Rahm’s Legion XIII claim team competition, Burmester wins individual title at LIV Golf Miami

Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm looks to defend his Masters title this week after finishing tied-fourth in the individual standings at LIV GGolf Miami (Chris Trotman/LIV Golf)
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Updated 09 April 2024
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Rahm’s Legion XIII claim team competition, Burmester wins individual title at LIV Golf Miami

  • Rahm hails ‘great week’ in Florida as he prepares to start his Master’s title defense on Thursday

MIAMI: 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.

Stinger GC’s Dean Burmester is not in the field for the year’s first major, but he made a bold statement Sunday on one of golf’s toughest courses.

Rahm and his expansion team survived a rollercoaster final round to win the team title at LIV Golf Miami by one shot over RangeGoats GC. It is a distinctive start to his Masters title defense, which begins on 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.”

One player he will not see next week is Burmester, who beat Sergio Garcia on the second playoff hole at Trump National Doral with a par. During the offseason, Burmester won back-to-back events back home in South Africa — including the South African Open — and now has his first LIV Golf victory as he continues to showcase his world-class talent. He finished T3 in the LIV Golf season opener at Mayakoba.

“Probably the best golf of my career,” Burmester said. “If I look at it that way, the amount of wins, the amount of top 10s, tops 5s 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-4 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.”

Legion XIII was led by Rahm’s 3-under 69, with Caleb Surratt contributing a 70, Hatton a 71 and Kieran Vincent a 77 to finish at 1 under for the day and 22 under for the week. They were in command for a large part of the day until Hatton started struggling off the tee, while Vincent hit a rough patch with four consecutive bogeys.

“I decided to stick it in reverse standing on the 10th tee and just carried on going that way and just navigate myself through the back nine looking backwards,” Hatton said. “Made it a lot harder for the team, and it was a pretty miserable 2-1/2 hours, to be honest.”

It ended with a champagne celebration.

“I knew we would find our stride at some point,” Rahm said. “It was definitely a surprise to end up winning the first week, and I would say it was no surprise that we ended up winning this week.”

Team scores

Standings and counting scores for Sunday’s final round of the team competition at LIV Golf Miami. The three best scores from each team count in the first two rounds while all four scores count in the final round. The team with the lowest cumulative score after three rounds wins the team title.


1. LEGION XIII -22 (Rahm 69, Surratt 70, Hatton 71, Vincent 77; Rd. 3 score: -1)

 
2. RANGEGOATS GC -21 (Wolff 69, Pieters 69, Uihlein 73, Watson 74; Rd. 3 score: -3)

 
3. STINGER GC -15 (Burmester 68, Oosthuizen 71, Grace 72, Schwartzel 75; Rd. 3 score: -2)

 
T4. TORQUE GC -13 (Munoz 68, Ortiz 68, Niemann 70, Pereira 78; Rd. 3 score: -4)

 
T4. FIREBALLS GC -13 (Ancer 68, Garcia 70, Puig 71, Chacarra 76; Rd. 3 score: -3)

 
6. CRUSHERS GC -11 (DeChambeau 68, Casey 69, Howell III 70, Lahiri 77; Rd. 3 score: -4)

 
7. SMASH GC -7 (Kokrak 68, McDowell 70, Gooch 73, Koepka 77; Rd. 3 score: E)

 
8. 4ACES GC -5 (Varner III 70, Reed 72, Johnson 74, Perez 76; Rd. 3 score: +4)

 
9. CLEEKS GC E (Bland 73, Meronk 74, Kaymer 76, Samooja 77; Rd. 3 score: +12)

 
10. RIPPER GC +4 (Jones 69, Leishman 69, Campbell 73, Herbert 81; Rd. 3 score: +4)

 
11. IRONHEADS GC +5 (Vincent 72, Lee 72, Na 73, Kozuma 76; Rd. 3 score: +5)

 
T12. MAJESTICKS GC +6 (Poulter 71, Stenson 73, Westwood 73, Horsfield 73; Rd. 3 score: +2)

 
T12. HYFLYERS GC +6 (Tringale 71, Steele 72, Ogletree 75, Mickelson 76; Rd. 3 score: +6)


Rory McIlroy wins Masters in dramatic fashion, completes career Slam

Updated 14 April 2025
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Rory McIlroy wins Masters in dramatic fashion, completes career Slam

