For the first time in more than a year, Brooks Koepka is victorious. Capturing the 2022 LIV Golf in Jeddah event on Sunday, Koepka finished at 12 under and needed three playoff holes to overtake his teammate and 36-hole leader Peter Uihlein at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club. Playing alongside each other on the final day, up-and-down rounds were experienced by the two members of Smash GC.

Beginning the day one stroke off Uihlein’s pace, Koepka quickly went in front as his playing competitor carded a double bogey and bogey in his first three holes. The four-time major champion remained steady on his outward half, and ultimately turned in 1 under before adding another birdie on No. 10 to command a two-stroke lead over Uihlein, Sergio Garcia and a large cast of pursuers.

Only then did Koepka begin to experience some troubles of his own. Making three consecutive bogeys from Nos. 11-13, the 33-year-old’s name plummeted down the leaderboard. An unlikely birdie from the desert on the par-4 15th put Koepka back on the straight and narrow before he added another birdie on the 54th hole alongside Uilhein to knock Garcia and Joaquin Niemann out of contention at 11 under.

The two traded birdies on the first two extra holes, but disaster struck for Uihlein on the third playoff hole when he hit his third shot from the greenside bunker into the water. Leaving the door open for Koepka, the Smash GC captain marched on through and secured his first win on LIV Golf with yet another birdie.

“The last two years, they haven’t been fun. It’s been a long road, I am super excited,” said Koepka. “My whole team, we got the band back together, literally. We got Claude [Harmon] on the team, Peter [Cowen] — I’ve worked with Pete very, very hard — and Jeff [Pierce] as well, so shoutout to them, this is for them.

“I didn’t know if my career was over for a half second. I told Claude that I wasn’t sure if I was going to play. It’s nice to be able to come back and to be able to win.”

Koepka not only triumphed individually but also led his team to its first victory. While Brooks was the star of the show, it was younger brother Chase who provided the steady hand as his scores were used in each of the three rounds. With the victory, Smash GC moved up to fifth in the team standings — narrowly missing out on a bye in the first round of the Team Championship — and will be the first to pick their quarterfinal opponent for the LIV Golf finale in two weeks.

Team leaderboard

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What is next for LIV Golf?

The Team Championship is set to take place Oct. 28-30 at Trump National Doral in Miami. The 4 Aces, Crushers, Fireballs and Stingers have all secured a bye on the first day of competition while the teams ranked 5-12 will partake in the quarterfinals. 

Koepka’s Smash GC is the fifth seed, and as such will have the first opportunity to select the opponent it wishes to face. This selection process will continue for the Majesticks, Torque GC and the Hy Flyers. Teams will compete in three matches — two singles and one alternate shot — on the first two days of the championship before taking to stroke play where all four members’ scores will count.

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A rollercoaster second round of the 2022 LIV Golf Jeddah saw Peter Uihlein’s name climb to the top of the leaderboard. Ultimately signing for a 7-under 63, the former Oklahoma State Cowboy backed up his round of 5-under 67 on Friday and now sits alone at the top at 12 under.

Beginning his day on the second hole, Uihlein shot out of the gates with four consecutive birdies and applied pressure on overnight leader (and team captain) Brooks Koepka. Another birdie on the 10th saw the LIV Chicago runner-up reach 10 under for the tournament before finding the water on the difficult par-4 13th leading to a double bogey — his only mistake of the day.

Needing to recover quickly, Uihlein did just that with a birdie on the par-4 14th and an eagle-birdie finish to his second round. At 12 under, he finds himself only one stroke clear of Koepka and three ahead of former Masters champions Charl Schwartzel and Sergio Garcia.

Not only will Uihlein need to deal with the stress of capturing the individual title, but he and his closest pursuer must keep an eye on the team portion of the event. Currently at 30 under, Smash GC commands a six-stroke lead over the Fireballs, which won last week at LIV Bangkok. With a triumph, Smash GC would ascend to fifth in the team standings, which would grant it first selection of which team to face on Day 1 of the Team Championship at Trump National Doral.

The leader

1. Peter Uihlein (-12)

Uihlein’s play both on and off LIV Golf has been sneaky good the past few months and has continued at LIV Golf Jeddah. Kicking off his LIV Golf campaign with a podium finish at LIV Golf London, the 33-year-old has since added a T7 result on the Asian Tour, a runner-up effort at LIV Golf Chicago and a top-10 finish at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on the DP World Tour.

He sits eighth in the season-long points race and with a win could conceivably climb into the top three to earn a massive payday. Nothing will be given to Uihlein in the final round as he goes up against Koepka, a four-time major champion with whom he has a history. Rooming together in Europe while both traversed through the Challenge Tour, the two grew close and will surely make for a comfortable final grouping.

Other contenders

2. Brooks Koepka (-11)

T3. Charl Schwartzel, Sergio Garcia (-10)

T5. Abraham Ancer, Paul Casey (-9)

T7. James Piot, Dustin Johnson, Sihwan Kim, Anirban Lahiri (-8)

Following up an 8-under 62 is always a difficult task, but Koepka acquitted himself nicely in the second round. Signing for a 3-under 67, his biggest mistake came on the par-4 13th. Finding the desert off the tee, he compounded one poor swing with another and found the water with his approach to put a double-bogey on his scorecard. Able to bounce back from this mishap, Koepka added birdies on the par-3 16th and par-5 18th to come in at 11 under for the tournament. 

Koepka has never been a glass half full type of guy and his comments following his round confirms he still has stuff to work on. He was disappointed with his driving on Friday and Saturday, and it was his putter which fell flat. Still, he is only one stroke off the Uihlein’s pace, and if he is able to piece together the entirety of his game, a score similar to that of Round 1 may be in store for Sunday.

Team leaderboard

With Kevin Na’s WD, Iron Heads GC must use each team member’s score (3) in the final round.

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