LIV Golf Invitational Series 2022: Brooks Koepka Wins Saudi Arabia Event in Playoff

Fifty-four holes wasn't enough to complete the final individual competition of the LIV Golf season.

Neither was 55.

On the 56th hole, Brooks Kopepka finally broke through to capture the 2022 LIV Golf Jeddah Invitational in a playoff against Peter Uihlein.

The win is Koepka's first on any tour since the 2021 Waste Management Phoenix Open and just his second since the end of 2019.

Koepka and Uihlein finished the event tied at 12 under and played through a pair of tense playoff holes as the sun was setting in Saudi Arabia. Each facing a bunker shot on the third playoff hole, unfortunate interference from a rock sent Uihlein's approach sailing into the water and handed the event to Koepka.

Difficult, windy conditions caused a day of frustrations on the course after two relatively easy conditions Friday and Saturday. No golfer shot better than 65 on Sunday, while Koepka and Uihlein shot a combined one under after coming into the day seemingly sitting comfortably ahead of the field.

Instead, both went into No. 18 facing the prospect of a four-way playoff with Sergio Garcia and Joaquin Niemann as they faced a pair of up-and-down chances on the par five. Both managed to hit clutch shots to clear themselves of Garcia and Niemann to set up what turned out to be a thrilling close to the LIV Golf individual season.

Smash Golf Club, captained by Koepka and featuring his brother Chase, Uihlein and Jason Kokrak, won the team competition in Jeddah at 33 under. They were six strokes ahead of second-place Fireballs Golf Club—the team of Garcia, Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz and Eugenio López-Chacarra.

The final event on the inaugural LIV Golf calendar is the team championship, which will take place Oct. 27-30 in Miami.

The 4 Aces Golf Club, which features Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Talor Gooch and Pat Perez, will go into the event as the top seed.

Johnson already locked up the $18 million individual season championship last week and further cemented his stellar season with a fifth-place finish in Saudi Arabia.

"We talked about this yesterday. I really regret my decision to come here," Johnson sarcastically joked with reporters earlier this week. "It's just so terrible. I'm sitting there last night thinking about it, it was really bothering me a lot. Yeah, just can't get over it."

There is no question Johnson and other golfers have made a massive financial windfall in the inaugural LIV season. However, concern remains about the league's involvement in "sportswashing" human rights atrocities committed by the Saudi Arabian government.