LIV Golf Virginia presented by Maaden: Crushers win second straight; Niemann wins 4th of season

GAINESVILLE, Va. – In a final round in which several of LIV Golf’s most recognizable names challenged for their first individual title since joining the league, the champion standing atop the podium Sunday night at LIV Golf Virginia presented by Maaden was a repeat and familiar performer.

Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann continued his domination of the 2025 season, winning for the fourth time in the first eight events after a sizzling bogey-free 8-under 63. With the victory, the 26-year-old Niemann becomes the winningest individual golfer in LIV Golf history with six wins, all in his last 21 regular-season starts.

“Pretty cool to be in this place, in this position right now,” said Niemann after finishing at 15 under, one shot better than Graeme McDowell and Anirban Lahiri. “I’m pretty thankful.”

Niemann, the current Individual points leader, wasn’t alone in setting records at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC won their second consecutive team title by two strokes over 4Aces GC, and in the process became the league’s all-time winningest team with eight victories, including the 2023 Team Championship.

“I didn’t know we’ve won eight times, which is pretty cool,” said DeChambeau, who shot 65 to go with the 68s shot by Lahiri, Paul Casey and Charles Howell III. “It’s a testament to these guys. The roster hasn’t changed.”

Sunday’s final round not only included two separate rain delays, but numerous compelling storylines, with major winners such as McDowell, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson and Martin Kaymer each vying for their first LIV Golf individual title. So was Lahiri, the 36-hole leader seeking his first worldwide win in 10 years.

It also included a couple of 9-under 62s by Lee Westwood and Ben Campbell, the latter setting a LIV Golf single-round record with seven consecutive birdies. There were also plenty of spectacular shots, including Mickelson’s side-facing 120-degree backward chip out of heavy greenside rough for a hole-out birdie late in his round.

“Vintage Phil,” noted DeChambeau, who had a close-up view in the same group. “Got to be one of the greatest shots I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”

“One of my better ones,” Mickelson said with an understated grin.

Meanwhile, during one 60-second stretch of action, DeChambeau chipped in for birdie at the 16th hole for the second time this week while Thomas Pieters buried a 62-1/2-foot birdie putt. Niemann, Watson and Lahiri were also making birdies.

At that point, six players were tied at 13 under with just a few holes left in the round. But Niemann was not to be denied. He came out of the second weather delay on fire, making four consecutive birdies from holes 14-17. None of his chasers could keep pace.

It was a continuation of his final-round dominance in his four wins, in which he’s shot a 27 under on those Sundays. The only new thing this Sunday was the location of his victory – it was Niemann’s first LIV Golf win in the U.S. His previous wins this season were in Adelaide, Singapore and Mexico City; last year, he won in Mayakoba and Jeddah.

“He’s just so good,” said McDowell, who shot a second consecutive 66 for his first podium finish. “He’s an absolute top-10 player in the world. You could argue top 5. Phenomenal, phenomenal player.”

Likewise, the Crushers are a phenomenal team.

Although disappointed they weren’t able to sweep both trophies Sunday, DeChambeau’s current top form (top 5 finishes in each of his last six worldwide starts, including two majors) and his veteran teammates’ rotating support – last month in Korea, it was Howell who pushed DeChambeau to his first win of the season – have them eyeing the top seed for the second consecutive year. They moved into second place behind Legion XIII.

Said DeChambeau: “We’re a beast of a team.”

TEAM SCORES

LIV Golf’s new scoring format this season now involves all four scores now counting in every round in the team competition. (Click here for more on the new format). Here are the results and scores for each team after Sunday’s final round of LIV Golf Virginia presented by Maaden.

