Australian star Cameron Smith's bid to become LIV Golf's individual champion and cap an extraordinary $US50 million ($A80 million) year has been thwarted at the final hurdle in Saudi Arabia.
Talor Gooch, who had been trailing the Queenslander in the race, burst through with a final-round 62 at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club at King Abdullah Economic City on Sunday to take the $US18million ($A29 million) bonus for winning the season's points race.
It was a substantial consolation for American Gooch, as he was beaten in a playoff at the LIV Golf-Jeddah event, the last individual tournament of the season, by compatriot Brooks Koepka, who successfully defended his title at the second extra hole.
But it marked a frustrating end to a money-spinning campaign for the 30-year-old Smith, who had started the tournament in pole position to complete earnings of more than $50 million over the year on the lucrative Saudi-based breakaway tour.
Needing a big third and final round to ensure he stayed ahead of Gooch in the points race, Smith could hardly be faulted with his four-under 66 that included six birdies.
But his race was effectively run with a double-bogey six at the 15th which meant he eventually could only finish in joint-24th place and out of the points.
Still, the 2022 British Open champion had the rather substantial consolation of winning the $US 10 million prize for finishing second in the individual standings, with Gooch finishing on 192 points to his 170, with Koepka third on 152.
But Gooch proved irresistible with his flawless eight-birdie round, only to be edged in the playoff with PGA champion Koepka, who birdied two of his last three holes to record a final-round 68.
It enabled Koepka to pick up $US4 million ($A6.4 million) for winning the tournament, while he will also have taken great delight in bumping his great rival Bryson DeChambeau out of the top three in the season standings.
Gooch had made 123 starts on the PGA Tour, picking up one win and earning $US 9,250,299 ($A15 million), so made nearly twice with the season's bonus for LIV.
"It was one of those kind of special days you dream about, putts going in from everywhere,” Gooch said.
“It was a great day and a great end to the season and I just think it's a validation to the golfer than I am to the hard work that we've put in for years and years,.
"This game will beat you up, but we've done a good job year after year just continuing to improve and getting better and learning from mistakes.
"It would've been really sweet to beat Brooks and to really cap it off like that, but it was a heck of a year and I'm very, very proud of it."