  • It marked the fifth major championship for McIlroy, and his first since capturing the PGA Championship for the second time in 2014

It was finally Rory McIlroy’s time, even if it took a little longer than perhaps was necessary.
McIlroy birdied the first playoff hole with a short putt after missing a chance to win in regulation, capturing the Masters and completing the career Grand Slam on Sunday in Augusta, Georgia
“This is my 17th time here, and I started to wonder if it would ever be my time,” the Northern Irishman said. “I think the last 10 years coming here with the burden of the Grand Slam on my shoulders and trying to achieve that — yeah, I’m sort of wondering what we’re all going to talk about going into next year’s Masters.”
McIlroy’s 1-over-par 73 left him tied with England’s Justin Rose, who posted 66 and waited for McIlroy to finish. They both shot 11-under 277 for the week.
Re-playing the 18th hole at Augusta National Golf Club, McIlroy’s approach shot rolled back toward the hole and inside Rose’s ball. After Rose missed a birdie attempt and notched a par, McIlroy didn’t flub another chance for a victory.
He dropped his putter, put his hands on his head and fell prostrate on the green, sobbing.
“There was a lot of pent-up emotion that just came out on that 18th green,” McIlroy said. “A moment like that makes all the years and all the close calls worth it.”
It marked the fifth major championship for McIlroy, and his first since capturing the PGA Championship for the second time in 2014.
McIlroy needed par at No. 18 to win in regulation, but after blasting from a greenside bunker on the 18th hole he rolled a 5-foot par putt too far to the left.
It was a starkly different reaction from when he departed the 18th green following Thursday’s first round, which included a pair of backside double bogeys and dodging the media on the way to the practice area.
Rose spoke briefly to McIlroy after the playoff and later added perspective to what just happened.
“This is a historic moment in golf, isn’t it — someone who achieves the career Grand Slam,” Rose said. “I just said it was pretty cool to be able to share that moment with him. Obviously, I wanted to be the bad guy today, but still, it’s a momentous occasion for the game of golf.”
The new champion — who gave away his two-shot lead through 54 holes with a double bogey at No. 1 — also recovered from a disastrous stretch on the back nine to birdie the 17th hole for a brief one-stroke lead. McIlroy’s bogey on No. 11, double bogey on No. 13 and bogey on No. 14 appeared to send him on track for another final-round collapse at a major.
McIlroy said sending his ball into the creek on a wedge shot on the par-5 13th could have doomed his chances.
“I did a really good job of bouncing back from that,” he said.
McIlroy recovered for a birdie on the par-5 15th hole by drawing a tremendous second shot around a tree, over a water hazard and to 6 feet of the pin, where he two-putted for birdie.
Then he stuck his approach on No. 17 and sank the putt to take the lead.
Rose, seeking his first Masters title, had six birdies and two bogeys across the last eight holes, finishing with a 20-foot birdie putt.
“To make the putt on 18, the one you dream about as a kid, to obviously give myself an opportunity and a chance was an unbelievable feeling,” Rose said.
Rose was the leader after the first and second rounds, and after a tough 75 on Saturday he made a major final-round push. He had only four pars on his card — countering four bogeys with 10 birdies.
Patrick Reed (69 on Sunday) was third at 9 under. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler (69) placed fourth at 8 under, giving him four consecutive top-10 finishes at the Masters.
“I was just proud of the way we hung in there and put up a good fight,” Scheffler said.
Bryson DeChambeau, who figured to be McIlroy’s biggest threat and in the final pairing, took the lead after the second hole before stalling with back-to-back bogeys and a string of pars to skid off the path. By the time he double-bogeyed No. 11, he was tied for ninth and seventh strokes back.
DeChambeau’s 75 left him at 7 under, tied for fifth place with South Korea’s Sungjae Im (69).
DeChambeau said his troubles began with a putt on the third hole that scooted well beyond the cup.
“There’s no way that putt goes that far by,” he said. “I just didn’t realize how firm and fast it could get out here. It’s great experience. Won’t let that happen again.”


