It was a rare team sweep in the fourth version of the LIV/Chicago tourney Sunday at Bolingbrook Golf Club. Dean Burmester won the individual title and his Stinger unit won the team crown – and both came in one-hole sudden death playoffs.
Burmester, whose only previous LIV win was at Miami last year, watched two golfers from Spain – Chicago defending champion Jon Rahm and LIV rookie Josele Ballester — miss birdie putts from 15 and 12 feet in the playoff before he buried his from seven feet to be the winner.
The team playoff involved two-man teams from the Stinger and Torque units. Though Burmester was a member of the four-man Stingers, he didn’t participate in the team playoff. Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace made birdies to eliminate the Torque unit of captain Joaquin Niemann and Carlos Ortiz.
Stinger is an all-South African team, and there were some sidelights to their big week. LIV recently announced that it will have its first tournament in South Africa next March, and the players can’t wait.
“We’re all very excited, knowing we’re going to play in front of our people,’’ said captain Louis Oosthuizen, who decided the team members and their families would stay together in one home this week. That hasn’t been the norm in past years, but it worked big-time.
Burmester picked up $4 million for his individual title while Rahm and Ballester earned $1,875,000. The Stinger unit picked up $3 million for the team win. Stinger GC had gone 31 tournaments without a team victory until Sunday.
The Saudi-back LIV circuit introduced a fresh – and somewhat controversial — approach to professional golf after recruiting some stars off the PGA Tour four years ago. That new look – a 14-tournament season spread over five continents with big purses and team competition figuring in — seems to be working. The circuit – as well as LIV/Chicago – has been growing in popularity and Saturday’s crowd at Bolingbrook was easily the biggest in the four years the tourney was played here.
Burmester had a two-stroke lead entering the final round, but it didn’t last long. He made bogeys on the first three holes on Sunday. Ballester, at 21 one of LIV’s youngest players, and Rahm were always hovering around the lead and Harold Varner was among the others joining the battle while posting a 65 – the low round of the day.
“I was down on myself,’’ said Burmester. “After those three bogeys in a row I was like fudge. I don’t know where I’m going. My head says nowhere, but I kept at it.’’
The three in the playoff finished regulation play at 9-under-par 213. Rahm and Ballester shot 69 in the third round and Burmester had 71.
“This has been emotional,’’ said Burmester. “I’ve been going through a rough time, some personal stuff, and I’ve been grinding. I think about my wife and kids back home, and I’m just trying to do the best I can for them. My wife finished an ultra marathon when we played in West Virginia and I was on my phone watching her. That gave me inspiration.’’
Rahm gained some inspiration for next week’s tournament, the LIV Individual Championship at the Club at Chatham Hills in Indianapolis. He won that honor last year but has no wins this season. Still, he is No. 2 behind Chile’s Niemann, a five-time winner, in the season-long point race.
His good showing at Bolingbrook, coupled with Niemann finishing tied for 17th, enabled Rahm to gain ground on Niemann and keep his hopes of repeating as the season individual champion alive.
