SINGAPORE RD. 3 NEWS AND NOTES: AUSSIES RULE AGAIN, KOEPKA'S FAMILY CELEBRATION
LIV Golf Singapore provided plenty of drama as Smash Golf Club Captain Brooks Koepka became the first LIV Golf player to win four individual events while Ripper Golf Club won consecutive events after an emotional victory last week in Adelaide. Here are some news and notes from the final round at Sentosa Golf Club.
RELATED: FULL RECAP FROM KOEPKA'S WIN, RIPPER GC'S TEAM VICTORY
ROUND 3 NOTES
CELEBRATING WITH CREW: Brooks Koepka’s win on Sunday at LIV Golf Singapore is the 20th of his professional career. But it’s his first as a father, and he enjoyed the celebration on the 18th hole with wife Jena and their 9-month-old son Crew.
Koepka, who turned 34 last Friday, wore a huge smile as he held his son, who was wearing a black onesie and a floppy blue hat for protection against the sun.
Crew has actually attended two previous tournaments, LIV Golf Miami and The Masters, but this is the first time he has seen his dad win.
“Super awesome", is how Koepka described the experience. “It's great to have him out. Like I said earlier in the week, it's been kind of disappointing because he's watched me finish 45th, which is kind of embarrassing. It's something I've always dreamed of is having Jena and Crew there when I win. To have them here is super special and something I'll never forget.”
AUSSIES IN SINGAPORE: This week was not a home game for the all-Australian Ripper GC, but they still had noticeable support at Sentosa Golf Club.
“It's a pretty easy flight from Australia,” said Matt Jones, “and I think they're either expats or a lot of people traveled up here, so it was great to have Ripper fans out here again this week. Hopefully there's more and more. The more we play, there's more Ripper fans everywhere we go.”
The Rippers certainly celebrated their second consecutive win in a very Aussie manner, with shoeys on the podium just like last week in Adelaide.
“I said to the boys, surely we've got to draw the line somewhere, don't we?" Marc Leishman said. “They're like, no, we're doing it. I'm like, all right, so we did.”
Captain Cameron Smith even autographed his shoes before drinking out of them, then he handed the pair to fans who helped the team celebrate.
“Even though I've had a couple of wins, they're only a few weeks old, so I feel like I should go and get them back, to be honest,” Smith joked.
BEST RESULT FOR CLEEKS: Cleeks GC tied for second on the final team leaderboard – the team’s third career podium finish and its best-ever result in LIV Golf. The previous two podiums were third-place finishes in Bangkok in 2022 and Jeddah in 2023.
“It’s nice to know that we have a team now that we all play good golf, and we know that if we can play well, we actually have a chance to be on the podium,” said Cleeks captain Martin Kaymer.
Although Adrian Meronk had the team’s highest finish of the week, a 9-under total that left him tied for 10th, it was LIV Golf Promotions winner Kalle Samooja who produced the low round for his team Sunday with a 7-under 64. Richard Bland added a 69, while Kaymer and Meronk shot even-par 71.
“That performance today, it was very important for him,” Kaymer said of Samooja, whose tie for 14th at 8 under is his first points result (top 24) of the season. “He was struggling during the practice rounds and the last two days. He must have found something yesterday on the course.”
HATTON’S WEIRD WEEK: Legion XIII’s Tyrrell Hatton holed his third shot at the par-5 18th from 118 yards, dunking it into the cup. Earlier in the tournament, he holed a shot from 76 yards.
That was the good news on a week in which he tied for 5th, his sixth top-15 finish in his first seven LIV Golf starts. Unfortunately, his putter never heated up, and it cost him a chance to catch winner Brooks Koepka, as Hatton missed three early putts Sunday inside 10 feet that could have applied pressure.
“Bit of a weird week,” Hatton said. “Definitely tee to green, I played good enough to give myself a chance. But I really struggled holing putts out here. Normally, I’m all right on the greens but this week, putts just didn’t want to go in.”
Hatton wore his cap backwards on the greens, but he said it meant nothing more than trying to avoid sweat from dropping off his bill as he stood over his putts.
ANOTHER TOP 10 FOR RAHM: Hatton’s Legion XIII captain, Jon Rahm, shot a 4-under 67 to finish in a tie for 10th at 9 under. Rahm remains the only player this season to finish top 10 in each of the seven tournaments. He’s second in the season-long points standings to Joaquin Niemann.
Koepka moved to fifth in the standings with his Singapore win.
ROUND 3 STATS LEADERS
Driving accuracy: Brooks Koepka, 85.71% (12 of 14 fairways hit)
Driving distance: Kieran Vincent, 344.5 yards avg.
Longest drive: Kieran Vincent, 390.0 yards, 5th hole
Greens in regulation: Cameron Smith, Talor Gooch, Joaquin Niemann, Kevin Na, Anirban Lahiri, Branden Grace, Paul Casey, Bubba Watson, 83.33% (15 of 18 greens)
Scrambling: Patrick Reed (7 of 7), Carlos Ortiz (6 of 6), Matt Jones (5 of 5), Brooks Koepka (5 of 5), Kalle Samooja (4 of 4), Cameron Smith (3 of 3), Kevin Na (3 of 3) 100%
Putting: Mito Pereira, 1.28 putts per hole
Bogey-free rounds: Brooks Koepka (64), Bryson DeChambeau (66), Adrian Meronk (66), Marc Leishman (67), Harold Varner III (67), Richard Bland (68)