Burmester wins first LIV Golf title

Stimpmeter · April 8, 2024, 5:00am

South Africa’s Dean Burmester beat Spaniard Sergio Garcia on the second playoff hole at Trump National Doral on Sunday to win LIV Golf Miami.

During the off-season, Burmester won back-to-back events in South Africa – including the South African Open – and continues to showcase his world-class talent in LIV Golf.

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 10s, tops fives 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.

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-four 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.

“This is a monster of a place and it’s hosted so many great championships over the years,” Burmester said. “Now it’s hosting us, and I feel privileged to have won here.”

Garcia, who has played more than 50 competitive rounds on the Blue Monster, lost for the third time in a LIV Golf playoff. He went four holes against Joaquin Niemann at Mayakoba and also lost last year in Singapore to Talor Gooch.

“Obviously when you’re that close, you want to win it,” Garcia said. “Unfortunately, that only happens to one guy, and it wasn’t meant to be me.”

Meanwhile, 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.

Rahm and his expansion team survived a rollercoaster final round to win the team title 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 10s 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.”

Photo: Megan Briggs/Getty Images

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