Dustin Johnson’s putt was coming in hot.
He smashed an eagle putt up the hill on the 18th green at The International in Bolton, Massachusetts, knowing if it went in, he would win. It carried speed when hitting the back of the hole, bounced up and them tumbled in.
Johnson’s eagle putt gave him a victory on the first playoff hole at the LIV Golf Invitational event in Boston, the series fourth event. It is the first time there has been a playoff, and Johnson is the first American to win a LIV event.
“It’s a great victory,” Johnson said “Obviously we’ve got a great field, a lot of great players. Yeah, it’s up there for sure.”
Johnson beat Joaquin Niemann and Anirban Lahiri, who both were playing in their first LIV event after leaving the PGA Tour, in the playoff. Lahiri had a short birdie putt and Niemann had one for par when Johnson made his eagle.
DJ EAGLE FOR THE WIN!!! #LIVGolf #LIVGolfBoston @DJohnsonPGA pic.twitter.com/O5CffhnVQ7
— LIV Golf (@LIVGolfInv) September 4, 2022
Lahiri missed a short eagle putt on the 18th hole that would’ve given him an outright victory.
The 4 Aces, which is Johnson’s team and also consists of Talor Gooch, Pat Perez and Patrick Reed, won their third straight event, ending at 32 under. Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers finished second at 30 under while Lee Westwood’s Majesticks came in third at 27 under.
“I felt like we had a really good read on it,” Johnson said of his putt. “I might have hit it a little harder than I wanted to, but as soon as I hit it, I’m like, ‘whoa,’ and then it was on a good line, and I’m like, ‘hit the hole, hit the hole, hit the hole,’ and it went in somehow. I think the hole is indented for sure.”
Lee Westwood made a bogey on the final hole to finish one shot out of the playoff at 14 under. Cam Smith, the world No. 2, bogeyed his second-to-last hole and also finished at 14 under in his LIV Golf debut.
LIV’s next event is in Chicago at Rich Harvest Farms in two weeks.
