Abraham Ancer outlasts opposition at LIV Hong Kong; Crushers do it again

SUMMARY

· Abraham Ancer won his first individual title in LIV Golf League play after winning the team event four times last year with Torque GC.

· Needed to survive a three-way playoff with Cameron Smith of Australia and England’s Paul Casey for the win that came as a result of his closing 72 after a 63 and 63 on the first two days.

· Crushers won their second title coming from behind in a row after LIV Golf Jeddah, and their fourth in the last seven events including last year’s team championship in Miami.

Abraham Ancer took the hard route to the top at LIV Golf Hong Kong, needing to survive a three-way playoff after two days of flawless play on Sunday even as Crushers GC delivered yet another devastating late run to win the team championship, their second in as many events after Jeddah.

At the historic Hong Kong Golf Club, Ancer’s final round was nothing like the cruise of the first two days where he had cards of 7 under par 63 and 8 under 62 but with his maiden title in the balance on a challenging afternoon in the rain, the Fireballs player produced the kind of ball-striking worthy of a champion when it was most needed. The 33-year-old Ancer beat out Cameron Smith and Paul Casey with a birdie on the first playoff hole for his first individual LIV Golf title after falling into the tie with a 2 over par 72, while Casey and his Crushers GC teammates won their second consecutive team trophy with another Sunday run to beat out Torque GC by two strokes. “It was definitely a grind,” Ancer said on livgolf.com. “I made it a lot more stressful than I envisioned it … I'm really proud of how I felt mentally and how I fought the whole round not having my best stuff.”

Casey went 6-under 64 and Smith, the Ripper GC captain, shot a 66 to catch Ancer. But in the playoff at the tough par-4 18th at Hong Kong Golf Club, Casey’s drive left him with no chance to reach the green in two, while Smith’s approach found the greenside bunker and both could only bogey the hole.

Ancer though left nothing to chance with a perfect 5-wood tee shot, and followed up with an equally sensational approach with his 8-iron inside 5 feet for the winning birdie.

“I think that second shot was even more important than the tee ball just because I haven't hit one good iron shot all day, and I knew I wanted to pull it off,” Ancer said. “My caddie kind of pumped me up. It's like, all right, it's time to hit the shot of the day, and it came out perfect. I couldn't be happier with how I played that playoff.”

Casey was also seeking a first LIV Golf individual win but could still celebrate a team victory with the Crushers, who last week in Jeddah rallied from 11 shots down entering the final round for the win. On Sunday, the Crushers were seven shots back of the 36-hole leader Fireballs but shot a collective 14 under in the final round to finish at 35 under.

Besides Casey’s 64, captain Bryson DeChambeau shot 66, Charles Howell III contributed a 67 and Anirban Lahiri added a 68. The Crushers have now won four of the last seven LIV Golf events, including the 2023 Team Championship in Miami.

“What a great group of guys,” Casey said. “We've got something – we spoke briefly about it after Jeddah, that we've got something that you can't measure, and I firmly believe that.”

Added DeChambeau: “We know with four scores counting, we're going to be in it no matter what the last day. We put the pedal to the metal today and showcased who we are.” DeChambeau and Casey were in the same group chasing Ancer on Sunday and while Casey made the playoff DeChambeau with a 66 missed out by two strokes.

“First of all, I'm super pissed I didn't beat him today,” DeChambeau said of Casey. “Second, I'm super proud of him for being tied for the lead and going down into a playoff. I had a chance today. I had so many lip-outs today, but that's the crazy dynamic about it.”

Down the order, Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann, who leads the individual points table, sank one of two holes in one recorded on Sunday to add another highlight to his already impressive season. While the Chilean got his ace on the 189-yard eighth hole for his sixth career hole-in-one, Cleeks GC’s Kalle Samooja added the other on the 131-yard second hole, the 10th ace of his career.

There have now been six aces since 2022 in LIV Golf League play.

Final team scores: 1. Crushers GC -35 (Casey 64, DeChambeau 66, Howell III 67, Lahiri 68), 2. Torque GC -33 (Niemann 63, Ortiz 66, Pereira 68, Muñoz 71), 3. Ripper GC -32 (Smith 66, Herbert 67, Leishman 69, Jones 71), 4. Majesticks GC -31 (Horsfield 65, Westwood 67, Poulter 68, Stenson 69), 5. Cleeks GC -29 (Bland 66, Kaymer 67, Meronk 69, Samooja 71), 6. Fireballs GC -27 (Puig 68, Garcia 70, Chacarra 71, Ancer 72), T7. Smash GC -24 (Gooch 66, McDowell 67, Kokrak 69, Koepka 71), T7. 4Aces GC -24 (Johnson 63, Reed 69, Varner III 71, Perez 73), 9. Stinger GC -21 (Burmester 68, Oosthuizen 68, Schwartzel 70, Grace 72), 10. Iron Heads GC -20 (Na 64, Vincent 68, Kozuma 70, Lee 70), 11. RangeGoats GC -17 (Uihlein 67, Wolff 69, Watson 70, Pieters 71), 12. HyFlyers GC -16 (Steele 67, Tringale 69, Mickelson 70, Ogletree 70), 13.
Legion XIII -15 (Surratt 66, Rahm 69, Hatton 70, Vincent 76).