Marc Leishman Wins LIV Golf Miami as Ripper GC Sweeps the Blue Monster

The Blue Monster beat up everyone at Doral this week. Marc Leishman just took the fewest punches.

The 41-year-old Australian shot a bogey-free 4-under 68 on Sunday, the only clean card of the entire tournament, to win LIV Golf Miami at 6 under, one shot clear of Charl Schwartzel. It is Leishman's first LIV Golf title and his first win of any kind in four years. He did not do it alone, either. Ripper GC closed with a 5-under team round to win the team title at 4 over, the first time a LIV team has ever won with an over-par number.

Leishman summed it up about as well as anyone could. "I guess it kicked our butt less than everyone else," he said.

From Three Back to Untouchable

Leishman started the day three shots behind Bryson DeChambeau and wasted no time. He birdied two of his first four holes and was sharing the lead with DeChambeau through eight. The decisive blow came at the par-5 10th, where his birdie pushed him three clear. Then he did the hardest thing at Doral: nothing. Eight straight pars to finish, no drama on the card, no gifts to the field.

DeChambeau, meanwhile, came apart around the turn. A bogey and a double bogey in quick succession ended his run at a third LIV individual title, and a closing 75 left the 36-hole leader solo fifth at 2 under.

The 18th Gets One Last Say

The final hole nearly made it interesting. Leishman stood on the 18th tee with a two-shot lead, then pushed his drive into the trees and had to punch out. While that was happening, Schwartzel was posting a number. The Stinger GC veteran had ripped off four straight birdies on his back nine and birdied his final hole to finish at 5 under, which meant Leishman needed to save par to avoid a playoff.

He hit his third to 13 feet above the hole and rolled it in.

"I wanted this one pretty bad, especially having a two-shot lead teeing off 18," Leishman said, per Business Today. He added that the course had kicked the team's butts during a January training camp, and it did the same again this week.

Schwartzel's 66 tied Torque GC's Carlos Ortiz for the low round of the week and was the South African's best finish since winning LIV's inaugural event in London in 2022.

Sergio Garcia had his chance too. The Fireballs GC captain got within a shot at one point, but his tee shot on the 18th also found the trees. He tried to thread a 3-iron toward the green and came up just short of carrying the water, made bogey and finished solo third at 4 under. "I had an opening there with a 3-iron, and then I just needed three or four more feet," Garcia said.

The Rest of the Board

Ortiz's 66 lifted him to fourth at 3 under. Phil Mickelson finished solo sixth at 1 under after a cruel break at the par-4 seventh, where his chip hit the flagstick, bounced back onto the green and rolled into the water for a double bogey. Patrick Reed, the first-round leader, closed with a 74 and tied for seventh at even par.

Jon Rahm made a quadruple-bogey 8 at the 17th and still finished tied for ninth at 1 over, which kept his streak of top-10 finishes alive. Ripper captain Cameron Smith shot 70 and shared ninth with him. Anthony Kim posted a 67 and tied for 29th, his best result since returning to LIV.

Sunday was the gentlest day of the week, with a field average of 73.574, but the tournament as a whole played to 74.377, more than two strokes over par per player per round. That is the backdrop for a 6-under winning score.

Ripper Makes History

The team race was a rout. Leishman's 68, Smith's 70, Matt Jones' 71 and Lucas Herbert's 74 added up to a 5-under final round, the best team score of the day, and Ripper GC finished at 4 over, eight shots clear of Crushers GC. Anirban Lahiri's 69 and Charles Howell III's 71 helped the Crushers to an even-par Sunday that offset DeChambeau's 75. The 4Aces were third at 17 over behind Harold Varner III's 68, Legion XIII was fourth at 19 over and the Fireballs finished fifth at 20 over, which ended their run of three straight team titles.

According to LIV Golf, it is the 14th time a team has swept both the individual and team trophies, and Leishman is the league's 21st different individual winner. Smith had the best line on what it meant. "It's been a long time coming for Leish," Smith said.

What It Means

Leishman arrived in Miami off a tie for 51st of 54 in Singapore, a week he described in blunt terms. Since joining LIV in mid-2022, he had collected three runner-up finishes and five other top 10s without a win. Now he jumps 15 spots to fourth in the individual standings, behind Joaquin Niemann, Garcia and Rahm, while the Fireballs still lead the team standings with 112 points.

For the all-Australian Ripper side, it is a statement week on the hardest course LIV has ever played. For Leishman, it is proof that on a course this mean, patience and a clean card still beat raw firepower.

Earlier this week: our Round 1 recap and Round 2 recap. Final scores are on the official LIV Golf Miami leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and LIV Golf's final-round recap (opens in a new tab) has the full team breakdown.

Sources: LIV Golf (final-round recap and leaderboard), Business Today, Irish Golfer. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: LIV Golf.