Smylie wins in LIV debut, double joy for the Rippers in Riyadh

Ripper GC’s Elvis Smylie on his way to a debut LIV Golf win at Riyadh Golf Club on Saturday. Image courtesy of 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 blistering rounds to win in his LIV Golf debut, the rest of the competition could well share the same sentiment.

Smylie capped his impressive first week at Roshn Group LIV Golf Riyadh on Saturday with a bogey-free 8-under-par 64 in the final round, holding off the hard-charging Jon Rahm by one stroke.

He also led the Rippers to the team title as the Aussies won both trophies ahead of 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 completely different game here.

“I wanted to come here and make a statement. I wanted to prove that I’m one of the best here, and I feel like I did that. It can only happen from here.”

More on the way

Smit certainly agrees with that. “The funny thing is I still think he has a lot of room to improve, which is quite scary for the rest of us because he’s been waxing us this week.

“I really think he can be the best golfer in the world. He has all the skills in the game. He just has to keep doing what he’s doing and keep his spirits up.”

With the win, Smylie earns the 23.03580 expected points awarded 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 for top 10 and ties. Smylie entered the week ranked 134th and is expected to rise significantly with the win.

Smylie’s winning score of 24 under is the lowest in the competition’s history, perhaps a byproduct of the competition’s adjusted format from 54 to 72 holes.

He also defeated the largest field in LIV Golf history, having increased 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 to me, which is nice,” said Smylie, who finished third in the field in Strokes Gained Putting.

He needed a hot putter to create a gap with the field and then withstand the rally of Rahm, the Legion XIII captain and two-time individual LIV Golf 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 quickly with birdies on five of his last six holes, including the last four.

He drove the green on the 396-yard par-4 18th but couldn’t 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 cut Smylie’s lead to one.

However, Smylie didn’t realize the small margin until he hit his approach shot on the 18th, which landed him on the edge of the green.

“I actually didn’t know I had to two-putt on 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 walked onto the green I saw I only had one, so I thought, I’ve got to hang on here and make this go up and down.”

Rahm, who shot an 11-under 60 in Indianapolis last year to capture his second straight title, pointed to his failure to birdie the par-5 sixth and a poor approach on the par-4 11th as key missed opportunities.

Still, he was happy to make 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 at nine under,” he said. “Elvis had a great day and a two-shot lead. If anything, if there’s one or two shots to watch, I have to get there earlier this 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 scored 65s to share fourth place with Torque GC’s Abraham Ancer.

The team competition turned into a battle between Ripper and Torque.

Ripper GC team champions (from left) Marc Leishman, captain Cameron Smith, Elvis Smylie and Lucas Herbert with their LIV Golf Riyadh trophies on Saturday. Image courtesy of LIV Golf.

Start quickly

The Australians started quickly, with Marc Leishman starting his round with four straight birdies; the team was collectively 11 under through their first six holes.

Torque responded with Ancer making his first start for his new team after four years at Fireballs GC, and Sebastián Muñoz shot 66 each.

But Smylie and Lucas Herbert’s 64s 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 the history of the competition.

Ripper’s tournament total of 69 under is a league record as they won their fifth regular season team title by three shots.

Now we move on to Adelaide.

“It’s a really big opportunity for us to build momentum this week and keep it going,” Leishman said.

“Obviously playing in front of the Australian crowd is a highlight of my year. It has been that way for the last few years.”

And now that crowd has a new champion to celebrate.

“I knew he was going to come here and do some great things,” Smith said of Smylie.

“The victory on his debut is quite nice. Probably really great. I probably didn’t expect that, but I’m very proud of him.” (courtesy of 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)

Remark: All players who finish in the top 10 (and tied) this season will earn official World Golf Ranking points.

Teamtop3

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 ranking (Johnson 64, Pieters 65, Detry 67, Tabuena 69; Rd. 4 score: -23)

Also read: Smylie and Uihlein share the lead for the first-ever fourth round of LIV Golf

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