Last Look: LIV Golf Korea notes, stats, superlatives and more

Joaquin Niemann came to Asiad Country Club looking for his first individual title of a 2026 season that had felt underwhelming after his five-win campaign in 2025.

He leaves Busan with his eighth career LIV Golf individual win — the most in league history — after defeating Talor Gooch in a playoff to claim the LIV Golf Korea title in a collision of two of LIV Golf’s most decorated winners in league history.

In the team competition, the Crushers GC successfully defended their Korea title from 2025, holding off OKGC to go back-to-back in a country that has become something of a home away from home for them.

Here is a last look at some of the notable performances from LIV Golf Korea.

CLUTCH PERFORMANCE

Joaquin Niemann. Entering the final round of a LIV Golf tournament for the sixth time with the co-lead, Niemann had converted four of the previous five into wins. He did it again on Sunday in Busan, closing with a 3-under 67 before prevailing over Gooch in a playoff to claim his record-extending eighth individual title. He did his damage early — going out in 31 with four birdies on the front nine, including back-to-back birdies on the sixth and seventh to build a cushion — before a bogey on 11 tightened the contest. He steadied himself from there, grinding out pars down the stretch as Gooch applied pressure. When he glanced at the leaderboard at 15 and realized it was a two-horse race, he locked in and didn't blink.

"Every hole was like a match play, so every hole counts, every shot," Niemann said. "It is probably the best feeling. I love having that pressure, knowing that you've got to hit the shot and you win the tournament."

ROUND OF THE WEEK

Talor Gooch's second round was the round of the tournament. Gooch produced eight birdies, starting with a chip-in on his second hole, and birdied six of his last eight holes to surge into the lead. It was the eighth time he has shot 63 or better in LIV Golf and the seventh time he has held the 36-hole lead. The round put the first-year OKGC captain in position to contend on Sunday.

UNDER THE RADAR PERFORMERS

Travis Smyth: The story of the week. Smyth was in Sydney, Australia when his phone rang. With Paul Casey forced to withdraw from the Crushers GC lineup with a wrist injury, Smyth got the call on Tuesday, hopped on a flight, arrived in Busan on Wednesday and proceeded to deliver one of the best performances of any reserve player in LIV Golf history.

Harold Varner III: Varner III was a consistent presence on the leaderboard throughout the week, finishing T6 and giving OKGC a strong performance alongside Gooch to help the newly branded franchise to their best finish of the season.

Younghan Song: Song delivered by far the best performance of his LIV Golf career in Busan, finishing T12 on home soil. For a player who has struggled to make an impact in the individual standings since joining the league, it was an extremely positive sign for a Korean GC team in need of a spark.

STATISTICAL STANDOUTS

Talor Gooch: Gooch was the best approach player in the entire field this week and it wasn't particularly close. He led the tournament in Strokes Gained: Approach at +8.96 — nearly three full strokes clear of second place Marc Leishman. His iron play was the foundation of a week that pushed Niemann all the way to a playoff.

Joaquin Niemann: Niemann won this tournament from two different directions. He led the entire field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee at +4.20 and ranked fourth in Strokes Gained: Putting at +5.60. The combination of elite driving and a putter that caught fire at exactly the right moment made him simply too complete a player to beat over 72 holes, even for the man who outplayed him from the fairway.

Scott Vincent: Vincent's week may have gone under the radar on the leaderboard but the underlying numbers were exceptional. He ranked second in the entire field in Strokes Gained: Putting at +7.82 — trailing only Ben Campbell — and has now finished inside the top five in putting in back-to-back events.

Bryson DeChambeau: DeChambeau ranked fourth in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach at +5.12. This is a positive sign for the Crushers GC captain after missing the cut at the PGA Championship due in part to poor iron play.

Anthony Kim: Kim led the entire field in Strokes Gained: Around the Green at +1.90. It was another quietly elite data point in what is becoming a statistically exceptional 2026 season for the 4Aces GC star, who enters Andalucia sixth in the year-to-date standings.

