The tournament, which was hosted at the Fanling Golf Course, Hong Kong, from March 8 to March 10, was the first Liv Golf event to be staged in the territory and the fourth event of the LIV 12 tournament 2024 season. Events completed prior to Hong Kong were held in Mayakoba (Mexico), Las Vegas, and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. The winner of the individual event in Hong Kong was Abraham Ancer, and the team event was won by team Crushers.
A total of 54 players, including two wild card entries, take part in each event. These are split into 18 groups of three, all starting at the same time (a shotgun start), with one group of players starting at each of the 18 holes. A huge fireworks bang, accompanied by colored lights and a huge cloud of smoke, indicates the start time.
Abraham Ancer was the leader at the end of days one and two and was leading for most of day three, but he dropped two shots on the day and was caught at 13 under par by Paul Casey and Cameron Smith to force a three-way playoff. The playoff was short-lived and ended on the first extra hole when Ancer hit a well-positioned drive and a magnificent 2nd shot to within five feet of the pin on the 18 green. He sank the putt for a birdie, which the other two could not match, to win the US$4 million first prize.
Casey posted a six under par 64, and Smith recorded a four under par 66 to finish on 197 (13 under par) to force the playoff.
Thirty-three-year-old Mexican-American Ancer, a relative unknown on the international golfing circuit compared with many of the well–known names in the field, stuck to the task well. Even when he was caught and under pressure in the final round, he still came through to win the tournament.
At the post-match press conference, he said, “I think that second shot was even more important than the tee ball just because I haven’t hit one good iron shot all day, and I knew I wanted to pull it off.” Ancer said. “My caddie kind of pumped me up. It’s like, all right, it’s time to hit the shot of the day, and it came out perfect. I couldn’t be happier with how I played that playoff.”
Ancer joined the ATP Tour golf for the 2018-2019 season and had a number of top-five finishes as well as a win in the Australian Open. He joined LIV Golf in June 2022 and has been suspended from the ATP Tour. This was Ancer’s first individual win in LIV Golf tournaments.
A Liv Golf tournament is very different from traditional golf Tour events. Liv Golf puts a lot of effort into creating eating, drinking, and viewing facilities for the public, all in its distinctive black-and-white livery. Loudspeakers blast away with upbeat music and voiceovers, and large video screens update the public on the progress of the event.
The event lasts for three rounds of golf spread over three days. The individual winner, as with traditional tournaments, is the player finishing with the lowest end-of-tournament, score. The top 24 players at each event earn points to a series leaderboard.
The player with the highest score at the end of the season will be the series winner. After four rounds, the top three in the individual standings are Joaquin Niemann (97), John Rahm (57), and Dustin Johnson (54). Casey is in fourth place at 48, and Hong Kong winner Ancer moved into fifth place at 47. They are followed by Talor Gooch, Bryson Dechambeau, Cameron Smith, and Louis Oosthuizen, who have scores of 40 or above.
In addition to the individual tournament, there is a team competition at each event with standings that progresses throughout the season. Four players are assigned to each of the 13 teams.
The plus/minus scores of the three players with the lowest round scores of rounds one and two are added to the team score. In the third round plus/minus scores of all four players are added to their team’s total.
The top eight teams at each tournament in the regular season earn points which are added to the team series standings. The team standings are used to allocate team rankings for the team championship at the last event of the season, which is a knockout tournament involving both match play and stroke play.
Team Crushers comprising Casey, DeChambeau, Howell III, and Anirban Lahiri, won the Hong Kong team event with a score of minus 35, and lead in the series standings with 100 points.
Future events will take place in Miami, Adelaide (Australia), Singapore, Houston, Nashville, Andalucia (Spain), the United Kingdom, and Greenbier, USA.
