final round to finish T6 at six-under. McKibbin’s result falls just short of his career-best LIV Golf finish of T5 which came at LIV Mexico City in April of this year.
The 23-year-old’s final round was pretty uneventful as he struggled to get the ball to drop. The Holywood golfer managed just one birdie which came at the par-5 15th but bogeys at the fifth and 17th forced an over-par finish.
Although the Belfast man may feel some disappointment given the position he found himself in after a five-under-par second round on Friday, he can take comfort from posting his second top-10 finish of the campaign. McKibbin flew the flag for his team Legion XIII, placing highest amongst his teammates as they finished T2 on the team leaderboard.
Graeme McDowell endured another difficult week, finishing at the bottom of the leaderboard on 26-over par. It caps an up-and-down season for the veteran, although McDowell remains bullish about returning to the DP World Tour next year.
Joaquin Niemann was untouchable in each of the four rounds this weekend, securing his ninth individual LIV Golf win with a final tally of 16-under, three strokes ahead of Harold Varner III in second place.
Niemann was briefly joined at the top by Varner after 11 holes, but the Chilean quickly re-established his advantage. Varner dropped a shot, while Niemann produced a stunning run of birdie-par-eagle from the 13th to the 15th to pull clear once again.
His birdie at the 13th came from an incredible 58 feet, underlining just how dangerous Niemann can be when his putter catches fire. This week was another reminder that when the Chilean gets rolling on the greens, he is extremely difficult to stop.
“I was going to be pretty happy with two putts there, and it was quite a surprise to make that one,” said Niemann about his long putt on the 13th. “It’s one of those that I just go to be grateful about it and just go pick it up and run. It was a big moment.”
“I definitely like the feeling. It’s not going to last forever; it’s probably going to go away in a couple hours. But I just love the pressure, love being in those moments, having a long week out here playing golf and leading the tournament since the beginning is pretty special, and I definitely enjoy it,” he added.
Lee Westwood and Scott Vincent finished tied for third at nine-under, followed by Byeong Hun An at solo fifth at seven-under.
Jon Rahm secured his third consecutive individual title as his early season efforts was enough to see him pull away from other LIV front runner Byrson DeChambeau. Rahm posted a five-over-par final round to finish at eight-over but it didn’t matter too much as he remained 200 points clear of DeChambeau in the standings.
“Yeah, the last two weeks haven’t been the best. I would say proud of earlier in the season. It’s been a great year. Again, a little sour taste in my mouth because of how badly I played this week. But it’s been something to be proud of,” said the Legion XIII captain.
Crushers GC claimed the team title with a final tally of six-over.
LIV now heads to Indianapolis on the 20th of August for it’s final regular event of the season, before the team championship at the end of the month.
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