The Asian Tour season is officially in the history books following its final tournament of 2024 - and the last of its elevated International Series events - the Saudi International.
In total, 46 LIV golfers including reserves played in the tournament, and of those, 28 made it to the final two rounds. It was one of them, Torque GC captain Joaquin Niemann, who held a one-shot lead heading into the final round at Riyadh Golf Club.
He was far from the only player from the big-money League in contention ahead of Saturday's action, with Peter Uihlein and Caleb Surratt hot-on-his-heels, while Tyrrell Hatton, Jason Kokrak, Thomas Pieters and LIV Golf reserve, Ben Campbell, each began the day in the top 10. Meanwhile, Ripper GC captain Cameron Smith was one of five from the circuit still in contention for the title five shots behind in T11.
The LIV Golf star with the most to do ahead of the final round was Graeme McDowell, who began the day two-under for the tournament and 15 off the pace.
In the end, Uihlein's challenge faded with a round of 74 that never really got going, although Niemann and Surratt remained in the running throughout. It was Ripper GC captain Smith who most convincingly broke away from the chasing pack with a superb 62, while Campbell, who was hoping to finish top of the International Series rankings for a full-time LIV Golf contract, produced a 64.
Peter Uihlein saw his challenge fall away during the fourth round
Ultimately, there was heartbreak for the New Zealander as he finished just one shot away from making a three-man playoff for the title, in fourth, leaving Smith, Niemann and Surratt to go for glory.
A first prize of $1m was at stake while Niemann and Surratt knew victory would see them top the International Series rankings. If Smith won, that honor would go to Uihlein.
After all three birdied the first playoff hole, Niemann was the only one to repeat the feat on the second extra hole, giving him the title and the honor of finishing top of the International Series rankings despite playing just two of its events this year. That also meant that no one would earn a LIV Golf card via the International Series this year.
Below is the final LIV Golf leaderboard at the PIF Saudi International.
Final LIV Golf Leaderboard At The PIF Saudi International
- 1st: (-21 - playoff) Joaquin Niemann
- T2nd: (-21) Cameron Smith, Caleb Surratt
- 4th: (-20) Ben Campbell**
- 5th: (-19) Tyrrell Hatton
- T6th: (-17) Eugenio Chacarra, Branden Grace*
- T9th: (-16) Kevin Na, Matt Jones, Cameron Tringale, Kieran Vincent*, Thomas Pieters, Jason Kokrak
- T17th: (-15) Patrick Reed, Louis Ooosthuizen
- T22th (-14) Sam Horsfield, Dean Burmester, Abraham Ancer
- T29th (-13) Peter Uihlein
- T34th (-12) John Catlin**, Scott Vincent*
- T39th (-11) Matthew Wolff
- T42nd (-10) Sebastian Munoz, Lucas Herbert, Martin Kaymer
- T50th: (-9) Wade Ormsby**, Kalle Samooja
- T59th (-8) Richard Bland, Jinichiro Kozuma
- T62nd (-7) Graeme McDowell, Talor Gooch
- 72nd (WDN) Harold Varner III
- MC: (-2) Anirban Lahiri, Charl Schwartzel, Adrian Meronk
- MC: (-1) David Puig, Bubba Watson, Pat Perez
- MC: (E) Anthony Kim*, Dustin Johnson, Marc Leishman
- MC: (+1) Carlos Ortiz
- MC: (+2) Sergio Garcia, Hudson Swafford**, Brendan Steele
- MC: (+5) Danny Lee
*Relegated from LIV Golf League
**Reserve player for LIV Golf League
