Brooks Koepka beats Jon Rahm in 2024 Greenbrier Golf LIV playoff for second win of the season
Brooks Koepka started the week lamenting his poor season, finishing with a final-round 63 and his second trip to the LIV Golf winner’s circle. Overcoming a two-stroke deficit to start the day, Koepka won the 2024 LIV Golf Greenbrier title in a playoff with Jon Rahm at 19 under for his fifth 54-hole title and first since last week’s PGA Championship.
Koepka now has a tour-high five individual LIV Golf wins; adding to the prize pool, his Smash GC team won the team competition over Ripper GC thanks to a strong effort from Taylor Gooch and Jason Kokrak. It was their second team title of the season after winning in Las Vegas earlier in the year.
“I think this is probably my favorite match,” Koepka said. “It’s always nice to play against good players. I played Gooch a little bit last year, like every tournament, but yeah, Jon’s a great player. For some reason, he’s always been beating me a little bit lately. So it’s nice to just get a win.”
Rahm was on pole position at the start of the final round, looking for his second consecutive LIV Golf victory. Fresh off his win at LIV Golf UK, the Spaniard got off to a flying start. His opening shot was levelled by Koepka, and it was a battle between two major champions.
Koepka added a couple more birdies, and when Rahm blinked in a bogey at the par-4 sixth, the two were tied at the top. Koepka pushed forward from there with another round on his scorecard shortly after, forcing Rahm to play catch-up. He held his own in a chasing group that included Richard Bland, Marc Leishman and Jason Kokrak.
Trailing Koepka by two strokes with four holes to go, the Legion XIII captain leveled the score with birdies on holes 16 and 17. A par on the final hole meant the two giants needed more than 54 holes to settle the score. They returned to the tee on the par-3, where Rahm missed the green in regulation. The pressure was on when Koepka found the turf. When Rahm couldn’t save par, Koepka’s fifth trophy was won in a different way.
“It’s just one of those things — just playing golf and getting the ball in the hole as fast as possible,” Koepka said. “Played really well today. I’m proud of that. It’s a great win. I’m ready to go home and see my wife and kids.”
