[IMAGE: LIV Golf]
LIV Golf Adelaide evolved into a pulsating duel between two former Australian Open champions. In the end it was Joaquin Niemann who outduelled Abraham Ancer to triumph at The Grange Golf Club.
Torque GC’s Niemann fired a flawless seven-under-par 65 to reach 13-under par. He was the only player to be bogey-free on Sunday. Ancer (71) and Carlos Ortiz (71) tied for second three strokes back.
It was Niemann’s third LIV Golf title in little more than a year. The Chilean’s performance was reminiscent of his 2023 Australian Open triumph when he produced a scintillating final round of 66 to reach a playoff that he ultimately won.
“Man, I love it,” said Niemann when the result was confirmed.
“I’m starting to feel the tears now because I didn’t want to get out of that game rhythm because you never know what can happen on the last one, but now for the relief, and man, it feels awesome.”
Niemann added: “The fans are amazing here. They like Team Torque here. They like us. Being able to see some hats out there with our logo and some shirts and some people cheering for us, it was pretty special. So it’s been great, Australia.”
For much of the day, Ancer looked the likely winner. But he made his first bogey in 31 holes at the 14th hole. The 2018 Australian Open winner missed his only two fairways when pulled his final drives left, resulting in costly bogeys on 17 and 18.
Ancer’s Fireballs GC claimed the team title, winning comfortable by six strokes from Jon Rahm’s Legion III with Torque GC eight shots adrift in third place. Trailing Majesticks at the start of the day, Fireballs produced a combined aggregate of 12-under-par to reached 21-under courtesy of Ancer (71), Sergio Garcia (67), David Puig (67), Luis Masaveu (71).
“Super proud!” said Fireballs skipper Garcia. “Obviously bittersweet with Abe (not getting the individual title), the way he played. He was there the whole day, and it would have been nice to get the double. But super proud of the way they all fought and in tricky conditions.”
The All-Australian Ripper GC couldn’t mount a title defence, finishing ninth at one-under. Marc Leishman was the pick of the Aussies to be T21 in the individual standings at three-under. Cameron Smith finished 30th at one-under, while Lucas Herbert was T31 at even par and Matt Jones 44th at three-over.
“As far as experience goes, it was amazing,” said Ripper GC skipper Smith. “As far as how I played, not my best stuff. I scrambled really well the first day to kind of stay in the tournament, and then the last couple of days I actually did a lot of good stuff and just couldn’t really keep on top of it, keep the momentum going.”
Smith added the hectic start to the 2025 season, which saw the league tee off last week in Riyadh, didn’t leave a lot of time for his squad to recharge its batteries for a title defence at home.
“I think the past couple of years we’ve come in pretty fresh, and these boys have had a couple weeks off and I’ve come off the Masters with a week off in between,” said Smith. “This week it was kind of all just thrown in front of us very quickly, and coming from Riyadh, being jet-lagged and stuff, it definitely took a lot out of us. But it is what it is.”
LIV Golf’s next event will be held at Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling, Hong Kong, from March 7-9.
