Charles Howell III put together a stunning round on Sunday, firing an 8–under-par 63 to win LIV Golf Mayakoba in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
Howell birdied six holes on the front nine and finished with eight during his bogey-free third round to claim his first LIV Golf title. He shot 16–under 197 for the weekend, four strokes ahead of runner-up Peter Uihlein, who shot a 68 on Sunday after being second-round co-leader.
“I had a lot of experience here, and I think that helped a bit in the wind. I would say that,” Howell said. “Versus guys that are now just seeing it for the first time, I think having played it in the wind for so many years, I think that helped a little bit.”
Uihlein carded an eagle on the par-5 fifth hole, but struggled on the par-4 12th, posting a triple bogey. Although he finished strong with four birdies over the final six holes, he still wasn’t able to catch Howell.
“I mean, other than one—technically three bad swings on one hole, it was good,” Uihlein said of his round. “I mean, I hit a bad drive on 3, but other than that, for the most part, that was my—it was a good bogey. It really was a great bogey. I mean, I lost one ball all week. I mean, other than that one hole.
“All in all a good week. Just tried not to let the team down this week, first event. But yeah, it was solid.”
Talor Gooch, the other second-round co-leader, struggled mightily on Sunday, carding six bogeys against one birdie to shoot a 76, dropping him to 14th.
South African Branden Grace (67 on Sunday) finished third at 10 under, six strokes off the lead. England’s Paul Casey (70) finished fourth, and Brendan Steele (65) rounded out the top five.
Along with Bryson DeChambeau, Howell and Casey also helped Crushers GC to a team title, the squad’s first. Crushers GC finished at 26 under, nine strokes ahead of second-place 4Aces GC, which consists of Uihlein, Pat Perez and Patrick Reed. Torque GC came in third at 13 under.
“Oh, gosh, this is what we’ve been working on for all of last year, and we didn’t get it done, so to come off with a crushing start I guess you could say was pretty fun,” DeChambeau said. “We won by 10, and it was all thanks to Chucky over here, shooting 16–under on this golf course three days. You couldn’t ask for more as a captain. Very proud of these guys, and this is the reason why I re-signed them.”
