LIV Golf in Bangkok Leaderboard: Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra holds off Patrick Reed for first professional win

Outside of a few shaky moments at the start of his final round, Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra looked easy on his way to his first professional win at 2022 LIV Golf Bangkok. Beating 3 under 69 to hit 19 under 19 and up against the likes of Patrick Reed, Paul Casey and Richard Bland, the former All-American at Oklahoma State successfully entered the winner’s circle with his Fireballs teammates. his is waiting.

Starting his day with a birdie, Lopez-Chacarra was able to maintain his five-shot lead overnight. This will only be fleeting as a magic pair on number 4-5 – his first two days of the week – has opened the door for his pursuers to walk through. Reed did just that as the former Masters champion quickly became Lopez-Chacarra’s main rival with three birdies in a five-hole round.

With this shot from Reed, the Spaniard saw his lead drop to two before a rain delay forced the players off the course late on Sunday. Like a perfectly timed timeout in a NBA game, time off is exactly what Lopez-Chacarra needed to reset his nerves and finish his LIV Golf Bangkok experience the way he started.

“[I] Lopez-Chacarra said today will be difficult, “It’s going to be a long day. There are good players coming in from the back and they want to win as much as I do. I’m just patient, and I feel like when the storm hits. The rain and the cold outside on the 15th helped me a lot. I needed a break.”

Faced with a delicate chip in the 15th place of the par-4, the 22-year-old headed home and saved his par.

“I’m pretty nervous and being with my family, my coach and best friend Gonzalo has helped me relax and see how good life is right now and I just need to go out there and believe thought all the work that I put in, and when I was 15 years old, I thought it was the best chip I’ve ever had in my life,” said Lopez-Chacarra. “It was an easy shot, downhill, a little wet, but it came out as I wanted, and I think that was a big boost going into the last three holes, and here I am now. Impossible. be even more proud.”

At the same time, Reed’s first hit in the rain of delay was the one he longed to return. Beating par-3 16 by just two strokes to Lopez-Chacarra’s lead, Reed made a fatal mistake and found water with his tee shot. This extra breath was more than enough for Lopez-Chacarra as he added a birdie at par-5 17 to eventually win by three strokes against Reed.

“Feeling great. I mean, I don’t think there are many secrets. Just believe in yourself and work hard every day,” Lopez-Chacarra said. “That’s what they taught me when I was a kid and what these people told me you need to do, and believe in your team, have a good team, and just work and work, I will speak.”

Lopez-Chacarra won not only the individual title but also the team title as the Fireball made its way to the top podium. Ultimately disarming the 4 Aces – winners of four consecutive team events – Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz and captain Sergio Garcia were able to follow in their youngest member’s footsteps to reach 45 years old as the a team and take a seven-stroke win against the Crusher.

“It was a great week,” Garcia said. “I think we all played really, really solidly and to be able to, like you said, the Four Aces have won four games in a row, I think, so we know that. It’s not going to be easy, but we all have a lot of faith in each other. We played really, really well and were pretty close on a couple of occasions. We felt like we just needed a little click. here and there, and that will cause and that’s what happened this week.”

4 Ace was unable to bring American momentum to Asia despite Reed’s best efforts. LIV Boston winner Dustin Johnson has been stuck in neutral for most of the week and despite the last game 5 under 67 ended 16th solo. This is the first time the captain’s name 4 The Aces fall outside the top 10 on the leaderboard, but Johnson is still well positioned to win a season-long individual points race with only one event left.

Team leaderboard

What’s next for LIV Golf?

There’s no respite for the weary as LIV Golf wraps up its regular season next week in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Playing for the first time in consecutive weeks in the tournament’s existence, players will board a plane from Bangkok to Jeddah and quickly settle into the new venue between October 14 and 16.

After completing the regular season, players will have a week to prepare for the team championship at Trump National Doral. Taking place from October 27 to 30, a recently announced format of splits, alternates, singles and stroke play will face teams before winning the LIV Golf Team championship. firstly.