Lucas Herbert Wins LIV Golf Virginia Wire to Wire as 4Aces GC Take the Team Title in a Playoff

For 62 holes, Lucas Herbert made LIV Golf Virginia look like a formality. Then the par-3 9th happened, Sergio Garcia came charging, and the week's easiest story suddenly needed a finish.

Herbert supplied one. The Ripper GC Australian steadied after a Sunday double bogey, birdied the par-5 12th to swing the momentum back, and closed with a 3-under 69 for a 24-under 264 and a four-shot win over Garcia at Trump National. It is Herbert's first LIV Golf title, earned wire to wire after a week that began with the flu. And in a team race that came down to one extra hole, Anthony Kim's 5-wood carried 4Aces GC past Fireballs GC in a playoff.

The Car Crash at Nine

Herbert started Sunday three clear and stretched it to five through eight holes. Then his tee shot at the 9th flew long into a collection area. Two chips and two putts later he had a double bogey, while Garcia, playing in the same group, rolled in a birdie from 27 feet. A five-shot cushion became two in the space of one hole. Garcia birdied the par-4 10th next and the gap was one.

Herbert later called the 9th a car crash of a hole, and noted that even after it, he was still in front. Garcia was gracious about it, saying Herbert had actually hit a decent tee shot that simply ended up in the wrong place.

The Swing at Twelve

The response came at the par-5 12th. Herbert made birdie, Garcia made par, and Herbert pointed to that exchange as the moment the tournament turned back his way. Par 5s were the engine all week: Herbert played them in 16 under across the 72 holes, the best mark relative to par on par 5s at any LIV event, and pushed his run of birdie-or-better on par 5s to 12 straight.

A brief rain delay stopped play with two holes left. Herbert came back out and finished in control, and later said he was proudest of how well he performed when conditions were far from perfect. Garcia's bogey on his final hole made the margin four.

"I spent about 60-odd holes with the lead on my own," Herbert said, per LIV Golf.

What the Win Means

The trophy is the headline, and the side effects are big too. Herbert becomes the 27th different individual winner in LIV history and the fourth different Ripper GC player to win individually, which makes Ripper the first team in the league with an individual champion in all four roster spots. The win, worth $4 million, also lifted him to third in the season standings and into the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, since Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, ranked one and two, were already exempt. Herbert noted that his first major start ever came at Shinnecock.

Thomas Detry, who entered the week third in points, needed a solo fourth to hold Herbert off. A tie for sixth was not enough.

Behind the Champion

Garcia, the Fireballs captain, finished alone in second at 20 under for his fifth LIV runner-up, tying Anirban Lahiri for the second-most in league history, and his best finish since winning in Hong Kong last year. DeChambeau shot a bogey-free 66 to take third at 19 under, Dean Burmester was fourth at 18 under with four eagles on the week, and Josele Ballester, a day after his 60, finished fifth at 17 under.

The round of the day belonged to Kim. The 40-year-old went bogey-free for a 10-under 62 with just 24 putts, his lowest round relative to par since returning to golf in 2024, and tied Detry for sixth at 16 under. Rahm provided the highlight: an albatross from 217 yards at the par-5 17th, the fifth in league history. Rahm still finished tied for eighth, his first finish outside the top five this season.

Kim's 5-Wood Wins It for 4Aces

The team race was a sprint. 4Aces began the day four back at 31 under, then posted the best team round of Sunday at 18 under behind Kim's 62, Detry's 67, captain Dustin Johnson's 69 and Thomas Pieters' 72. Fireballs, tied for the lead overnight, went 14 under with David Puig's 65 leading the way, and Garcia's closing bogey dropped them into a tie with 4Aces at 49 under. Legion XIII finished one back in third, with Crushers GC fourth at 44 under and Ripper fifth at 43 under.

The playoff went back to the par-4 18th, two players per side. Johnson sent Kim and Detry; Garcia sent Ballester and Puig. Kim, from 235 yards in wet rough, chose a 5-wood, landed it short and let it run to inside 10 feet. Kim and Detry both made par, Ballester matched them, and Puig's bogey settled it. "I just love seeing that 4Aces name on top of the leaderboard," Detry said.

It is the third team title of 2026 for 4Aces, following Hong Kong and Singapore, after none in 2024 or 2025. That gives the club nine regular-season team wins, level with Crushers and Legion XIII for the most in the league, and sends it to the top of the team standings at the season's halfway point.

The Takeaway

Herbert started the week sick and short on practice. He leaves Virginia with a first LIV trophy, a U.S. Open invite and proof that a big lead can survive a bad hole. From the opening 64 through the Saturday shootout, nobody caught him.

Full final-round details are in the LIV Golf final-round recap (opens in a new tab).

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

Photo: Charles Laberge/LIV Golf.