The threesome making up the final group at the final day at LIV Golf Chicago were each seeking their first win of 2025. One of them, a rookie, was seeking his first professional win anywhere.
Dean Burmester began the final round with a two-shot lead over a pair of Spaniards, Jon Rahm and Josele Ballester.
“Going to have to brush up on my Spanish,” Burmester quipped after learning who he’d be playing with Sunday.
It would end up being those three in a playoff, after Burmester made a clutch par on the 18th hole, his last in the shotgun start format. He would only shoot even par on Sunday but his 9-under finish sent him to bonus golf and on the first playoff hole, Burmester would be the only one to make birdie, making quick work of the playoff.
“This has been emotional,” Burmester said on telecast moments after winning “Since kind of before Virginia I’ve been going through a bit of a rough time, personal stuff, and I’ve just been grinding and trying to get better. I think about my kids and my wife back home, and I’m just trying to do the best I can for them. My wife finished an ultra marathon the week of West Virginia. That Sunday I was on my phone watching her, and that truly gave me an inspiration to kind of. … if she can do that, she can run 90 whatever kilometers in a day, nine and a half hours or whatever it was, then I can do anything.”
Burmester banked the $4 million first-place prize.
Stinger GC would then win the team title in a playoff, ending a 31-event LIV team drought.
Chicago was the second-to-last regular-season event for LIV. Next week it’s the LIV Golf Indianapolis event, followed by the LIV Golf Team Championship in Michigan.