McIlroy leads Masters after electric start to third round

Updated 13 April 2025
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McIlroy leads Masters after electric start to third round

  • A glittering leaderboard has fans buzzing about the possibility of a classic finish on Sunday and many patrons are pulling for McIlroy to finally win the Green Jacket

AUGUSTA, Georgia: Rory McIlroy reached the midway point of the third round at the Masters on Saturday with a two-shot cushion over Bryson DeChambeau after a blistering start that saw him leapfrog overnight leader Justin Rose after just two holes.
Grand Slam-chasing McIlroy started birdie-eagle-birdie en route to becoming the first player to begin a round at the Masters with six consecutive threes on a partly cloudy day that offered pristine scoring conditions.
Rose started the day atop a star-studded leaderboard but by the time he made the turn, he was looking up at McIlroy and DeChambeau after going one-over through his first nine holes.
Popular American DeChambeau started hot with back-to-back birdies but a narrowly missed par putt on the third forced him to settle for the first of two bogeys he collected on the front nine.
A glittering leaderboard has fans buzzing about the possibility of a classic finish on Sunday and many patrons are pulling for McIlroy to finally win the Green Jacket and become only the sixth player to claim all four of the sport’s majors.
Augusta National has been the site of painful collapses for McIlroy and that gut-wrenching run threatened to repeat itself when he stumbled late in his opening round with two double bogeys.
But the Northern Irishman bounced back admirably on Friday with a thrilling round of 66 to climb back into contention and that momentum appears to have carried over into Saturday’s round.
A heavyweight battle between McIlroy and defending champion Scottie Scheffler could still materialize after the world number one went even through his first nine on Saturday to sit four-back of McIlroy.


Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau are back in the fold at the Masters

Updated 09 April 2025
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Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau are back in the fold at the Masters

  • “I think we would all like to see that,” Rahm said about a potential unification. “But as far as I can tell and you guys can tell, it’s not happening anytime soon”

AUGUSTA, Georgia: For now, there’s another tradition unlike any other at the Masters: the first opportunity in nine months for all the world’s best players to compete against each other.

Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau are among the biggest stars in golf that hardly anyone sees during this great divide in golf between the PGA Tour and Saudi-funded LIV Golf that doesn’t appear to have a bridge in the immediate works.

“I think we would all like to see that,” Rahm said about a potential unification. “But as far as I can tell and you guys can tell, it’s not happening anytime soon.”

Rahm still goes upstairs in the Augusta National clubhouse to the locker room set aside for Masters champions where he can find plenty of friends, six of them colleagues at LIV Golf and plenty others who can see beyond the strife.

DeChambeau still dreams of winning a Masters green jacket like he did when he was a kid. Even so, there is another identity at the first major of the year because it’s been so long since so many of the best were in the same field.

“Anytime I get an opportunity to play against everyone, the best players in the world, it’s great,” DeChambeau said. “I think that’s what we’re all hoping for at some point is for that to be figured out. That’s beyond me and beyond my scope, unfortunately. I think at some point if the players get all together, I think we could figure it out. But it’s a lot more complicated, obviously, than what we all think.”

Rahm returns to Augusta National in a far different frame of mind.

He was the defending Masters champion last year, fresh off his decision to go back on his proclaimed “fealty” to the PGA Tour and sign for LIV Golf. 

He had a major championship season to forget, never seriously contending in any of them, missing the US Open with a toe infection.

“There was a few times where there was a lot of questions that I didn’t really have an answer to ... the state of the game and what’s happening. We all want a solution and it’s hard to give one. When it comes to this week, last year for me was tough because it was the first major after joining LIV and I was also defending. There was a lot going on that week.”

There doesn’t appear to be much going on in terms of a solution.

The second White House meeting with President Donald Trump in February resulted in what amounts to a stalemate.

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Public Investment Fund behind LIV Golf, wants a path forward for team golf. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said while the goal was bringing together golf’s best, “The only deal that we would regret is one that compromises the essence of what makes the game of golf and the PGA Tour so exceptional.”

PIF recently sent a proposal offering $1.5 billion and Al-Rumayyan a seat on the PGA Tour Enterprises, to which the tour found no need to respond because it was ground already covered with no solution what to do with two tours.

Rahm, DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka and other LIV players arrived from Miami after the first domestic LIV event at Trump Doral. According to Sports Business Journal, the PGA Tour averaged 1.75 million viewers on NBC for Brian Harman winning the Valero Texas Open. LIV Golf averaged 484,000 viewers on Fox for Marc Leishman winning.

