The Aramco Team Series – Jeddah finished in dramatic fashion with both competitions ending in a playoff as Team Garcia and Chiara Noja claimed victory at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club.

In the Individual, it was Germany’s Noja who triumphed after a sensational final round of 65 (-7) to finish level with leader at the start of the day Charley Hull. The teenager then made a birdie on the first play-off hole putting pressure on Hull, but she duly rolled in her birdie putt. And the duo headed back down to 18 for the second time, but this time it was 16-year-old Noja who rolled in her birdie putt to clinch her maiden LET title.

“I don’t think it’s sunk in quite yet! I think the stress and happiness will come later this evening,” said the teenager, who finished second on the LET Access Series Order of Merit in 2022. It is hard work over a lot of years, and a lot of commitment and just trying not to back out of shots and commit to everything that I do and not be afraid to fail.”

Noja started the day brightly with back-to-back birdies before sinking an eagle on the fourth hole, and she finished her front nine with a bogey in-between two birdies to make the turn in 31 (-5). Two further birdies on 11 and 12 put the German rising star in pole position before she finished her round with a birdie on 16 and bogey on 17.

“This course, when you can go into par-fives in two, it is a massive advantage,” she continued. “I tried to take advantage of that this week, and it paid off. I  can’t even like begin to fathom what I’ve just done. I’m just going to try and relax tonight. Maybe have a burger, I don’t know, treat myself! Sleep. I think it’ll be the best night of sleep I’m probably ever going to get, and see how I feel tomorrow.”

South Africa’s Nicole Garcia had a great final day with an eagle putt on 18 to finish in third place on 12-under-par, Italy’s Virginia Elena Carta was fourth just one shot further back. England’s Bronte Law and South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace finished T5 with Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall in seventh place, while Scotland’s Laura Beveridge, India’s Vani Kapoor and Slovenia’s Pia Babnik rounded out the top 10 on eight-under-par.

At the end of day two, Team Garcia and Team Wolf finished tied at the top of the leaderboard on 29-under-par each and both teams contested the playoff on Saturday afternoon. Team Garcia made up of South African duo Garcia and Casandra Alexander alongside Czechia’s Tereza Melecka and Moroccan amateur Sonia Bayahya chose Alexander to contest the playoff on 18.

For Team Wolf – the quartet of Austria’s Christine Wolf, Scotland’s Beveridge, Alexandra Swayne of the US Virgin Islands and Saudi amateur Raghdah Alessawi – it was the Captain who took the responsibility. The players went back down to 18 and Alexander managed to make the green in two, while Wolf chose to lay up and it was the South African who nailed her birdie putt for Team Garcia to win. And it is a second win in an Aramco Team Series event for each of the professionals with Garcia victorious in London earlier this year, Melecka in Sotogrande and Alexander in the inaugural Team event in 2020.

Speaking of her decision to elect her compatriot to play, Garcia said: “We’ve obviously had a few rounds together and we have known each other for a long time. Before we even knew we were in the playoff, we had spoken yesterday in the round and I said if we do get into a playoff, you know you’re in. It was already decided yesterday. It was a bit nerve-wracking but I kind of knew what I was going to have in from playing earlier,” said Alexander. “I went to the range and hit a couple and kind of had an idea what I was going to hit. I took a 7-iron and fluffed it a little bit. I still had a putt left-to-right, but a fluffed 7-iron was enough to get the job done.”

Source link

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

ZOZO Championship + LIV Golf Invitational Jeddah Recap, Reaction & Analysis | PGA Tour Podcast. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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.

Source link

Scotland’s Bob MacIntyre beat US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick in a play-off to win the Italian Open after a tense final day at at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club, venue for next year’s Ryder Cup.

The 26-year-old, whose only other European Tour win came in Cyprus in 2020, started the final day three strokes off the lead, which was held by Fitzpatrick, but raced into contention as he cleared the front nine in six under par. He carded four birdies and three bogeys on the back nine, signing for a seven-under 64 as he set the clubhouse target at 14 under.

A nervous wait followed as Fitzpatrick was also 14 under with two to play, but the Yorkshireman dropped a shot on the par-three 17th. Frenchman Victor Perez then missed the opportunity to draw level with MacIntyre on 14 under as a short-range birdie putt on the 18th slipped past the hole, settling for third place in Rome. Fitzpatrick recovered with a birdie on the 18th  to force extra holes, signing for a 67 after making a birdie at the last with an 50-foot two-putt from off the green.

At the first extra hole, Fitzpatrick found trouble off the tee on the 580-yard, par-five hole, and could only make a made a par, while MacIntyre was just off the green with his second shot, and hit it close with his third and then rolled in a birdie putt from three feet for victory.

The win is MacIntyre’s first in regulation strokeplay, having won his maiden DP World Tour title at the 2020 Aphrodite Hills Cyprus Showdown – winning the title in a final-day shoot-out format.

Rory McIlroy, making a rate appearance at the Italian Open, finished fourth on 12 under, while Lucas Herbert and Aaron Rai shared fifth on 11 under.

MacIntyre said: “It’s unbelievable. I didn’t think it was going to come again. I’ve struggled the last year and just felt like my game wasn’t quite there, but I’ve made a lot of changes over the last three months and my iron this week has been absolutely brilliant, and thankfully I managed to get over the line at the end.

“I thought if I get through the front nine in par we could make a move from there, but when I got off to such a hot start, I was just trying to keep pushing and stay aggressive. Obviously, I dropped a shot on 14 and 15 was a terrible bogey, but I carried on playing aggressively and thankfully it paid off.”

Having won at next year’s Ryder Cup venue, MacIntyre is keen that he be back here in 12 months’ time as a member of Luke Donald’s European team. “We are a long way off from the Ryder Cup, but it’s my number one priority to get a place on that team,” he said. “I was close last time, but this is what I want. My only goal for the season is to make the team, so I think I’ve made a good start.”

Source link