DJ, 4ACES KEEP A FEW PROMISES IN ADELAIDE

Johnson insisted he held no ill will toward Gooch, a member of last season’s dominant 4Aces squad, which won four regular-season tournaments as well as the Miami Team Championship. But Johnson did offer one warning, telling Gooch “to enjoy being on stage in Miami because that was the last time he’s going to do that.”

Entering Sunday’s final round at LIV Golf Adelaide, Gooch’s RangeGoats held the 36-hole team lead, but the 4Aces rallied to win the team title by one stroke over captain Bubba Watson’s foursome.

Gooch still was able to celebrate on stage, holding on to win the individual title after shooting consecutive 10-under 62s to start the tournament. But he’ll have to wait until another day to pop champagne with Varner, Watson and Thomas Pieters.

From the team standpoint, DJ had kept his promise.

“Yeah, I didn't want him to win. I never want any other team to win than mine,” Johnson said. “Yeah, obviously I like Talor, and he did really well for us last year, and obviously he played great this week. But yeah, I'm glad we snipped him, though, for sure, just to give it to him a little bit more."

He emphasized the last point with a slight uppercut and a broad smile.

Johnson also fulfilled another promise that he made earlier in the week in Adelaide.

The 4Aces had climbed to the top of the team standings through three events by virtue of three podium finishes – second place in Mayakoba and Tucson, and third place in Orlando. But for a team that won 63 percent of the time last season, the lack of a trophy was not sitting well.

So with all the talk about Cameron Smith and his all-Australian Ripper GC having the home-course advantage this week, DJ reminded everybody not to forget his team.

“We're just trying to get that first win of the season,” he said, before adding, “I think it's looking pretty good for this week.”

They indeed looked very good at The Grange. Patrick Reed and Pat Perez tied for third at 15 under, Peter Uihlein tied for seventh at 14 under and Johnson was solo 10th at 13 under. Their three-day counting score of 47 under sets a new record for lowest team score at any LIV event.

Uihlein, meanwhile, climbed to the top of the individual points standings with his fourth top-10 points finish of the season – the only player to achieve that feat. This might be the time to point out that Uihlein replaced Gooch in the 4Aces lineup.

The team victory allowed Uihlein to breath a sigh of relief.

“I was starting to think maybe I was bad luck at the first three – that's why we weren't winning,” he said.

Johnson quickly responded, “That was my fault, not yours.”

In retrospect, DJ was confident in the 4Aces’ chances in Adelaide because he felt better about his own game.

Last year’s Individual Champion (Uihlein, by the way, finished third), Johnson had started slowly this season. He finished 37th in points in Mayakoba, shooting a final-round 7-over 78. He’s been making progress ever since, but has yet to really be in contention late on Sunday.

It’s a credit to the depth of the 4Aces that they were sitting at the top of the table without their captain performing at peak efficiency. Besides Uihlein at the top, Reed is fifth in points and Perez in 15th, while Johnson is 17th.

“I knew the other three guys were playing well,” Johnson said. “I just wasn't playing that well. So as soon as I started to play halfway decent, we were going to have a good chance to win.”

Looking at his three rounds in Adelaide (71-64-67 for 13 under), Johnson said: “Obviously I played OK. The first day I didn't play very good. Actually played good, just didn't score well, and obviously shot decent scores the last two days. But yeah, all three guys are playing really well, playing good golf. I knew if I could just contribute a little bit, we were going to have a good chance.”

As for Gooch, he had to balance the euphoria of winning the individual title in Adelaide against the disappointment of the RangeGoats coming up one shot short of forcing a team playoff against the Aces.

“It was frustrating that we couldn't get the win for sure, but it was a step in the right direction for us as a team, and I think it's just a matter of time before we're up on that podium,” he said.

Gooch and the Goats will get another chance this week at LIV Golf Singapore, but the Oklahoma native couldn’t help but look ahead to LIV Golf Tulsa on May 12-14. He’d like nothing more than to celebrate with his teammates on the podium in his home state.

“I would prefer it to be in Tulsa,” he said. “Let's do it next week, but especially Tulsa would be super, super cool.”

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