Abe Ancer – first win in LIV Golf – photo LIV Golf
2018 Australian Open Champion Abraham Ancer today won his first LIV Golf event with a playoff victory over Cam Smith and Paul Casey at the LIV Golf Hong Kong event at the Hong Kong Golf Club.
All three players finished tied at 13 under par but when Ancer found the fairway at the first playoff hole, hit his approach to 4 feet and converted for birdie the title was his.
“It was definitely a grind,” said Ancer referring to his final round. “I made it a lot more stressful than I envisioned it. I didn’t have my best ball-striking. It was very polar opposite of the first two rounds.
“Off the tee and my fairway and second shots wasn’t quite there. But I was really happy. Mentally I dug deep. I had to. That round could have definitely been going south very, very quickly. I’m really proud of that. I’m really proud of how I felt mentally and how I fought the whole round not having my best stuff.
“I knew it was going to be tough. There’s some big-time names right behind me, and I knew there was going to be a couple of really low rounds out there, like PC. I knew I had to make some birdies coming in or have some good stuff coming in.”
Ancer earned US$4 million for the win bettering his previous best finish of 3rd at the Bedminster event last year.
Smith was disappointed not to have won but happy with his improvement on recent efforts.
“Yeah, it was a step in the right direction this week, said Smith. “Played some really patient, good golf over the weekend. Yeah, a lot different to the first few weeks.”
Smith and Casey both earned US$1.875 million for their share of second place.
Smith’s Rippers team finished third in the teams’ event.
