Dean Burmester overcomes bumpy start, wins LIV Golf Chicago in playoff
'Yeah, obviously had the dream start, didn't I, 3-over through 3,' Burmester quipped. 'I'm not going to lie, I tend to get down on myself, and in that moment, I thought, I've got a lot more to fight for than just the golf tournament. For me, it was about hanging around. I made a great up-and-down on 4 and then a great birdie on 5 and that was kind of me going again. I had loads of chances that I didn't make. Left a lot of putts short.'
His round of even-par 71 got him to 9-under 204 and in the playoff, where Spaniards Rahm and Ballester also advanced after they played together in the final group.
Burmester had missed a 23-foot birdie putt on the final regulation hole, while Rahm and Ballester each sank birdies to join him at 9 under.
Rahm had an adventurous third round with three bogeys on the front nine — at Nos. 2, 3 and 8, which he countered with birdies at Nos. 5, 7, 12, 15 and 18 to post 69.
Ballester also carded 69, with birdies at Nos. 10, 12, 14 and 18 and blemishes with bogeys at Nos. 3 and 15. Ballester, 21, was making just his seventh professional start.
However, each missed birdie putts from about 12 feet on the first playoff hole, and Burmester did not miss.
'Read it right to left and it went right to left and then went right and lipped in,' Burmester said of the winning putt. 'I was halfway through a fist pump and then had to pause and have a second go at it.'
Stinger GC won the team competition on the first hole of a playoff with Torque GC after each finished 17 under in regulation.
Burmester's 71 was combined with scores from Branden Grace (67), team captain Louis Oosthuizen (67) and Charl Schwartzel (72). They were 7 under for the third round, while Torque went 12 under to force a playoff.
Grace and Schwartzel each birdied the 18th in the playoff.
'The moment after the emotion of trying to win a golf tournament, there's nothing sweeter than that,' Burmester said. 'Then to have these two boys do it right behind me, all three of us birdie the playoff hole, is special.'
Team captain Joaquin Niemann (67), Sebastian Munoz (68), Carlos Ortiz (68) and Mito Pereira (69) scored for Torque in regulation.
The two playoffs on Sunday was just the second time that's happened on the LIV Tour. For the Stingers, who had gone 31 straight regular-season tournaments without a win going back to Tulsa in 2023, it replicated their success at the tour's first event in London in 2022, when Schwartz captured the individual title and the Stingers claimed team honors.
'The boys played well the whole week,' Oosthuizen added. 'For (Burmester) to get that win, and then for Charl and Branden to hit those two shots into 18 was very special, and it was very relieving for me to watch.'
Niemann, who tied for 17th, remains the leader in the individual points standings.
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