The big winner at LIV Golf’s season opener in Riyadh, under the lights in Saudi Arabia, was clearly the man who lifted two trophies and is cashing two checks for individual and team victories. Elvis Smylie, a 23-year-old who had never won a pro tournament outside of his native Australia, played brilliantly all week in his LIV debut, including shooting a final-round 64 to hold off by one shot two-time major champion Jon Rahm, who applied the heat with a 63.
Between his own victory and that of his Ripper GC team with three fellow Aussies, Smylie earned in the neighborhood of $4.75 million.
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The week’s biggest loser? Well, getting solo third place and a $1.5 million check is nothing to scoff at, but American Peter Uihlein became the first “victim” of LIV’s effort to strengthen its World Ranking points position by expanding its format to 72 holes this season.
In any of the first four years of the Saudi-backed league, Uihlein would have reached a playoff against Smylie after they shot 66 and 65, respectively, in the third round to stand tied at 16 under. They would have dueled for the $4 million first prize. Instead, neither had that chance, and it was Uihlein who ended up with $2.5 million less in his pocket than Smylie.
“Thanks for bringing that up,” Uihlein, a 36-year-old former college star at Oklahoma State, said with a smile ahead of the final round.
He added that he thought 72 holes fit him better, but it was Smylie—never a part of LIV’s 54-hole events—who didn’t show any signs of fading while playing amid the laser beams and loud music. Smylie is, after all, named for a beloved American singer who thrived amid the bright lights of Vegas.
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After Smylie birdied the first hole to pull one ahead of Uihlein, the left-hander never again was tied for the lead, and he tore up Riyadh Golf Club’s benign back nine with four birdies in the first five holes en route to shooting five under on the inward nine. That was just enough to hold off the hard-charging Rahm, who poured in six birdies on the back, including four straight to finish.
Smylie, who didn’t suffer a bogey over his last 39 holes, did have something of a nervy 72nd hole. He drove left into the rough, and his approach came up at least 70 feet short in the front fringe. But Smylie hit a firm putt from there that went just past the hole, giving him a straightforward par putt for the one-shot victory over Rahm, who was LIV’s individual season champion last year despite earning no wins.
“It’s a dream come true,” Smylie said. “I really didn’t know what to expect this week. Playing at night is obviously a whole different ballgame out here.
“I wanted to come out here and make a statement. I wanted to prove that I’m one of the best out here, and I feel like I’ve done that, and it’s only up from here.”
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Elvis Smylie celebrates winning LIV Golf Riyadh.
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Francois Nel
That Smylie would celebrate the Ripper team win—they beat the Joaquin Niemann-led Torque GC by only three shots—by getting a hug from his captain, past Open Championship winner Cam Smith, was truly a full-circle life moment. The two have been close since Smylie was awarded the Cam Smith Scholarship in 2019 that goes to promising young golfers in Australia. The then-teenager got to spend a week with Smith in his Florida home and learn about his approach to the professional game.
“He’s world-class at what he does,” Smylie said of Smith on Sunday. “And I feel like I have so much to learn from him, and I feel like I’m only going to get better and better.”
Remarkably, Smylie, after winning twice on PGA Tour of Australasia in 2024, captured his first top-level pro victory late in ’24 when he beat Smith by two shots in the DP World Tour’s BMW Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland, not far from where he grew up.
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“I genuinely think he can be the best golfer in the world,” Smith said this week. “He’s got all the tools of the trade. He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing and knuckle down. He’s got the mentality. He showed it out there today. He’s got the grit. He’s a Queenslander, so that comes with it.”
After the Australian PGA win, Smylie posted five more top-10 finishes on the DP World Tour before signing with LIV in mid-January.
At the time, Smith called Smylie joining LIV’s team of Aussies “a huge moment, not just for Ripper GC, but for Australian golf. It represents the next wave of Australian talent coming through at a time when the sport is absolutely booming back home.”
That impact figures to be wildly celebrated soon, when LIV moves on next week to Australia for its Adelaide event that is the most embraced and best-attended tournament on the schedule.
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“[The win] gives me a huge amount of confidence, going back home next week to Adelaide,” Smylie said. “It’s going to be really exciting playing in front of a home crowd.”
Smylie’s week also was significant because he becomes the first to win a LIV event that was afforded Official World Golf Ranking points. The development that was announced earlier in the week, with the OWGR board deciding to give points to the top-10 finishers and ties in each LIV tournament, was met with unhappiness for LIV and some of its players. While the five-year-old league called it a “long-overdue moment of recognition,” its leadership also said “this outcome is unprecedented” for its tight limitation on the points awarded.
Smylie, who made his LIV debut as the 134th player in the world, will earn approximately 23 points for his win—comparable to the champions of opposite-field events on the PGA Tour. It’s more points than will be accumulated by the winner of this week’s DP World Tour Qatar Masters.
Bryson DeChambeau made headlines recently when he said in an interview with Today’s Golfer that he wasn’t sure how playing 72 holes would work out for him over time. He added, “We didn’t sign up for 72.”
It didn’t serve the two-time major winner well in Riyadh, where he shot a 14-under total and tied for 17th.
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