Niemann wins LIV Golf Korea in playoff; Crushers GC claims team trophy

BUSAN, South Korea – To win a record eighth LIV Golf individual title, Joaquin Niemann outdueled another highly decorated player in Talor Gooch. To win a record 10th regular-season team title, Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC received help from a golden-haired reserve from Australia.

Niemann beat Gooch, the OKGC captain, with a birdie on the first playoff hole Sunday to claim LIV Golf Korea. The win is Niemann’s first in 2026 after winning five times last season; he now has three more wins than any other player in league history.

“It was fun out there,” said the 27-year-old Niemann, the league’s youngest captain. “I really enjoy the feeling of winning again.”

RELATED: FINAL LEADERBOARD

Niemann and Gooch, who shared the 54-hole lead, each finished at 12 under in regulation after they each shot final-round 3-under 67s at Asiad Country Club. Niemann had four birdies in a five-hole stretch on his front nine to take the lead, but Gooch made a 28-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole to tie for the lead during their tense back-nine battle.

In the playoff, Niemann’s approach from 150 yards finished inside six feet to set up his winning birdie putt.

“I feel like every hole was kind of like a match play,” Niemann said. “… I love having that pressure, knowing that you've got to hit the shot and you win the tournament. I feel like that's what I always dreamed when I was a kid, hitting that last shot and making that last putt.”

Said a disappointed Gooch, who was seeking his fifth LIV Golf individual title: “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.”

The Crushers successfully defended their LIV Golf Korea title won on a different course last year in Incheon, shooting a collective 23 under to beat OKGC by three shots. With their second win of this season, the Crushers now have 10 regular-season victories, breaking a tie with Legion XIII and 4Aces GC for most by any team.

“Just grateful, super grateful that I've got amazing guys, an amazing team,” said DeChambeau, who finished solo third individually at 11 under, one shot out of a playoff. “We all click in different ways, but we all work to make our team the best out here.”

Those 10 wins have come in 50 regular-season starts since the core group of DeChambeau, Charles Howell III, Anirban Lahiri and Paul Casey were established midway through the inaugural 2022 season.

Sunday’s win, however, was the first with a lineup adjustment, as reserve player Travis Smyth filled in for Casey, who was sidelined with a wrist injury.

Smyth was critical for the team’s success, finishing in a four-way tie for eighth at 7 under that also included Howell. He played his final 10 holes in a bogey-free 3 under, providing some critical birdies en route to shooting 67.

“I didn't want to be the fill-in guy that disappoints the team and stops them from standing on the podium,” said Smyth, who unfurled his blond shoulder-length hair during the team’s post-round press conference. “I'm over the moon. I'm super-proud of myself, super-proud of these guys, and couldn't have asked for a better first week.”

The Australian becomes just the second reserve player to celebrate any kind of LIV Golf trophy; John Catlin won as a reserve with Smash GC at Greenbrier during the 2024 season.

“Man, the week that Travis had, shooting those scores around this golf course,” Howell said. “When you're playing for a team and you're up there at the top and you're wanting to win, it's just one of the really, really cool things about LIV Golf – and it happens every week.”

FINAL LEADERBOARDS

Individual Top 10

1 (-12) – Joaquin Niemann, Torque (66-69-66-67) *

2 (-12) – Talor Gooch, OKGC (69-63-69-67)

3 (-11) – Bryson DeChambeau, Crushers (65-68-71-65)

4 (-10) – Dustin Johnson, 4Aces (70-70-64-66)

5 (-9) – Scott Vincent, HyFlyers (65-70-67-69)

T6 (-8) – Brendan Steele, HyFlyers (70-69-68-65); Harold Varner III, OKGC (68-69-68-67)

T8 (-7) – Travis Smyth, Crushers (72-66-68-67); Lucas Herbert, Ripper (71-66-69-67); Marc Leishman, Ripper (69-68-68-68); Charles Howell III, Crushers (65-70-68-70)

* Won on first playoff hole with birdie

Team Top 3

1 (-23) – Crushers GC (DeChambeau 65-68-71-65, Smyth 72-66-68-67, Howell III 65-70-68-70, Lahiri 68-73-70-71; Rd. 4 total: -7)

2 (-20) – OKGC (Gooch 69-63-69-67, Varner III 68-69-68-67, Kokrak 68-70-69-70, McDowell 68-71-73-71; Rd. 4 total: -5)

3 (-15) – Ripper GC (Leishman 69-68-68-68, Herbert 71-66-69-67, Smith 67-68-68-73, Smylie 71-69-74-69; Rd. 4 total: -3)

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ROUND 4 NOTES

DECHAMBEAU WAKES UP: Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau was 6 under on his first 10 holes of the week. He then played the next 45 holes in even par.

“I kind of went to Never Never Land,” he said.

Specifically, DeChambeau said his swing got out of sync and that his hands were getting ahead of him.

“It continued that way for the next two rounds, and it was very frustrating,” he explained. “I spent some long hours on the range trying to figure some stuff out and I was talking to AI quite a bit last night trying to go through some different physics principles that makes the club turn over, having some alpha torque and gamma torque put in there. I was like, what makes that possibly do that, and was talking about just grip pressure and tension.”

