Bolton, Massachusetts. Dustin Johnson gave LIV Golf his first big moment on Sunday when he put a 35-foot eagle on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to win the LIV Golf Invitational – Boston for his first win in 19 months.
Johnson’s 18th position was going so fast that he might have rolled about 6 feet out of the hole. But it hit the back of the cup and fell near the front of the cup to beat Joaquin Neiman and Anirban Lahiri.
Johnson raised and lowered his arm in slow motion, instead slapping his hands with Austin Johnson, his brother, and the canister. The win was $4 million for Dustin Johnson. With his team winning again, he has now made $9,962,500 in four events.
It was going fast, but it was a fine line,” Johnson said with a big smile. “I had some unlucky breaks [on No. 18] First time. She owes me one, and I’ve got it.”
The first playoff round in four LIV Golf events culminated in an unbeaten finish by many others who had a chance.
Johnson, who closed with a 5 under 65, needed a jumper on No. 5 at number 18. His drive bounced back to the right rough, and the iron he put into the trees went well to the left and had to scramble for a par to join Lahiri (64) Niemann (66) at 15-under 265.
Lahiri hit a 5-foot metal on the 18th day of the regulation, and rolled a potentially win-win eagle throw around the right edge of the cup.
Lee Westwood finished a one-shot playoff after 62 that featured stealth on two of the last three holes. He was poised to win when he bounced off a 1st-place bogey at the start of the gun with a short jumper at second 3.
He finished at No. 3, a 352-yard hole and a great birding opportunity. Westwood hit the wedge of a lube that was so fat that it came 40 feet from the pin and into a vault. He exploded poorly and missed his 18-foot shot.
“The peg was a little fat,” Westwood said. “Make 3 and win the championship and make 5. It’s a disgusting way to finish.”
British Open champion Cameron Smith, among six players recently signed with the Saudi-funded league, was a 63. He was also tied for the lead until he crashed his jersey into the trees on his No. 1, his 17th hole, and had to sprint sideways. make a ghost.
Smith tied for fourth with Westwood. Each made just over a million dollars.
Johnson has not won since the start of the Saudi International Championships on February 7, 2021, when he was part of the European tour schedule. The player who has held the number one position longer than anyone since Tiger Woods is out of the top 15 in the world when he signed with LIV Golf.
He’s been part of the rival league since the start in early June outside of London, and finished in the top ten in all of them.
“I had the chance to win every one,” he said. “That’s three times in a row for the team, and for me to get first place, I feel good.”
He walked off the 18th green holding a phone on a video call with his two sons.
Lahiri and Neiman each earned just over $1.8 million for their loss in the playoff. They were among six players signed with LIV Golf after the end of the PGA Tour season.
The next LIV Golf Invitational Series will take place in two weeks in the suburbs of Chicago at Rich Harvest Farms, best known for hosting the Solheim Cup in 2009.
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