It was Branden Grace’s turn for a good week on the LIV Golf circuit as he closed with a six-under-par 65 in the final round of LIV Golf Indianapolis at The Club at Chatham Hills in Westfield, Indiana.

Grace’s eight birdies and just two dropped shots saw him reach 17-under-par for the 54-hole event on a course that was clearly too easy for professional players. That was evident in the first round when Sebastian Munoz carded a 12-under-par 59 which included a double-bogey.

In the end, Munoz reached 22-under-par for the event with a birdie on the last hole of regulation play to force a play-off with Jon Rahm, who carded a closing 11-under 60. Munoz pulled off the play-off victory with a birdie on the first extra hole, leaving Rahm winless in his second season on the breakaway league – even though he topped the season-long rankings ahead of five-time winner Joaquin Niemann.

Niemann finished in a share of fourth with Grace. The South African posted rounds of 67 and 64 ahead of the closing round, and he started that last round on the second in the shotgun start favoured by LIV. He made birdie on his first, but his bogeys came back-to-back on the fourth and fifth. After that, birdies came in bunches: on nine and 10, on 12, 13 and 14, and on 17 and 18.

Hi performance saw him climb to 29th on the season-long rankings, which puts him in the ‘Open Zone’. That means he will not have to worry about his status for next season.

He is one ahead on the rankings of his Stinger GC team captain Louis Oosthuizen, who finished in a share of 36th on eight-under-par after his closing seven-under 64.

The other two players in the all-South African team, Dean Burmester and Charl Schwartzel, both finished in the ‘Lock Zone’, inside the top 24. Burmester is in fifth after a great season concluded with a share of 32nd on nine-under, and Schwartzel shared 26th with, amongst others, Oosthuizen to finish 23rd on the standings.