1. CRUSHERS GC -36 (DeChambeau 65, Casey 68, Howell III 68, Lahiri 68: Rd. 3 score: -15)

2. 4ACES GC -34 (Pieters 63, Johnson 66, Reed 66, Varner III 68: Rd. 3 score: -21)

3. SMASH GC -31 (McDowell 66, Gooch 67, Koepka 69, Kokrak 71: Rd. 3 score: -11)

4. TORQUE GC -25 (Niemann 63, Muñoz 66, Ortiz 68, Pereira 74: Rd. 3 score: -13)

5. RANGEGOATS GC -24 (Campbell 62, Watson 67, Uihlein 68, Schniederjans 71: Rd. 3 score: -16)

6. LEGION XIII -21 (Hatton 65, Surratt 67, McKibbin 68, Rahm 68: Rd. 3 score: -16)

7. STINGER GC -20 (Burmester 66, Grace 68, Schwartzel 70, Oosthuizen 71: Rd. 3 score: -9)

8. HYFLYERS GC -19 (Steele 64, Mickelson 65, Ogletree 68, Tringale 68: Rd. 3 score: -19)

9. CLEEKS GOLF CLUB -14 (Bland 65, Kaymer 70, Meronk 70, Kjettrup 74: Rd. 3 score: -5)

10. IRON HEADS GC -8 (Kozuma 64, Na 67, Jang 72, Lee 73: Rd. 3 score: -8)

11. MAJESTICKS GC -6 (Westwood 62, Poulter 66, Stenson 68, Horsfield 70: Rd. 3 score: -18)

12. RIPPER GC -4 (Leishman 66, Herbert 68, Smith 68, Jones 70: Rd. 3 score: -12)

13. FIREBALLS GC -4 (Garcia 64, Ancer 68, Masaveu 71, Ballester 73: Rd. 3 score: -8)

Wild Cards: Kim 70, C. Lee 73

ROUND 3 NOTES

RAIN-DELAY INSPIRATION: Joaquin Niemann poured in four birdies in his final five holes after play resumed following Sunday’s second rain delay. He said spending time in the clubhouse watching Spanish tennis star Carlos Alcaraz rally from two sets down to win the French Open helped get him in the proper mindset to make a move.

“Feel like I got some inspiration from Carlos Alcaraz, to be honest,” the Torque captain said. “I was watching his game, and it was pretty good to see that he was three match points of losing the match and being able to bring that back into the match and being able to win – it was pretty cool.”

SIXTH TIME FOR LAHIRI: Anirban Lahiri finished runner-up for the sixth time at a LIV Golf tournament after taking a two-shot lead into the final round. The Crushers veteran was 1 over in his first four holes before making birdies in three of the next four to get back on track.

“Didn’t get off to that start that I wanted, and then just around the middle, a bit of a momentum loss,” Lahiri said. “I tried my best but it’s disappointing to come up short. I could have played a lot better today. There's a few things that I need to go back and work on, maybe dealing with the conditions a little bit better, gauging and judging that. But it's a learning process.

“What I'm really happy about is how I handled myself. I think I was a lot calmer, more relaxed and more focused at the same time, and I believed all the way until that last putt that I was going to win today. I think that's the most important thing that I need to take away from this week and bring to every other week.”

MIRACLE CHIP SURPRISE: HyFlyers Captain Phil Mickelson has produced some incredible shots with his legendary short game, perhaps none better than his chip in for birdie at the 17th hole Sunday.

Asked after his round about the shot, Mickelson explained: “I have to aim so far left because I'm hooking it over my shoulder and trying to guess how much it's going to hook is the challenge. But it wasn't hard stopping it.

“It was hard guessing how much it was going to hook because it was soft greens and I had such an uphill lie, the ball was going to go high. But just judging how much the ball was going to come over my shoulder, that was the challenge. Even I was a little bit surprised.”

Added Bryson DeChambeau, who had an up-close view of the shot: “To see him get up on the side slope, and he's just staring at it. You could just see his wheels turning, and then he hit the shot, and I got the perfect angle of it. It literally looked like the top of this roof right here. Just came back down, landed perfectly, and I go, oh, my gosh, he's going to make it, and it went in the hole.”

