Chicago Recap: Crushers cement status as top seed with third win of the season
BOLINGBROOK, IL - The well-oiled machine that the Crushers GC are in LIV Golf, they did what most expected them to do - head to this week’s Team Championship in Dallas as the No. 1 seeds after clinching their third win of the season in LIV Golf Chicago.
At Bolingbrook Golf Club, both Anirban Lahiri and Captain Bryson DeChamnbeau finished tied sixth to lead the defending Team champions to 14-under par total, one better than Legion XIII and two ahead of Fireballs.
The win, and the 32 points that came along with it, took Crushers’ season tally to 208.5. They started 0.5 ahead of Legion XIII, who finished second at exactly 200 points. The third team to get a bye in the opening day in Dallas was Ripper GC.
“It was fun being able to eke out a victory here and give us some momentum for next week, but again, the job is still not done. I think that’s the way we look at it right now is we have one more week to pull it all together and do what we did last year,” said DeChambeau.
“I played pretty solid, didn’t make a bogey. Charles (Howell III) played pretty solid. Baan was solid. We all played like Crushers play. We’ve been steady all year.
“We didn’t have Charles for a little while and it was nice to have him back, and the mojo is back. Chucky always gives us the mojo.
“From a team perspective, I am super proud of the guys. They fought it out out there today. It was not an easy golf course.”
The Bolingbrook course, which many experts did not believe would put up much of a fight, held its own against the superstars. With small greens playing firm, and the ball rolling a mile on the rock-hard fairways, it became a battle of attrition.
In those conditions, Lahiri’s 30 fairways hit to be tied fourth in the stat category, and 38 greens in regulation (3rd in the field), were numbers that showed how well he played. But he also needed 89 putts for the three rounds (49th in the field), which cost him dearly.
“Honestly, for how well I hit the golf ball, it was the worst I could have scored. I left so many birdies out there and did not make a single putt of note on the weekend,” said Lahiri, who finished the season 16th in Individual Standings, with DeChambeau eighth and Casey in 11th place.
Howell, who did not play four tournaments after Singapore, was 32nd in the standings.
Casey had a frustrating final round in which he made pars on each of the 18 holes.
“I have never done that before in all the years of playing golf. That was a first,” said Casey. “Towards the end, all I wanted was just one birdie.”
STAT REVIEW
Field ranking in parentheses
Anirban Lahiri (T6th) 67-71-67-205
Fairways Hit - 30 (T4)
Driving Distance Avg. - 340.0 (15)
Greens in Regulation - 38 (T3)
Total Putts - 89 (T49)
Total Birdies - 10 (T25)
Bryson DeChambeau (T6th) 68-69-68-205
Fairways Hit - 16 (T50)
Driving Distance Avg. - 353.5 (4)
Greens in Regulation - 36 (T7)
Total Putts - 80 (T6)
Total Birdies - 12 (T11)
Paul Casey (T13th) 66-71-70-207
Fairways Hit - 31 (T2)
Driving Distance Avg. - 336.6 (20)
Greens in Regulation - 32 (T28)
Total Putts - 81 (T10)
Total Birdies - 9 (T30)
Charles Howell III (T42nd) 67-71-67-214
Fairways Hit - 21 (T36)
Driving Distance Avg. - 322.2 (39)
Greens in Regulation - 29 (T45)
Total Putts - 83 (T19)
Total Birdies - 9 (T30)