Dean Burmester wins LIV title in sudden-death playoff at Bolingbrook Golf Club

BOLINGBROOK – Dean Burmester was the least known of the six contenders going into the final round of LIV Golf Chicago at Bolingbrook Golf Club.

There were major championship winners in defending champion Jon Rahm and fan favorite Bryson DeChambeau, veterans in Paul Casey and Carlos Ortiz and flashy rookie Josele Ballester.

Rahm made the sudden-death playoff, as did Ballester, but it was Burmester, a 36-year-old South African, who prevailed, sinking a 5-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole to win the title and the $4 million that goes with it.

Burmester had won on the LIV circuit before – a triumph at Doral near Miami last year – but he hardly has the pedigree of some of his peers. His four European Tour wins before joining LIV were in the least regarded tournaments in venues such as the Canary Islands. His brief stop on the PGA Tour came and went with little notice.

Where Bolingbrook stands in world golf isn’t clear, but it’s aces to Burmester, who was motivated by his wife Mel’s recent performance in an ultra-marathon.

“Inspiring,” Burmester said. “The moment of emotion when you win a golf tournament, there’s nothing sweeter than that.”

Burmester started and finished the final round at 9-under-par, but getting back there was an adventure after bogeys on the first three holes. He made birdies on the fifth, 12th and 16th holes, the last by sinking a 5-footer similar to his winning putt. He was joined at 9-under 204 by Rahm, who birdied the last after a wedge to four feet, and Ballester, whose 124-yard wedge to three feet on the final hole was also converted.

But only Burmester sank his birdie putt in the playoff, following misses by Ballester from 15 feet and by Rahm from 12 feet, as many of the approximately 10,000 fans stayed until the finish. Ballester was the only one of the three to hit the 18th fairway, the playoff hole, off the tee. Ballester and Rahm each collected $1.875 million as a consolation prize.

To get to birdie range, he had to negotiate a lob wedge shot from the right rough.

“This rough is no joke,” Burmester said. “The grass was with me, which helped. There’s a bit of luck, but I pitched it exactly where I wanted to.”

Carlos Ortiz, who tied for first for the longest time on the back nine before the others birdied, took fourth at 8-under 205 and took home $1 million.

DeChambeau was ever-so-briefly in the chase when he birdied the par-5 third to go to 7-under, but he unraveled from there, scoring 3-over 74 to finish at 3-under 210, tied for 13th. Harold Varner III’s 6-under 65 was the best round of the day.

The first individual playoff in four LIV appearances in Chicago was complemented by a team playoff, in which the all-South African Stinger squad, thanks to birdies by Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace [who tied for fifth individually], beat Torque on the first sudden-death hole. That meant an additional $750,000 for each Stinger member, including Burmester, who may open a bank.

“We may all be looking at houses,” joked Stinger captain Louis Oosthuizen.