Greenbrier Recap: Rippers finish second; Leishman finishes T-4
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. – For a long stretch during Sunday's final round at LIV Golf Greenbrier, Ripper GC was in prime position to push on for their third team victory of the season.
Early on, they had increased their one-shot overnight lead over Smash GC on the team leaderboard and three of their players were in the thick of contention for the individual title after making red-hot starts on The Old White course.
However, that impressive early momentum could not be maintained and the all-Australian combination had to settle for second place - just three strokes behind the triumphant Smash GC, who tied a LIV Golf record with a 53-under total counting score.
Marc Leishman was the most successful Ripper player as he closed with a bogey-free 6-under 64 to secure a tie for fourth at 17-under - just two strokes outside a two-man playoff for the title, won by Smash GC's Brook Koepka over Legion XIII's Jon Rahm at the first playoff hole.
Lucas Herbert also challenged for the individual title early on after reeling off four birdies in his first 10 holes. However, he bogeyed the 11th and the 15th before finishing in style with birdies on 17 and 18. That earned him a 67, and a share of sixth place at 15-under.
Captain Cameron Smith, who celebrated his 31st birthday on Sunday, finished one stroke back in a share of eighth after closing with a 67 that included four birdies and a lone bogey at the 13th while Matt Jones wound up joint 20th, after carding a 68.
A case of so close but so far for the Rippers, who had been nicely poised to add a third team victory to their trophy cabinet for this season.
However, the Australian quartet retain third place in the season-long team standings and, along with fourth-placed Smash GC and fifth-placed Torque GC, they will vie for the third remaining bye for the concluding Team Championship at Maridoe Golf Club in Texas from September 20-22.
Ripper GC also has a chance to claim one of the top two seeds in the final regular-season tournament in Chicago next month.
"That was a goal at the start of this week, to try and lock up that top three for Dallas," said Leishman, who was back in action at the Greenbrier after withdrawing from last month's LIV Golf UK by JCB due to emergency appendicitis surgery.
"We got knocked out on Friday last year in Miami (at the Team Championship), so it would be nice to not have to play Friday this year and take that out of the equation."
Leishman was delighted to perform well on the Old White course on his eagerly-anticipated return to the Rippers lineup.
"I'm probably not quite 100%, but pretty close to it," said the 40-year-old from Warrnambool in Victoria. "I'm just a little bit sore at the end of the day. But that's probably expected. It's not even three weeks since the surgery. I can still go at it."
He can certainly still "go at it" and he proved that in Sunday's final round as he mounted a title challenge with five successive birdies from the ninth. After hitting a superb approach at the par-4 13th from the right rough to six feet, he coolly sank the birdie putt to move to 16-under.
However, he was only able to pick up one more shot after that over his final six holes - making another birdie at the par-3 18th where his tee shot ended up 10 feet from the cup.
Leishman and his Ripper GC team mates now have three weeks to regroup and re-set before they travel to Chicago for the regular-season finale.