And now they are all at Augusta National, and golf feels normal again amid dogwoods and azaleas, and far less Georgia pines wiped out by Hurricane Helene last fall.

It’s a big stage for the top players on LIV Golf to perform because opportunities are limited, even as players are thinking more about winning a major than proving anything beyond that. DeChambeau wants a first green jacket as badly as Rahm wants a second, as much as Scottie Scheffler is trying to win a third.

“I don’t think you need to do anything to make the Masters any more special than it already is,” Rahm said. “Coming here, there’s no added anything to that. Majors have always been aside from every event in the world, and when you come to one of those, it doesn’t feel any different to what it was before or anything like that.”

Toward the end of Rahm’s press conference, he was asked about the world ranking — LIV Golf events do not get points — and where he felt he was among the best in the world.

“Where am I in the world rankings at this point? Am I out of the top 100 yet?” he asked Close. The two-time major champion is coming up on the two-year anniversary of when he was No. 1 in the world. He dropped five spots this week to No. 80.

“A couple weeks to go and I’ll be gone,” Rahm said with sarcasm mixed with reality. “I’m not going to say exactly a number, but I would still undoubtedly consider myself a top-10 player in the world. But it’s hard to tell nowadays.”

He wouldn’t get much of an argument. During his time on LIV, the Spaniard has never finished out of the top 10 in any 54-hole tournament he finished.

In the seven tournaments he played outside LIV last year — including the Olympics — Rahm has five top 10s, a missed cut at the PGA Championship and a tie for 45th in the Masters.

“I think last year the state of my game was being unfairly judged based on how I played here and at the PGA compared to how I really played throughout the whole year,” Rahm said. “While I understand why, I don’t think it was the most fair state of my game.”


Scheffler eyes rare Masters repeat, McIlroy primed for another Grand Slam tilt

Updated 08 April 2025
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Scheffler eyes rare Masters repeat, McIlroy primed for another Grand Slam tilt

  • Much of the excitement ahead of this year’s Masters revolves around Scheffler and McIlroy, the two best players in the world

AUGUSTA, Georgia: Defending champion Scottie Scheffler is the man to beat at this week’s Masters where Rory McIlroy, oozing confidence after a marvelous start to the year, makes his 11th and perhaps best shot at completing the career Grand Slam.

Played amidst the blooming azaleas, towering pines and flowering dogwoods at Augusta National, the Masters may be the most anticipated of golf’s four majors and this year’s edition is no exception given a plethora of compelling storylines. Not even the absence of Tiger Woods, a five-times champion and golf’s top attraction who is recovering from surgery to repair a ruptured left Achilles tendon, can dampen enthusiasm for an event that marks the spiritual start of spring.

Much of the excitement ahead of this year’s Masters revolves around Scheffler and McIlroy, the two best players in the world, who are in great form and could deliver a final-round duel for the ages if they are both in contention on Sunday.

“I think that it sets up to be headlined by those two. I really do. I think you have to begin there,” veteran broadcaster Jim Nantz said on CBS Sports’ Masters preview call.

World No. 1 Scheffler, whose season debut was delayed by about a month after hand surgery following a December cooking accident, finished runner-up at his Masters tune-up in Houston for his third top-10 in six starts on the year.

A win for Scheffler, who first triumphed at Augusta National in 2022 and has a game that appears to be a perfect fit for the layout, would make him only the fourth golfer to retain a Masters title and first since Woods in 2001-02.

“It’s his happy place,” said Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee. “He can go there and play his normal game, and everybody can struggle to beat him. That’s just how good he is and how great a fit Augusta National is for him.”

Exclusive club

McIlroy is eager to become the sixth player to complete a career Grand Slam of golf’s four majors this week but to join that exclusive club he will need to overcome an Augusta layout that has been the site of several frustrating moments for him.

But, in a sign that this could finally be his year, McIlroy has enjoyed a superb start to the year and lifted two PGA Tour titles before April for the first time in his career — at Pebble Beach and The Players Championship.

“There’s never been a better week for him to win the Masters. Never,” said Chamblee.

Perhaps the only question mark for McIlroy is that after finishing in a share of fifth at Houston, the Northern Irishman said his right elbow had been bothering him “a little bit” and he may seek treatment. The Masters will also provide a brief respite from the ongoing divide in the sport given it will be the first time since last July’s British Open that players from the PGA Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf will compete against each other.

