AUGUSTA — It was feast or famine for several LIV golfers at this year’s Masters Tournament.
As the growing rival to the PGA Tour, LIV Golf has been a hot topic for the past week as 13 of its players, including defending Masters champion Jon Rahm, traveled to Augusta National Golf Club.
Eight LIV players made the cut into the weekend but none finished in the top five on Sunday. Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith finished tied for sixth place while Tyrrell Hatton finished tied for ninth. Former Masters champion Patrick Reed finished tied for 12th.
Since golfers on the LIV tour cannot play PGA Tour events, major championships such as the Masters are the only time both tours play together. Majors are also the only tournaments where LIV players can earn world-ranking points.
DeChambeau came out as the top headline after finishing the first round with a 7-under 65, earning him the solo lead. He birdied in his first three holes on Thursday after a rain delay and backed it up with five more birdies on his second nine. He recorded only one bogey .
“There was a couple of moments out there where I got the tingles,” he said on Sunday. “It's a weird thing to say. It's almost like goosebumps almost. It was early in the week too. I was like, whoa, I've got to calm that down. It was too quick, too early.”
On a windswept Friday afternoon, DeChambeau maintained his lead, losing only one shot overall and heading into the weekend sharing the lead with Scottie Scheffler and Max Homa. He hit a rocky patch in the third round, cutting his overall score to only three under par, four strokes off the lead.
DeChambeau finished Sunday with a 73 to end at 2 under for the tournament.
“You know what, it was a positive step in the right direction for me out here,” he said. “Learned a lot about my game and knowing that I can do it out here.”
DeChambeau has one more exemption to play the tournament next year but hopes to be invited back once his exemption runs out. His best finish prior to this year was in 2016 when he finished tied for 21st place as an amateur.
Smith finished 2-under par alongside DeChambeau in the final round as the two best-performing LIV players at Augusta National.
The Australian came out hot on Sunday, making an eagle on the second hole . He went on to make par on every other hole except for a bogey on 5.
Hatton came into the final round with something to prove after grinding through the unpredictable weather of Thursday and Friday. He changed the narrative Sunday after starting the day at 3 over.
He reached 5 under for the day through 13 holes, but made bogeys on his final two holes to finish at even par for the tournament.
“Obviously I want to come here and give myself a chance to win,” he said. “But with how bad my record has been, it's hard to be really positive. But I'm proud of how I've played for the majority of this tournament.”
After finishing his last round, Hatton said he was happy and nervous to play against his friends on the PGA Tour again.
“It was a warm reception coming back,” he said. “In some ways, you're always a bit nervous coming back, but yeah, I think when I messaged the group chat, to the Ryder Cup chat to tell the lads that I was going, I was nervous sending the message. Obviously, I was nervous joining LIV, as well. But the messages that I got back was like really positive and made me feel at ease.”
Rahm also struggled with the conditions in the first two rounds but wasn’t able to come back from five strokes over par after making the cut.
The defending champion shot 72-76 on the weekend to finish at 9 over and tied for 45th.
“There's a lot of things that contributed to me not having my best week,” Rahm said. “And one of them I think was obviously on the greens, which is not easy. Never really had the pace of the greens, and a couple too many three-putts. That's the easiest way to fix it, but, I think, very subjective to this golf course and the conditions we're playing on.”
In 2023, 16 LIV golfers competed at Augusta National and 12 made the cut into the weekend. Three finished in the top five with Brooks Koepka and three-time champion Phil Mickelson tying for second place and Reed tied for fourth.
This year Mickelson finished tied for 43rd while Koepka tied with Rahm at 45th. Joaquin Niemann finished tied for 22nd.
