Elvis Smylie Wins LIV Golf Riyadh on Debut as Ripper GC Completes the Sweep

LIV Golf added a fourth round to its events this season to give the finishes more room to breathe. The first one ever played came down to a rookie two-putting on the 72nd green without realizing how much rode on it.

Elvis Smylie shot a bogey-free 8-under 64 on Saturday night to win LIV Golf Riyadh in his league debut, finishing at 24-under 264, one shot clear of a charging Jon Rahm. The total is the lowest winning score in LIV history. Smylie's Ripper GC made it a clean sweep in Riyadh, shooting 26 under in the final round to win the team title at a league-record 69 under, three ahead of Torque GC.

A Debut for the Record Books

Smylie started the night tied with Peter Uihlein at 16 under and Rahm two back. The 23-year-old Australian left-hander never blinked. A birdie at the par-4 12th pushed the lead to three over Rahm, and for most of the back nine it looked like the only question was the margin.

The week's numbers explain how a player ranked 134th in the world when he arrived walked off with the trophy. Smylie went 66, 69, 65 and 64, playing his last 36 holes in 15 under, and ranked third in the field in strokes gained putting with a new blade putter. "Everything looked like a bucket for me, which is nice," Smylie said.

The win comes in Smylie's first start for Ripper, the all-Australian team he officially joined last month. "It's a dream come true," Smylie said.

Rahm Makes It Close

What looked like a coronation turned into a sprint. Rahm, who began the round two back, birdied five of his last six holes, including each of the final four, and signed for a bogey-free 9-under 63, the lowest round of the week. He drove the green at the 396-yard 18th and had a putt for eagle that would have put real pressure on the leader. It missed, and Rahm settled for 23 under and solo second.

"It was a fantastic round of golf, shot 9-under," Rahm said. Rahm pointed to earlier in the week for the shots that cost him, along with a missed birdie chance at the par-5 sixth and a poor approach at the par-4 11th. It is Rahm's fifth runner-up finish in LIV, and the Legion XIII captain now has 25 top-10s in 27 regular-season appearances.

The Walk to 18

Here is the detail that will follow this win around. Smylie did not know the lead had shrunk to one until he was walking to the final green. His approach finished on the edge, which meant a two-putt from off the putting surface to avoid a playoff with one of the best players in the world.

"I actually didn't know that I had to two-putt the last green," Smylie said afterward. Ignorance helped. The two-putt came, and with it the first 72-hole title in LIV Golf history.

Ripper Runs Away With the Team Title

The team race was supposed to be a three-way fight between Torque, Smash GC and Ripper. Ripper ended it early. Marc Leishman opened with four straight birdies and the Australians were 11 under as a team through six holes.

By the end of the night, Smylie's 64, a 64 from Lucas Herbert and a 65 from captain Cameron Smith, plus Leishman's 69, added up to 26 under, the third-best single-round team score in league history. The 69-under total is a league record and gives Ripper its fifth regular-season team title. Herbert's turnaround sums up the week: a 75 on Wednesday, then 67, 65 and 64.

Torque finished second at 66 under, with Abraham Ancer (66) and Sebastián Muñoz (66) leading a 20-under final round. 4Aces GC took third at 59 under, and Fireballs GC and Legion XIII tied for fourth at 53 under. Smash, which led at the halfway mark, managed only 8 under on Saturday and finished sixth at 52 under. Smith did not hold back on the newest member of the team. "I genuinely think he can be the best golfer in the world," Smith said.

The Rest of the Board

Uihlein's 67 was solid, but it was not enough to match the low numbers around him, and he finished alone in third at 21 under, still in search of a first individual LIV win after 51 starts. Ancer, Thomas Pieters and David Puig tied for fourth at 20 under, with Pieters and Puig each closing with 65. Thomas Detry, who shared the lead after each of the first two rounds in his debut, closed with 67 to finish seventh at 19 under.

Talor Gooch, one back through 54 holes, could not find the magic 67 one more time. A 71 dropped the Smash GC captain into 12th at 16 under. Muñoz, Byeong Hun An, Herbert and Branden Grace rounded out the top 10 and ties, all of them earning Official World Golf Ranking points, which LIV events award to the top 10 and ties for the first time this season.

A New Era, a New Name

LIV's first 72-hole event produced a record winning score, a 63 that nearly forced a playoff and a 23-year-old champion who did not know he needed a two-putt until he got to it. A year ago, Adrian Meronk went wire to wire here over 54 holes. This version had twists Meronk never had to deal with, and a newcomer who handled all of them.

Next up for Ripper is its home event in Adelaide, and the Australians will arrive as the team to beat.

Relive the week through our Round 1, Round 2 and Round 3 recaps, and read the official LIV Golf final-round recap (opens in a new tab).

Sources: LIV Golf (final-round recap), Arab News, Golf News Net. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: LIV Golf.