‘This is unreal’: Smith’s ripper finish as LIV Adelaide gives Australia dream result
I thought LIV Golf was a dud. I was wrong. We’ve just seen a top Sunday arvo of sport.
Chef, prepare the humble pie. Smear a little egg on my face. Allow me to eat my words. I was wrong about LIV Golf.
I thought it was trivial, cheap, meaningless. Showboating. A Donald Trump of a creation. Overbearing and underwhelming. Then towards the end of round one on Friday, I started thinking … hmmm, this ain’t bad. When Matt Jones knocked out the flagstick on the 12th hole at The Grange on Saturday while 5000 lunatics sang You’re The Voice and threw plastic beer cups in the air, I was thinking … well, this is pretty good.
When the team event in Adelaide on Sunday went down to a playoff between the all-Australian Ripper GC and all-South African Stinger GC, I summoned chef and conceded … this is bloody great.
American Brendan Steele’s 18-under-par has defeated South African Louis Oosthuizen by just enough strokes. One. Then comes the dynamite: the team playoff. Cam Smith and Marc Leishman for the Rippers. Oosthuizen and Dean Burmester for the Stingers.
The masses created a mosh pit around the 18th hole. Smith twirled his moustache and teed off. He’d been spraying drives all weekend like they were coming from an out-of-control hose.
Palpable tension. A real tournament. A wild hook from Smith. An almighty groan. He dunked his second shot into a bunker. Disaster. Oosthuizen and Burmester smoked their drives. Sat in the mayor’s office. They flicked a couple of chips at the pin. One of them would make. They both missed. Jeez, mates. You might have just dropped the World Cup.
Smith’s wizardry from the pot came to the fore. A par. Leishman made a mighty putt under extreme pressure. Back to the 18th for a second playoff hole. So much drama. So much tension. So much sporting theatre. You can see how much it means to Smith. His eyes are wide and desperate. So much egg on my face I can barely see my laptop.
Fans are climbing trees to watch. They’re singing, cheering, jeering. Jumping on the roof of the commentary box to get a better view. It’s wild outside the ropes. Wild is good. It’s all business inside the ropes. Brilliant. Chef, prepare a second helping.
Finally, Smith gets his hose to shoot straight. Up the guts. But he fluffs his approach. He’s battling. Wants to win so much, nearly too much. Leishman hits a couple of pearlers. Looking good for a birdie. Oosthuizen finds the bunker. The patrons roar their approval. Burmester joins him in the sand. Folks are laughing like it’s a comedy festival. “You cannot write this,” says commentator David Feherty. We’ll try. They’re rolling in the aisles before Smith rolls in his winning putt. His ball disappears like it’s collapsed from exhaustion. He looks ready to do the same.
Says Smith: “This is unreal. It is a dream come true for us. We’ve been talking about it all year. It’s one we wanted to win. I don’t even know what to say. It’s just so good. The fans turned up all week. We couldn’t have done it without them.
“There was a lot of pressure on us and I think we did a really good job. It was such a cool week. I don’t even know how to describe it. I’m still kind of a bit brain dead, to be honest. I’m a little bit tired. Happy it’s over. ”
Says Leishman: “Unbelievable. We had a fair bit of pressure this week. I think we really embraced it. It was tough playing in front of home fans but we loved every second of it. This is the dream result.”
Says Lucas Herbert: “I don’t even know the right words to describe it. This environment we just had here around 18, when Leish made his par putt on the first playoff hole, I don’t think I’ve ever heard golf fans scream that loud in one moment. Phenomenal week. The boys all played unbelievable. We’ve all finished in the top 15, which is a credit to us. We’ve played great for the home crowd. Very, very, fulfilling.”
Says Matt Jones: “I’m the old man out here. To get to do it with these boys, we’re all good friends … I don’t think you can beat this.”
Jones’s 14-under left him tied for ninth in an individual tournament that seems a distant memory. Smith, Leishman and Herbert were one stroke adrift in a tie for 14th. They wrap themselves in an Australian flag and embark on revelry. There’s been nerves, butterflies, tension, rapture, celebrations, music, drinkies, two tournaments in one, more than 100,000 spectators, egg, pie, revelation. Just a tremendous Sunday arvo of sport. For trivialising LIV Golf last week, joyously may I say … the yolk’s on me.
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