A dozen LIV players, including 2023 champion Jon Rahm and fan favorite Bryson DeChambeau, are among those in the field this week. Rahm had his worst-ever result at Augusta National last year as he finished in a share of 45th place but the Spaniard cannot be overlooked given he has five top-10 finishes in eight career Masters starts.

Twice major champion DeChambeau will be eager to get another crack at a Green Jacket having finished in a career-best tie for sixth place last year when he sat alone atop the first-round leaderboard and held a share of the halfway lead.

The only guarantee this week is that Augusta National will present challenges at every turn given the pristine course is known for small landing zones on speedy and undulating greens that put a premium on course management and accuracy. Twice champion Bernhard Langer, 67, is in the field for what is expected to be his final Masters, while 2009 champion Angel Cabrera returns for the first time since serving a 30-month prison sentence for domestic abuse.

The opening round is scheduled to begin on Thursday.


Rippers, Marc Leishman sweep both trophies on demanding Blue Monster

Updated 07 April 2025
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Rippers, Marc Leishman sweep both trophies on demanding Blue Monster

  • It’s the 14th time in LIV Golf history that a team has swept both trophies

MIAMI: The all-Australian Ripper GC team held a preseason training camp in January on the Blue Monster at Trump National Doral. The weather was cold, misty and windy. The 10th fairway was inaccessible. The conditions were brutal — but the payoff came Sunday at LIV Golf Miami.

The Rippers won the battle of survival under the harshest scoring circumstances in league history, with popular veteran Marc Leishman claiming his first LIV Golf individual title after shooting the week’s only bogey-free round. His Rippers won the team title with a cumulative 4-over total, the first time any team has won with an over-par score.

“It kicked our butts when we were here in January for the training camp, and it did the same again this week,” Leishman said. “I guess it kicked our butt less than everyone else.”

Leishman conquered the Blue Monster on Sunday by posting the only bogey-free round by any player this week, a 5-under 67 to finish at 6 under, one stroke better than Stinger GC’s Charl Schwartzel. Fireballs GC captain Sergio Garcia was another stroke back in solo third.

It’s the 14th time in LIV Golf history that a team has swept both trophies. And it’s the first win of any kind in four years for the 41-year-old Leishman, who had three runner-up finishes and five other top 10s since joining LIV Golf with his captain Cameron Smith in the middle of the inaugural 2022 season.

“It’s been a long time coming for Leish,” Smith said. “He’s knocked on so many doors, and at times has felt probably unlucky. Even for me as a mate, I’ve felt like he’s been unlucky.”

In the previous LIV Golf tournament in Singapore last month, Leishman tied for 51st, his worst result in LIV Golf. 

But on a demanding course toughened by wind gusts and firm greens, Leishman produced a masterpiece of steady, patient play.

“It was pretty disgusting how I played there,” Leishman said of Singapore. “To come back on a golf course like this where there’s trouble around every single corner, I think playing so bad in Singapore helped me today just not letting my guard down at all.”

Leishman started Sunday three shots off the lead but quickly moved up the leaderboard with birdies in two of his first four holes. 

He shared the lead with round 2 leader Bryson DeChambeau through eight holes, but the Crushers GC captain went bogey-double bogey around the turn to effectively end his chances.

Leishman’s final birdie of the day at the par-5 10th gave him a three-shot cushion and he nursed it with eight consecutive pars to end his round, never providing his challengers with an opening.

Even so, several players made a charge on the back nine.

Stingers GC’s Charl Schwartzel reeled off four straight birdies to climb into contention, while teammate Dean Burmester, the defending LIV Golf Miami champion, also made noise before a disastrous final two holes.

Garcia, seeking his second win of the season, was 3-under during a 11-hole stretch. 

His birdie at the 17th after a brilliant approach shot moved him within a shot of Leishman’s lead.

Leishman, playing in the group ahead of Garcia, found the trees with his tee shot at the 18th and had to punch out. 

His third shot left him 13 feet above the pin, but he knocked in the clutch par putt to keep the lead. 

Garcia ultimately bogeyed the 18th, hitting his tee shot into the trees, then finding the water with his approach. 

“I’ve played well in a lot of LIV events,” Leishman said. “I’ve had chances to win, haven’t won. You wonder if you’re going to win again … I doubted myself but that just made it all so much sweeter today.”