Rory McIlroy protege tastes victory on LIV Golf debut with almost £1m payday

Tom McKibbin made a coagulated commencement to beingness connected LIV Golf, contributing to a ascendant squad triumph for Legion XIII astatine Riyadh Golf Club successful Saudi Arabia, but it was Adrian Meronk who took the apical prize with a wire-to-wire win

Tom McKibbin was a victor connected his LIV Golf debut arsenic helium and his Legion XIII colleagues romped to triumph in the squad contention astatine Riyadh Golf Club connected Saturday.

Adrian Meronk took the £3.2million apical prize aft winning by 2 shots from Jon Rahm, Sebastian Munoz and Lucas Herbert. New signing McKibbin, who snubbed a PGA Tour paper and his mentor Rory McIlroy's proposal to articulation the breakaway league, finished successful a necktie for 12th successful the solo leaderboard.

The beardown debut show banks him £332,500, and that was boosted by a handsome sum of £604,000 acknowledgment to Legion XIII's ascendant surge to the apical of the squad leaderboard. McKibbin and his teammates Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and Caleb Surratt each had coagulated weeks successful Saudi Arabia to commencement the season, and they finished astatine a cumulative 50-under-par for the week, 11 shots wide of joint-second-place Ripper GC and the Range Goats.

McKibbin was the daze signing of the LIV off-season. His performances connected the DP World Tour successful 2024 earned him a PGA Tour paper this season, but helium turned it down – contempt chap Northern Irishman McIlroy's attempts to person him different – to articulation LIV. And helium volition doubtless beryllium contented with a top-15 decorativeness to commencement his debut play connected the Saudi-backed circuit up of adjacent week's tourney successful Adelaide, Australia.

Reigning LIV champion Rahm and his in-form teammate Hatton were near to rue missed opportunities connected the backmost nine, spurning aureate short-range chances to adjacent successful connected faltering person Meronk. They finished successful tied 2nd and tied sixth respectively astatine 15-under and 13-under.

Meronk started the last circular 2 shots wide of Torque's Munoz, and it seemed the Cleeks antheral was successful steadfast bid of the tourney acknowledgment to a brace of birdies connected the beforehand nine. But back-to-back bogeys connected 10 and 11 brought the chasing battalion backmost into it.

A brutal lip-out connected 13 cruelly denied Meronk a nerve-settling birdie, but helium steadied himself and made a 3 astatine the par-four 16th to borderline ahead. His anxieties were eased further by a clumsy dropped changeable from Colombian Munoz astatine 17 to springiness the 31-year-old Pole a two-shot cushion.

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