Grace is LIV Golf's latest $4M winner
Branden Grace won LIV Golf's first stop on American soil, an event that drew critics and protestors alike because of the upstart series' funding by Saudi Arabia.
Grace closed with a 7-under 65 on Saturday to finish at 13 under in the 54hole tournament at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club. The 34-year-old South African won $4 million.
The fledgling LIV series, fronted by CEO Greg Norman and funded by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, aims to challenge the PGA Tour. It has lured some players, including Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson, with the promise of big signing bonuses, hefty prize purses and fewer events.
Grace beat Mexico's Carlos Ortiz by two strokes.
“Played flawless golf, played really, really well when I needed to do something special and came up and managed to pull it out,” Grace said. “But just what a great day, it was amazing to come here, this new format, this new everything is amazing and everybody here is having a blast.”
Ortiz, ranked No. 119 in the world, shot a 69. Johnson (71) finished four back with Patrick Reed (67).
The 48-man field in Oregon competed for a $20 million purse, with an additional $5 million prize fund for a team competition. There was no cut and even the last-place finisher earned a payday of $120,000. Charl Schwartzel won the tour's inaugural event outside of London (and the team portion) and pocketed $4.75 million.
The Four Aces team, led by Johnson, won the team competition at Pumpkin Ridge.
LIV Golf also announced Saturday that English player Pat Casey has joined the series. Casey, 44, has won three times on the PGA Tour and 15 times on the European Tour, and is ranked No. 26 in the world. He has not played a tournament round since March because of injuries.
The tour's next event is set for July 29-31 at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster,N.J. Casey is expected to join at that time.
• J.T. Poston continued his quest for a wire-to-wire victory with a 4-under-par 67 during Saturday's third round at the PGA Tour's John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Ill.
Poston sits at 19-under 194, three shots ahead of Argentina's Emiliano Grillo (65), Denny McCarthy (66) and Scott Stallings (64).
Poston is chasing his second career victory on the PGA Tour after taking the 2019 Wyndham Championship.
He opened with three birdies on the front nine before posting a birdie, two bogeys and an eagle on the back.
“Obviously the first two days I had everything working great,” Poston said. “And today wasn't as sharp tee to green and didn't putt it as well. To be able to still shoot 4-under, which is still very solid today, that gives me some confidence going into tomorrow.
“Hopefully hit it better, but if I don't, I still got the ability to shoot a decent number.”
Callum Tarren (65) sits alone in third at 15 under while Chris Naegel (67) and Bo Hoag (63) are tied for sixth at 14 under, five shots back. Hoag shot the best round of the day to vault 18 spots up the leaderboard on moving day.
• Adrian Meronk will take a narrow lead into the final round of the Irish Open as he bids to become the first Polish winner in the history of the European tour.
Meronk, who has three top-three finishes this season, carded a third round of 4-under 68 at Mount Juliet to edge in front on a crowded leaderboard.
The top 14 players are separated by four shots. At 14 under par, Meronk is one shot ahead of Jack Senior, Jorge Campillo and Fabrizio Zanotti. Another stroke back are 2020 winner John Catlin and Espen Kofstad.