Harold Varner III posted a final-round 4-under 68 to claim a one-stroke victory over Branden Grace at the LIV Golf DC tournament.
In winning at Trump National Washington D.C. on Memorial Day weekend, in front of the largest crowd to attend a LIV Golf tournament in the U.S., Varner becomes the second different RangeGoats player to win this season, joining good friend Talor Gooch, who won back-to-back titles in Australia and Singapore.
It was Varner’s third career victory, with his two previous coming in Australia and Saudi Arabia.
“Very special,” said Varner. “I’ve never won in America. It’s my favorite country.”
Varner did not get to enjoy a champagne celebration with his RangeGoats GC team, though. The Spanish-speaking Torque GC won for the second time this season, shooting a final-round counting score of 9 under to finish at 27 under, beating the South African Stinger GC by three shots, with Varner’s team taking third.
“It’s good, but at the end of the day, I really wanted to celebrate with the RangeGoats,” Varner said. “That’s my team.”
Varner produced several clutch moments Sunday at Trump National, none bigger than his hole-out from the bunker for birdie at the par-4 11th to take the lead. His tee shot at the par-3 15th set up another birdie to give him a two-stroke lead.
But Grace, who lost in a playoff to Dustin Johnson two weeks ago in Tulsa, birdied two of his last three holes, including his final hole, the par-4 second, to tie Varner at 11 under. “I played flawless all day,” said Grace after his bogey-free 6-under 66, the only bogey-free round in the field this week. “Nice to make a putt like that when it matters.”
At the time, Varner was about to play his second shot at the par-5 18th. His 6-iron from 197 yards landed on the front edge of the green and settled 40 feet from the pin, setting up his two-putt birdie for the win.
“I knew exactly what I had to do, when I had to do it, how I have to do it,” Varner said. “I love that. That’s why you play, that moment.”
Torque’s Mito Pereira led Varner by one stroke to start the day but wasn’t as sharp as the previous rounds en route to shooting 71 to finish in the bronze spot.
“My irons weren’t very good today,” Pereira said. “Happy to finish third and obviously wanted to win. But we won as a team, so that’s pretty sick, too.”
David Puig, the 21-year-old from Spain and LIV Golf’s youngest player this season, provided Torque with its best counting score, a 6-under 66 that tied Grace for the low round of the day. Sebastián Muñoz added a 70 to tie for fourth on the individual leaderboard.
The win moves Torque to third in the season-long team standings behind last year’s champions, 4Aces GC, and Stinger GC. But Torque Captain Joaquin Niemann likes how his team is performing going into the second half of the 14-event season.
“We won already two times and obviously the more important win is the last one of the end of the year,” Niemann said, pointing to the Team Championship. “I think this is good to prove to all the other teams that we are the team to beat.”
As for Varner, his plans to celebrate his first win in the U.S. include a round of golf on the Monday holiday with his friends at a municipal course.
“I love playing golf,” he said. “That’s my favorite thing. I’m going to play tomorrow. It’s going to be awesome.”
LIV Golf DC Results
Player Leaderboard: Top 10
Pos-Player-Score (Final Rd)
1. Harold Varner III -12 (-4)
2. Branden Grace -11 (-6)
3. Mito Pereira -10 (-1)
4. Sebastian Munoz -8 (-2)
4. Henrik Stenson -8 (-1)
6. Andy Ogletree -7 (-1)
6. Louis Oosthuizen -7 (-1)
6. Kevin Na -7 (E)
9. Cameron Tringale -6 (-2)
9. Bryson DeChambeau -6 (-2)
9. Cam Smith -6 (E)
Money Winners: Top 5
1. Harold Varner III $4.0m
2. Branden Grace $2.25m
3. Mito Pereira $1.5m
4. Sebastian Munoz $900k
4. Henrik Stenson $900k
Team Leaderboard: Top 3
Pos-Player-Score (Final Rd)
1. Torque GC -27 (-9)
2. Stinger -24 (-9)
3. RangeGoats GC -19 (-4)
Content from LIV Golf Media used to compile this recap.
