LIV Golf Hong Kong: Abraham Ancer holds nerve to claim first LIV title, beats Smith, Casey in dramatic play-off
- Abraham Ancer overcomes Paul Casey and Cameron Smith after trio finish tied on 13 under par
- Casey’s six-under 64 helps Crushers GC claim team title for second week running
For two days Abraham Ancer looked as though he could no wrong, hitting fairways and greens at will and easing to a five-shot lead heading into Sunday’s final round of LIV Golf Hong Kong.
Then the precision that propelled the Mexican to the top of the leaderboard deserted him, the lead disappeared in a flurry of bad chips and poor iron shots, and a two-over-par 72 dropped him into a play-off alongside Paul Casey and Cameron Smith after they finished the third round tied on 13 under.
But the Mexican held his nerve when it mattered most, and while Casey and Smith pushed their tee shots right and left, Ancer found the middle of the famed 18th fairway.
His approach then arrowed towards the pin, leaving the relatively simple task of holing a four-foot putt to win his first LIV title, with Casey and Smith only reaching the green in three.
“Man I made that so hard on myself,” said Ancer, after winning the US$4 million first prize. “It was definitely a grind. My mind was there and my swing wasn’t, which was weird because it felt so solid all week.
“But I was really happy. That round could have definitely been going south very, very quickly.”
Englishman Casey had the perfect end to his third round, chipping in from a greenside bunker for a birdie on 16, sealing a six-under 64. But he found a fairway bunker off the tee in the play-off to end his hopes.
Casey’s performance helped Crushers GC win their second title in two weeks, adding a share of the US$3 million team prize to his US$1.875 million for coming second.
“I played some great golf,” Casey said. “I’m not going to measure it [the week] on the playoff hole, on one tee shot, something like that. It was a really good week.”
Smith had a more sedate third round, with two birdies on each nine. His 66 helped Rippers GC take third in the team competition, with Torque GC second.
It was the second time in five months that Smith had been denied by a birdie at the last, with Ben Campbell claiming the city’s Open last November in similar fashion.
Ancer’s triumph ended a tough time for the 33-year-old, who won on the Asian Tour in February last year at the Saudi International but has struggled since.
“It feels incredible because I’ve worked so hard these previous two years, and I feel like I haven’t played to my potential in the past two years,” he said. “It was tough to pinpoint what it was because I was practising harder than I ever have, and I was not seeing the results.
“That’s why today was really big for me. It gives me a lot of confidence, but it also kind of eases me that all the hard work that I’ve put in these last two years, it paid off today.”
Chile’s Joaquin Niemann won two of the previous LIV events this season, including last week in Saudi Arabia.
He sank the week’s first hole-in-one, at the 188-yard eighth, in a brilliant round of 63 to finish tied for fourth with another Mexican, Carlos Ortiz (66).
Finland’s Kalle Samooja then aced the 149-yard second hole for the sixth LIV hole-in-one since its inception in 2022.
Away from the madding crowd, Anthony Kim quietly put together the best round of his return to the professional game. The three-time PGA Tour winner carded a five-under 65, to finish three over for the tournament and not bottom of the standings.
“I just kept doing what I’ve been working on the last two months,” Kim said. “I knew something good was coming. It’s hard to stay patient when you feel like it’s right there, and I’m really happy that it hasn’t taken me one more round to get here.”