McDOWELL’S FIRST PODIUM: Smash GC veteran Graeme McDowell posted his first podium finish with his tie for second. McDowell is an original LIV Golf member making his 43rd start.

McDowell shot a bogey-free 5-under 66 – his second bogey-free round of the week – to finish at 14 under. He moved to 25th in the individual points standings, just one spot shy of the Lock Zone that would guarantee him a LIV Golf roster spot next season.

“I was really happy the way I composed myself generally today,” McDowell said. “Drove the ball great. I felt pretty comfortable out there. Hopefully a big summer ahead. Been so disappointed with my general performance on LIV this to point, this is what I expect of myself still. Really nice to get the juices flowing a little bit. I'm super excited about the week.”

DECHAMBEAU, RAHM MAINTAIN STREAKS: Crushers Captain Bryson DeChambeau bounced back from an opening bogey to shoot a 6-under 65 to tie for fourth. It’s his sixth consecutive top-5 finish in all starts, and fourth consecutive on LIV Golf.

Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm tied for eighth after a 3-under 68. He’s now posted a top-10 finish in all 20 LIV Golf regular season starts that he’s completed; his only non-top 10 was a WD last year in Houston due to a foot infection.

RECORD BIRDIE STREAK: RangeGoats GC’s Ben Campbell, returning to action after missing the previous tournament in Korea with a wrist injury, set a LIV Golf single-round record by making seven consecutive birdies Sunday while shooting a 9-under 62 to tie for 19th.

The New Zealand native, in his first year on LIV Golf, started his final round at the 12th. After an opening par, he birdied holes 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 1, finishing his streak with a 34-foot birdie putt on the 18th and a 39-footer at the first. In all, Campbell made 145 feet of putts during the streak.

Stinger GC Captain Louis Oosthuizen made seven consecutive birdies at LIV Golf Tucson in 2023 but over two rounds. He finished his first round with six straight birdies and opened his second round with another birdie.

PIETERS T4 AGAIN: 4Aces GC’s Thomas Pieters tied for fourth for the second consecutive LIV Golf tournament after shooting a final round 8-under 63 to finish at 13 under. Pieters moved to 16th in the individual standings, the highest-ranking member on his team.

NEXT STOP - OAKMONT: A total of 14 LIV Golf players will travel from Virginia to Pennsylvania for the upcoming U.S. Open at Oakmont. Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau (Crushers) will be joined by fellow LIV Golf captains Dustin Johnson (4Aces), Brooks Koepka (Smash), Phil Mickelson (HyFlyers), Joaquin Niemann (Torque), Jon Rahm (Legion XIII) and Cameron Smith (Ripper), along with Tyrrell Hatton (Legion XIII), Jinichiro Kozuma (Iron Heads), Carlos Ortiz (Torque), Patrick Reed (4Aces). Also in the field is Cleeks’ Richard Bland, who won last year’s U.S. Senior Open, and LIV Golf’s newest player Josele Ballester, who made his professional debut with the Fireballs in Virginia, finishing T50.

ROUND 3 STATS LEADERS

Driving accuracy: Ben Campbell, Branden Grace, 85.71% (12 of 14 fairways hit)

Driving distance average (for measured holes 13 and 14): Dean Burmester, 338.1 yards avg.

Longest drive (among measured holes 13 and 14): Richard Bland, 351.7 yards, 13th hole

Greens in regulation: Joaquin Niemann, Talor Gooch, Jinichiro Kozuma, Richard Bland, Henrik Stenson, 94.44% (17 of 18 greens)

Scrambling: 12 players at 100%, led by Patrick Reed (8 of 8) and Bryson DeChambeau (6 of 6)

Putting: Patrick Reed, 1.28 putts per hole

Bogey-free rounds: Joaquin Niemann (63), Jinichiro Kozuma (64), Richard Bland (65), Graeme McDowell (66), Patrick Reed (66)