By GolfDigestME.com
Dustin Johnson and his 4 Aces swept all four LIV Golf Invitational events in the United States during the regular season. The all-American foursome wasn’t about to tarnish that success at the biggest event of the inaugural year, despite the best efforts of Punch captain Cameron Smith.
Relying again on their ability to produce in the big moments, the 4 Aces won the Team Championship by one stroke over Punch on Sunday, claiming the $16 million first prize of the historic $50 million purse at Trump National Doral. Smash were third, with Stinger finishing fourth.
With their four previous wins and other team earnings during the regular season, the foursome of Johnson, Patrick Reed, Talor Gooch and Pat Perez will evenly split a total of $28,250,000 for the season-long team earnings.
“My team played unbelievable this year,” said Perez, who had his most productive weekend of the season. “To have these guys and their caddies and families and coaches and everybody, it’s just one big family now. I just couldn’t be any happier. It’s unbelievable.”
“To come out and play the way we did through the season is unbelievable,” added Reed. “Can’t wait for next year to keep it going.”
Depth was a huge factor in the 4 Aces’ success on Sunday. Unlike the previous two days of match play, the final round was stroke play, with every score counting for each of the final four teams for the first time this season. Johnson, Reed and Perez each shot 2-under 70s on the difficult Blue Monster course, with Gooch adding a 1-under 71 for a team total of 7-under. The 4 Aces were the only team on Sunday shooting all four scores under par.
“It shows how just deep and good this team is,” Gooch said. “Everybody pitched in. It was a true team effort, and it was just super cool.”
Still, the outcome was in doubt, thanks to Smith. The reigning Open Champion, playing in the final twosome with Johnson, had the lowest individual score of the day, a 7-under 65 that was three strokes better than any other player.
Smith birdied five of his last eight holes to put the pressure on. But the 4 Aces delivered when necessary. Perez birdied two of his last three holes, and Reed was 2 under on his last five holes. His birdie on his last hole, the par-4 second, was the decisive stroke, allowing Johnson to seal the victory with a 3-foot par putt on the 18th hole.
“It was a team effort, but it ended up coming down to me and Cam playing the 18th hole to see who wins the Team Championship,” Johnson said. “You couldn’t have drawn it up any better, but I think that’s what LIV is. Look at all the fans. Look how much they have. I think the season went incredible, and I think next season is going to be even better.”
The all-Australian Punch had finished in the money one time this season and came into the week as the 11th seed. They posted match-play wins over higher seeds Hy Flyers and Torque in the previous two days to reach the finals, and nearly pulled off another upset on Sunday. Along with Smith’s 65, Matt Jones added a 70, with Wade Ormsby contributing a 73 and Marc Leishman a 74 to leave Punch at 6-under and claim the second-place prize of $8 million, to be split four ways.
“I think we got off to a bit of a rough start there,” Smith said, referencing an early double-bogey by Leishman. “We were kind of clawing back the whole time. We got close there in the end, and all the boys showed some pretty big you-know what there at the end, holing some putts. It was really cool to see, and what better way to finish out a season than that.”
Brooks Koepka’s Smash were in the hunt early but faded down the stretch, suffering three double-bogeys on the final nine of their scorecards. Jason Kokrak carded six birdies in shooting a 4-under 69, with Brooks shooting 74 and Peter Uihlein and Chase Koepka each shooting 75. That left Smash at 4-over as a team, good enough to claim third place worth $6 million.
Louis Oosthuizen’s Stinger struggled early and were forced to play catch-up the rest of the way. Branden Grace, who took second in the Individual Champion race during the regular season but was still not 100 per cent due to a recent oblique muscle injury, suffered a quadruple-bogey on his fourth hole en route to shooting 80. Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel shot 1-under 71s, while Hennie du Plessis shot a 76 for a team total of 10-over. In finishing fourth, Stinger will split $4 million.
“I do not like stress, so that was a little more stress than I was looking for,” Johnson said. “If that was an individual tournament, it would have been no problem. But with it being the team aspect I had to make that for the team to win – I didn’t like it very much. My hands were not real steady. I don’t know where I hit it on the putter face, but it went in the middle.”
Smith added: “I feel like I really didn’t miss a shot today. I felt like I holed everything. Typically, on an easier golf course, you’re looking at somewhere around 60, but not the case out here. It’s so demanding and just keeps putting the pressure on. It’s a perfect golf course for this event.”
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