{"id":676097,"date":"2026-05-31T13:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T13:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/676097\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T13:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T13:50:10","slug":"niemann-wins-liv-golf-korea-in-playoff-crushers-gc-claims-team-trophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/676097\/","title":{"rendered":"Niemann wins LIV Golf Korea in playoff; Crushers GC claims team trophy"},"content":{"rendered":"

BUSAN, South Korea \u2013 Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann, LIV Golf\u2019s winningest individual golfer, added to his record total Sunday at LIV Golf Korea while Bryson DeChambeau\u2019s Crushers GC became the league\u2019s outright leaders with the most team victories.<\/p>\n

RELATED: FINAL LEADERBOARD<\/a><\/p>\n

Niemann beat OKGC Captain Talor Gooch with a birdie on the first playoff hole for his eighth career LIV Golf individual title, three more than any other player in league history. The win is Niemann\u2019s first in 2026 after winning five times last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was fun out there,\u201d said the 27-year-old Niemann, the league\u2019s youngest captain. \u201cI really enjoy the feeling of winning again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Niemann and Gooch, who shared the 54-hole lead, each finished at 12 under in regulation as they dueled all day at Asiad Country Club. Niemann had four birdies in a five-hole stretch on his front nine to take the lead, but Gooch made a 28-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole to tie for the lead during their tense back-nine battle.<\/p>\n

In the playoff, Niemann\u2019s approach from 150 yards finished inside six feet from the pin to set up his winning birdie putt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like every hole was kind of like a match play,\u201d Niemann said.<\/p>\n

Said a disappointed Gooch, who was seeking his fifth LIV Golf individual title: \u201cIt’s frustrating when you have a chance to win. That doesn’t come too often in this game, so you want to capitalize on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Crushers successfully defended their LIV Golf Korea title won on a different course last year in Incheon, shooting a collective 23 under to beat OKGC by three shots. With their second win of this season, the Crushers now have 10 regular-season victories, breaking a tie with Legion XIII and 4Aces GC for most by any team.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust grateful, super grateful that I’ve got amazing guys, an amazing team,\u201d said DeChambeau, who finished solo third individually at 11 under, one shot out of a playoff. \u201cWe all click in different ways, but we all work to make our team the best out here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\"Crushers<\/p>\n

Those 10 wins have come in 50 regular-season starts since the core group of DeChambeau, Charles Howell III, Anirban Lahiri and Paul Casey were established. Sunday\u2019s win, however, was the first with a lineup adjustment, as reserve player Travis Smyth filled in for the injured Casey.<\/p>\n

Smyth was critical for the team\u2019s success, finishing in a four-way tie for eighth that also included Howell. The Australian becomes just the second reserve player to celebrate any kind of LIV Golf trophy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s just been a whirlwind of a week,\u201d Smyth said. \u201c\u2026 I didn’t want to be the fill-in guy that disappoints the team and stops them from standing on the podium. I’m over the moon. I’m super-proud of myself, super-proud of these guys, and couldn’t have asked for a better first week.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUSAN, South Korea \u2013 Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann, LIV Golf\u2019s winningest individual golfer, added to his record…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":676098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-676097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=676097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/676098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=676097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=676097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=676097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}