Suffice to say, he figured it out Sunday. Starting with the second hole, he posted five birdies in a 10-hole stretch to climb into contention before coming up a shot short of making the playoff.

“I feel like I'm on the right path now, and I had it OK in the first round, but I felt really good this round,” DeChambeau said. “I felt better than I did in the first round, which is a good trend.”

DJ’S BOGEY-FREE FINISH: Dustin Johnson went bogey-free for his last 40 holes at Asiad Country Club, shooting 64-66 on the weekend to finish in solo fourth at 10 under. That’s the 4Aces GC captain’s best individual result of the season.

Making the result even more impressive is that Johnson was ill most of the week, battling a cold.

“I barely made it through Thursday and Friday. It was everything I could do just to finish the rounds Thursday and Friday,” Johnson said. “Then felt a little better yesterday and a little bit better today.”

Johnson said he feeling better about his game now than at any point in the last two years. “Finally, I feel like it's consistent, like I'm finally driving it like I normally do,” he said. “So, it obviously takes a lot of pressure off the rest of your game.”

TOUGH DAY FOR GOOCH: Talor Gooch is a huge fan of his hometown Oklahoma City Thunder team. He watched the broadcast of their Game 7 Western Conference finals loss in the NBA playoffs prior to teeing off Sunday, then endured his own tough loss in the playoff to Joaquin Niemann. “Definitely a disappointing day overall to say the least,” said Gooch, who will now turn his attention to defending his title at LIV Golf Andalucia this week. “Hopefully we can get this day behind us quickly.”

NIEMANN BACK TO WINNING WAYS: After winning five times last season, Joaquin Niemann had high expectations going into 2026. While being shut out in the first seven tournaments this season, he started to force things.

“I was in the last group in Singapore on Sunday, and looking back to that day, I felt like I was just wanting it so bad to win. I just wanted to win,” he said. “I feel like sometimes it just takes you out of the focus. …

“I just look back to 2025, and it was so easy to win. It just happened and I feel like that's the way it should be, and I feel like I was forcing everything a little bit too much. Just let things happen and just stick to my stuff, stick to my routine and just be part of the show.”

VINCENT’S TOP 10: Scott Vincent’s final round started and ended with bogeys, but he still managed a 1-under 69 to finish in solo fifth at 9 under. It’s his third consecutive top-10 result since joining HyFlyers GC as a fill-in for captain Phil Mickelson. “There's so many positives to take away from the week as a whole,” Vincent said. “Today didn't quite happen. But yeah, lots of credit for just hanging in there because for a while I was, like, four shots out of it. To get right back into it was exciting and fun.”

ORIGINAL CRUSHER: Travis Smyth played in LIV Golf’s inaugural 2022 London tournament as a member of Crushers GC when Peter Uihlein was the captain. Bryson DeChambeau then joined the league for the next tournament in Portland, Oregon, and Smyth played two more times that season for other teams. “I was one of the founding fathers of the Crushers when LIV first started,” Smyth said. “We came second then as a team, and we came first this week. So, I don't know. There's something to that.”

RAHM’S STRONG FINISH: Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm, the current season-long points leader and two-time reigning Individual champion, birdied five of his final nine holes Sunday to shoot a 3-under 67, his lowest round of the week. Rahm finished in a four-way tie for 16th, just the second time he’s finished outside the top 10 in any LIV Golf event that he’s completed. He tied for 11th last year in Dallas.

STATS LEADERS

Round 4

Driving Distance: Dean Burmester, 319.6-yard avg.

Longest Drive: Dean Burmester, 345.3 yards (11th hole). Official measured drives taken only on holes 11 and 12.

Driving Accuracy: Victor Perez, 92.86% (13 of 14)

Greens in Regulation: Travis Smyth, Younghan Song, Laurie Canter, 88.89% (16 of 18)

Scrambling: Nine players tied at 100%, led by Richard Bland (7 of 7), Miguel Tabuena (7 of 7)

Fewest Putts: Danny Lee, 24

Bogey-free rounds: Brendan Steele (65), Laurie Canter (65), Louis Oosthuizen (65), Dustin Johnson (66), Branden Grace (67), Richard Bland (67), Miguel Tabuena (68)

Cumulative

Driving Distance: Jon Rahm, 311.3-yard avg.

Driving Accuracy: Ben Campbell, 76.79% (43 of 56)

Greens in Regulation: Laurie Canter, 81.94% (59 of 72)

Scrambling: Richard Bland (27 of 33), 81.82%

Fewest Putts: Danny Lee, 104

Lowest Rounds: Rd. 1 – Bryson DeChambeau, Charles Howell III, Scott Vincent (65); Rd 2 – Talor Gooch (63); Rd. 3 – Dustin Johnson (64); Rd. 4 – Bryson DeChambeau, Brendan Steele, Laurie Canter, David Puig, Cameron Tringale, Josele Ballester, Louis Oosthuizen (65)