Brooks Koepka beat Jon Rahm in a playoff to win the LIV Golf Greenbrier title on Sunday for his document fifth profession crown on the Saudi-backed sequence.
5-time main champion Koepka, made par on the primary playoff gap whereas Rahm made bogey.
Koepka, whose most up-to-date LIV win got here in Could in Singapore, mentioned it was his most prized due to his day-long combat with enjoying associate Rahm.
“That is most likely my favourite one. It’s all the time good when it’s important to battle good gamers,” Koepka mentioned..
“Jon is a hell of a participant. For no matter motive, he has all the time gotten the higher of me a bit of bit as of late. It feels good simply to get one,” he added.
Rahm outdueled Koepka within the last spherical to win the 2023 Masters for his second main title however Koepka mentioned that didn’t add motivation.
“I wasn’t fascinated with it. Simply a type of issues. Let’s go play golf. It’s a very good win,” he mentioned.
Koepka fired a seven-under-par 63 within the last spherical whereas Rahm shot 65 to depart each on 19-under 191 after 54 holes on the Previous White course in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
American Jason Kokrak was third on 18-under with England’s 51-year-old Richard Bland and Australian Marc Leishman sharing fourth on 17-under.
Within the playoff, Rahm’s tee shot on the par-3 18th went to the again fringe of a bunker. One leg in and the opposite out of the sand, the Spaniard blasted 20 toes past the outlet.
Koepka missed his birdie putt however tapped in for par, then Rahm lipped out on his par putt and Koepka had the victory.
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Koepka’s earlier LIV titles got here at Jeddah in 2022 and 2023, Orlando in 2023 and Singapore. He collected main wins on the 2017 and 2018 US Opens and the 2018, 2019 and 2023 PGA Championships.
Rahm, who additionally gained the 2021 US Open, jumped from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf final December and gained his first LIV occasion final month, taking LIV Golf UK at Centurion in England.
The 29-year-old Spaniard shared fifth on the Paris Olympics earlier this month.
Regardless of the defeat, Rahm remained second to Chile’s Joaquin Niemann within the season standings, with the marketing campaign title to be determined at subsequent month’s regular-season finale in Chicago.
Rahm sank a five-foot par putt on the tenth gap to match Koepka for the lead at 16-under and launch the back-nine battle.
Bland adopted three birdies in a row with an eagle on the par-5 twelfth to swipe the lead at 17-under.
Koepka made a tap-in birdie at 12 to match Bland then curled in a 15-foot birdie putt on 13 to grab the lead at 18-under, Rahm making a birdie at 13 as nicely to remain one adrift.
Rahm rallies late
When Koepka curled in a 15-foot birdie putt on the 14th, he doubled his edge to 2 strokes.
However Rahm birdied 16 and the par-5 seventeenth to seize a share of the lead with Koepka, whose birdie putt at 17 lipped out, and each parred 18 to power the playoff.
Rahm, who fired a 62 on Saturday, opened Sunday with a birdie to achieve 15-under and lead by two.
Koepka birdied two of his first three holes to drag inside a stroke and each birdied the fourth. Rahm made a bogey at six and Koepka first took the lead with a birdie at seven.
Koepka’s Smash, with Kokrak within the lineup, gained the crew competitors on 53-under, defeating Leishman and the all-Australian Ripper squad by three strokes.