RD. 3 NEWS AND NOTES: TEAM EFFORT FOR RIPPERS; STEELE CREDITS CAPTAIN

Ripper Golf Club won a dramatic team playoff to grab the hardware in its home country while HyFlyers Golf Club's Brendan Steele won the individual trophy. Here are some news and notes from the final round at LIV Golf Adelaide.

RELATED: RECAP: RIPPERS BEAT STINGER IN FIRST TEAM PLAYOFF; HYFLYERS’ STEELE TAKES INDIVIDUAL TITLE

ROUND 3 NOTES

TEAM EFFORT FOR RIPPERS: Ripper GC Captain Cameron Smith certainly is the most decorated player on the all-Australian team, with the 2022 Open Championship and three LIV Golf individual tournament victories on his resume. But in Sunday’s final round of LIV Golf Adelaide, it was his three teammates who did the heavy lifting early to put the Rippers in position to win.

Marc Leishman shot a bogey-free 65 and was 6 under through his first 11 holes. Matt Jones also was bogey-free on the day and was 4 under through his first 10 holes en route to a 68. Lucas Herbert, playing with Leishman on Sunday, shot 65 with seven birdies and one eagle.

Meanwhile, Smith was 1 over in his first six holes before finding his rhythm in the middle of his round, eventually shooting a 2-under 70. He eventually finished tied for 14th with Leishman and Herbert at 13 under for the week, with Jones finishing tied for ninth at 14 under.

“I definitely didn't have my best stuff today,” Smith said. “I told Sam (Pinfold, his caddie) on the 7th green, I said, ‘Mate, I'm absolutely sh--ting myself here. I had just made a birdie, but it seemed like I was just tight and tense. 

“Yeah, just had a lot of pressure, and then the way that the boys were playing, it almost added another element of pressure, like I really have to pull my finger out here because everyone else is going good.”

Herbert, the first-year Ripper, shot back-to-back 65s after starting with a 1-over 73. He said playing with Leishman was a big advantage.

“Obviously playing with Leish, I don't know that either of us would have played as well as we did had we not played with each other,” Herbert said.

STEELE GIVES CREDIT TO HIS CAPTAIN: Brendan Steele joined LIV Golf before last season in large part to play with his friend Phil Mickelson, captain of HyFlyers GC.

With Steele on the verge of winning the team’s first trophy of any kind, Mickelson provided some advice and words of encouragement before Sunday’s round.

“He was like, how are you feeling? What are you thinking?” Steele explained. “I said, well, if I can play freely like I did the last couple days, I feel like I'll have a good chance. He's like, that's great. Let's reframe it. Let's make it when I play freely, I can play freely, I will play freely. Let's reframe it into that. 

“Then I was saying, I think it'll be good enough. He's like, no, it will be good enough, you will play freely. This is what you need to do. So that was what I was trying to do.”

After Steele’s one-stroke victory, Mickelson was on the 18th green to give his teammate a congratulatory hug.

“He's the reason that I'm here and the reason that I'm improving,” Steele said. “To be honest, I'm 41 years old and I'm getting better, and it's mostly because of him.”

With his victory, Steele moves to 13th in the season-long Individual Championship race. Torque GC’s Joaquin Niemann still tops the standings.

WATERING HOLE STATISTICS: The par-3 12th, otherwise known at The Watering Hole, played to a stroke average of 2.833 in the third round. A total of 11 birdies were recorded against just two bogeys.

For the three rounds, the hole has ranked as the 11th most difficult on the course with a stroke average of 2.846.

Update

KIM DISQUALIFIED: After a review of the final round in Adelaide, it was determined that Wild Card player Anthony Kim signed for an incorrect score for the par-5 seventh hole. Kim signed for a score of double bogey (7) when the actual score was a triple bogey (8).

Per The Rules of Golf, 3.3b(3), if a player returns a scorecard with a wrong score for any hole, and it’s a score lower than actually scored, the player is disqualified.

ROUND 3 STATS LEADERS

Driving accuracy: Cameron Tringale, 92.86% (13 of 14 fairways hit)

Driving distance: Joaquin Niemann, 336.2 yards avg.

Longest drive: Bryson DeChambeau, 369.1 yards, 10th hole

Greens in regulation: Abraham Ancer, Sergio Garcia, Branden Grace, 94.89% (17 of 18 greens)

Scrambling: Charl Schwartzel (5 of 5), Marc Leishman (5 of 5), Pat Perez (5 of 5), Jon Rahm (4 of 4), Paul Casey (3 of 3), Matt Jones (3 of 3), Louis Oosthuizen (3 of 3), Brooks Koepka (2 of 2), Sergio Garcia (1 of 1), 100%

Putting: Martin Kaymer, Marc Leishman, 1.33 putts per hole

Bogey-free rounds: Charl Schwartzel (64), Jon Rahm (64), Marc Leishman (65), Louis Oosthuizen (65), Sergio Garcia (66), Brooks Koepka (66), Matt Jones (68), Paul Casey (68), Pat Perez (68)