VETERAN RESURGENCE

Dustin Johnson: Johnson's week in Busan was the kind of performance that serves as a reminder of just how dangerous the 4Aces GC captain remains when his game is at its best. He produced the low round of Saturday's third day with a bogey-free 64 and closed with a 4-under 66 to finish solo fourth at 10-under. It was one of Johnson's cleanest performances of the 2026 season, and a timely reminder that he remains very much in the conversation of contenders for the remainder of the year.

YOUNG GUN SPOTLIGHT

Joaquin Niemann: I usually reserve this section for players in the early stages of carving out their professional identity. But the league's all-time wins leader and its youngest captain occupies a category entirely of his own. "I feel like the last one is the best. I feel like it's going to be always like that. It just keeps getting better and better," he said after claiming his eighth title on Sunday. The feeling is mutual. "Last year was an exceptional year — winning five times, it was pretty cool. The feeling is great and I'm just happy."

BIGGEST MOVERS

Here are the players who made the biggest move in the season-long individual points race after Korea:

Talor Gooch: 20 spots from 29th to 9th

Joaquin Niemann: 14 spots from 17th to 3rd

Dustin Johnson: 8 spots from 27th to 19th

WHO’S TRENDING

Scott Vincent: There is a quiet but compelling case to be made that Scott Vincent is the most impressive performer on LIV Golf this season relative to expectations. The Zimbabwean arrived in Busan off a fourth-place finish in Mexico City and a T8 in Virginia, and proceeded to finish solo fifth in Korea. He has finished inside the top 11 in four consecutive starts, all while filling in for HyFlyers GC captain Phil Mickelson. “I had to rely on my putter so much. I wish I didn't have to, but I'm thankful it's been working as well as it has,” Vincent said on Sunday. “But yeah, like I said, lots of positives. Yeah, hopefully can just keep improving, keep getting better. To play off the first tee box three times this week was really cool.”

OKGC: The newly rebranded OKGC had a week to remember in Busan, with Talor Gooch pushing Niemann all the way to a playoff and the team finishing in strong contention on the team leaderboard. It was just their second tournament under the OKGC banner, and the early signs suggest the rebrand has come with a renewed sense of purpose. Gooch arrives at LIV Golf Andalucia next week as the defending champion with his individual game very much back. "Happy with where the game is at and where it's going," he said, despite the disappointment of the playoff loss.

Cameron Smith: The Ripper GC captain's week in Busan did not finish strong with a T16 finish, but the underlying data tells a more encouraging story. Smith posted a T7 at the PGA Championship — his best result of the 2026 season — and the numbers behind his game in Korea pointed to a player whose mechanics are genuinely improving since he began working with new swing coach Claude Harmon III. He ranked among the leaders in fairways hit during the third round — and when Smith is finding fairways, the rest of his game tends to follow. The trajectory is encouraging. Andalucia may still be too soon, but the pieces are starting to fall into place.

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

Joaquin Niemann on what it means to win his first title of 2026: "It took a while. I feel like it was nice to be in this situation. I just wanted to win so bad. I just wanted to win."

Joaquin Niemann on winning his eighth career title: "I feel like the last one is the best. I feel likeit's going to be always like that. It just keeps getting better and better."

Talor Gooch on the back nine and the playoff: "I left a few out there, unfortunately, on the back nine, which was kind of frustrating, but it's a tricky golf course, and happy with how I stayed in it on the back nine and made that good putt. It's frustrating when you have a chance to win. That doesn't come too often in this game so you want to capitalize on it. Happy with where the game is at and where it's going."

Travis Smyth on getting the call: "It was wild. I was back in Sydney over the weekend celebrating with some friends. I got the call on Sunday and I was like, all right, sweet,I'll get

Bryson DeChambeau on Travis Smyth: "All I know is I'm grateful for the guys I have here, grateful for Travis and what he was able to do and come in and play as well as he did."

Bryson DeChambeau on the team title: "Just grateful. Super grateful that I've got amazing guys, an amazing team. We all click in different ways, but we all work to make our team the best out here."