Two LIV Golf stars claim big victories during off-season

LIV Golf’s season might have ended in September, but that does not mean players are waiting five months before the first event of 2025.

It is 137 days between the Team Championship finale in Dallas and February’s new season-opener in Riyadh, giving players ample time to play across various other worldwide tours.

Tyrrell Hatton and Joaquin Niemann both took advantage and finished inside the top ten at the DP World Tour Championship finale, while Adrian Meronk was tied 30th in Dubai.

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But on a productive Sunday, two LIV players enjoyed greater success much closer to home.

Dean Burmester returned to his native South Africa and strolled to a seven-shot victory at the Vodacom Origins of Golf Event on the Sunshine Tour. The 35-year-old accumulated a 28-under-par total through four rounds at the Oubaai Golf Estate to win by the second largest margin in the tournament’s history.

The victory for the Stinger GC player was his fourth in a garlanded 12 months. He earned back-to-back DP World Tour titles during last year’s off-season at the Joburg Open and Investec South African Open Championship.

And in May, he sealed his first individual LIV Golf win in Miami. That victory was worth around £3million alone, while the total prize pot in South Africa on Sunday was around £87,000.

“It’s just great to be back in South Africa playing golf and competing for trophies,” Burmester said after closing with a final round 66. “I love South African golf. It’s super special to win in front of so many friends and family.”

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It was a similarly triumphant homecoming for Lucas Herbert in Australia.

Herbert started the final round of the £400,000 Ford New South Wales Open four shots behind his Ripper GC teammate Cam Smith, but carded a final round 67 to finish three clear at Murray Downs.

“To beat Cam starting four shots back on Sunday. Yeah, pretty special feeling,” he said.

“I was thinking that today a little, maybe a couple of times I let my mind slip a little bit and I was like, ‘geez, I’ve never won a Tour event in Australia’, like something of this stature. So very, very cool to tick that one off the list.”

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.