Elvis Smylie of Ripper GC on his way to a debut LIV Golf win at Riyadh Golf Club on Saturday. Image courtesy LIV Golf.
From a Correspondent
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Ripper GC captain Cameron Smith believes his new teammate Elvis Smylie can one day become the best golfer in the world.
After the 23-year-old Australian produced four sizzling rounds to win in his LIV Golf debut, the rest of the league may very well share the same sentiment.
Smylie capped his impressive first week at Roshn Group LIV Golf Riyadh with a final-round bogey-free 8 under par 64 on Saturday to hold off a hard-charging Jon Rahm by one stroke.
He also led the Rippers to the team title, as the Aussies swept both trophies going into their biggest tournament of the season at next week’s LIV Golf Adelaide.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Smylie, who officially joined the team last month. “I really didn’t know what to expect this week. Playing at night is obviously a whole different ballgame out here.
“I wanted to come out here and make a statement. I wanted to prove that I’m one of the best out here, and I feel like I’ve done that. It’s only up from here.”
More on the way
Smith certainly agrees. “The crazy thing is I still think he’s got a lot of improving to go, which is pretty scary, really, for the rest of us, because he waxed us this week.
“I genuinely think he can be the best golfer in the world. He’s got all the tools of the trade. He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing and knuckle down.”
With the win, Smylie earns the 23.03580 projected points allotted by the Official World Golf Ranking to the winner of this week’s LIV Golf tournament.
The OWGR announced earlier this week that points will be awarded at LIV tournaments this season to the top 10 and ties. Smylie entered the week ranked 134th and is expected to move up significantly with the victory.
Smylie’s winning score of 24 under is the lowest in league history, a by-product perhaps of the league’s adjusted format from 54 to 72 holes.
He also beat the biggest field in LIV Golf history after an increase from 54 to 57 players this season.
Hot putter
But more impressive than the raw numbers was Smylie’s sublime play, especially with a new blade putter.
“Everything looked like a bucket for me, which is nice,” said Smylie, who ranked third in the field in Strokes Gained Putting.
He needed a hot putter down the stretch to create a gap from the field, then withstand the rally by Rahm, the Legion XIII captain and two-time LIV Golf individual champion.
Rahm started the day two shots behind co-leaders Smylie and Peter Uihlein and was three strokes behind when Smylie birdied the par-4 12th.
But the Spaniard closed fast with birdies on five of his last six holes, including the last four.
He drove the green at the 396-yard par-4 18th but could not convert the eagle putt.
Still, his final birdie put the finishing touches on a 9-under bogey-free 63, the lowest round of the week, and reduced Smylie’s lead to one.
Smylie, however, didn’t realise the slim margin until hitting his approach shot at the 18th that left him on the edge of the green.
“I actually didn’t know that I had to two-putt the last green,” he said. “I thought I would have had a two-shot lead going into 18.
Pressure situation
“But as soon as I was walking up the green, I saw that I only had one, so I’m like, I’ve got to clutch up here and make sure to get this up-and-down.”
Rahm, who shot an 11-under 60 in Indianapolis last year to clinch his second consecutive title, pointed to his failure to make birdie at the par-5 sixth and a poor approach shot at the par-4 11th as key missed opportunities.
Even so, he was pleased with making a run to earn his fifth runner-up finish and 25th top-10 result in 27 regular-season LIV Golf appearances.
“It was a fantastic round of golf, shot 9-under,” he said. “Elvis had a great day and a two-shot lead. If anything, if there’s one or two shots to look at, I’ve got to go to earlier in the week.”
RangeGoats GC’s Uihlein finished solo third after shooting a 67 for 21 under, while Fireballs GC’s David Puig and 4Aces GC’s Thomas Pieters shot 65s to share fourth place with Torque GC’s Abraham Ancer.
The team competition turned into a battle between Ripper and Torque.
Team champions Ripper GC (from left) Marc Leishman, captain Cameron Smith, Elvis Smylie and Lucas Herbert with their LIV Golf Riyadh trophies on Saturday. Image courtesy LIV Golf.
Fast start
The Australians started off fast, with Marc Leishman beginning his round with four straight birdies; the team collectively was 11 under through their first six holes.
Torque responded with Ancer, making his first start for his new team after four years with Fireballs GC, and Sebastián Muñoz each shooting 66.
But the 64s by Smylie and Lucas Herbert were supported by Smith’s 65 and Leishman’s 69 to produce a fourth-round team score of 26 under, the third-best single round team score in league history.
Ripper’s tournament total of 69 under is a league record as they won their fifth regular-season team title by three shots.
Now it’s on to Adelaide.
“It’s a really big opportunity for us to create momentum from this week and keep it going,” Leishman said.
“Obviously playing in front of the Australian crowds is a highlight of my year. It has been the last few years.”
And now those crowds have a new champion to celebrate.
“I knew he was going to come out here and do some pretty great things,” Smith said of Smylie.
“The win on debut is pretty great. Probably really great. I probably wasn’t expecting that, but super proud of him.” (courtesy LIV Golf)
Leaderboards: Individual Top 10
1. (-24) – Elvis Smylie, Ripper (66-69-65-64)
2. (-23) – Jon Rahm, Legion XIII (67-68-67-63)
3. (-21) – Peter Uihlein, RangeGoats (65-69-66-67)
T4 (-20) – Abraham Ancer, Torque (68-69-65-66), Thomas Pieters, 4Aces (70-68-65-65), David Puig, Fireballs (69-67-67-65)
7. (-19) – Thomas Detry, 4Aces (65-69-68-67)
8. (-18) – Sebastián Muñoz, Torque (67-68-69-66)
T9 (-17) – Lucas Herbert (75-67-65-64), Branden Grace (69-71-67-64), Byeong Hun An (67-70-67-67)
Note: All players finishing inside the top 10 (and ties) this season earn Official World Golf Ranking points.
Team Top 3
1. (-69) – Ripper GC (Herbert 64, Smylie 64, Smith 65, Leishman 69; Rd. 4 score: -26)
2. (-66) – Torque GC (Ancer 66, Muñoz 66, Niemann 68, Ortiz 68; Rd. 4 score: -20)
3. (-59) – 4Aces GC (Johnson 64, Pieters 65, Detry 67, Tabuena 69; Rd. 4 score: -23)
Also read: Smylie, Uihlein share lead for LIV Golf’s first-ever fourth round
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