Cameron Smith and Lucas Herbert deliver clutch putts as Ripper wins LIV team title

CARROLLTON, Texas (AP) — Cameron Smith and Lucas Herbert delivered clutch putts late in the championship round Sunday to lead Australia-based Ripper to its first team title in the LIV Golf League.

Herbert, who looked as though he might have cost his team with a double bogey and a bogey on two of the par 5s at Maridoe Golf Club, responded with four birdies over his last five holes, the final putt a 12-footer for birdie for a 69.

Smith hit a 60-yard pitch to 12 feet and holed the birdie putt on the 17th to give Ripper the lead for good, and then drilled his tee shot down the middle on the 18th that effectively sealed the win. He shot 68. Matt Jones birdied two of his last three holes following a double bogey. He had a 70, along with Marc Leishman.

Ripper finished at 11-under 277, three shots ahead of 4Aces and Iron Heads.

“To have those three other guys today trying to get the job done, something was telling me we were going to be all right,” Smith said.

It was tight toward the end. The final round featured stroke play in which the scores counted from all four players on the four leading teams. Ripper, 4Aces and Iron Heads were tied for the lead with only a few holes to play until Ripper came up with the clutch putts.

4Aces had just as much of a chance until Patrick Reed badly missed a 6-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole, flipping his putter in disgust. The captain, Dustin Johnson, caught the lip of the cup on a birdie putt at the 17th that put his team two shots behind Ripper.

Johnson then drove into the water on the 18th, effectively ending his team's chances of a second team title. Johnson and Reed each shot 69.

Iron Heads was the big surprise, having finished last in the regular season. It knocked out the Smash team led by Brooks Koepka and the defending champion Crushers led by Bryon DeChambeau. Tied for the lead late, Jinichiro Kozuma bogeyed his final hole and Kevin Na had to scramble for par on the par-5 17th. They both shot 69.

Legion XIII again was missing its captain, Jon Rahm, who couldn't play because of the flu. John Catlin replaced him and shot 70. Tyrrell Hatton had a 68 but didn't get much help from the rest of the team that was in its first year.

Ripper won $14 million, with each player getting $1.4 million and the rest going to the team management.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Danny Lee, of Iron Heads GC, hits from the fourth tee during the final round of LIV Golf Team Championship Dallas at Maridoe Golf Club, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in Carrollton, Texas. (Mateo Villalba/LIV Golf via AP)

Captain Kevin Na, of Iron Heads GC, hits from the second fairway during the final round of LIV Golf Team Championship Dallas at Maridoe Golf Club, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in Carrollton, Texas. (Chris Trotman/LIV Golf via AP)

Scott Vincent, left, of Iron Heads GC, and Kieran Vincent, right, of Legion XIII, occupy the fifth green during the final round of LIV Golf Team Championship Dallas at Maridoe Golf Club, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in Carrollton, Texas. (Charles Laberge/LIV Golf via AP)

Lucas Herbert, of Ripper GC, hits from the 12th tee during the final round of LIV Golf Team Championship Dallas at Maridoe Golf Club, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in Carrollton, Texas. (Katelyn Mulcahy/LIV Golf via AP)

Marc Leishman, of Ripper GC, hits from the eighth tee during the final round of LIV Golf Team Championship Dallas at Maridoe Golf Club, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in Carrollton, Texas. (Mateo Villalba/LIV Golf via AP)

Matt Jones, of Ripper GC, reads his putt on the fourth green during the final round of LIV Golf Team Championship Dallas at Maridoe Golf Club, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in Carrollton, Texas. (Charles Laberge/LIV Golf via AP)

ALTENMARKT-ZAUCHENSEE, Austria (AP) — Lindsey Vonn showed again Saturday she is the standout downhill racer in this Olympic season.

Vonn led a World Cup downhill by 0.37 seconds and was set for her second win in four downhill races in this remarkable comeback racing at age 41 with her right knee rebuilt using titanium implants.

Kajsa Vickhoff Lie was second fastest and Vonn was jumping up cheering in the leader’s box when her teammate Jacqueline Wiles raced into third place, 0.48 back.

High-ranked racers had completed their runs when the race was delayed for 25 minutes while Austrian prospect Magdalena Egger was airlifted from the course after crashing. Egger was runner-up in Vonn’s season-opening downhill win last month at St. Moritz, Switzerland.

The standings were unofficial with lower-ranked racers yet to start.

On a shortened course that took her fewer than 67 seconds to complete, Vonn still clocked 130 kph (81 mph) for one of the fastest speeds any women racer will hit this season.

Vonn crossed the finish line with a look of determined satisfaction, punching the air with her right fist and nodding with short, sharp movements of her head.

With each victory, Vonn will extend her record as the oldest race winner in the 60-season history of the World Cup circuit.

The United States star later made a family video phone call alongside her coach Aksel Lund Svindal, the men’s downhill champion at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics where Vonn took bronze in the women’s race.

Vonn was Olympic downhill champion at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and shapes as a strong contender for the next gold medal race scheduled Feb. 8. It is at the storied Cortina d’Ampezzo slope where Vonn has excelled in her career.

Sofia Goggia, the 2018 Olympic champion, was outside the top-10 places Saturday trailing Vonn by 0.97.

The defending Olympic champion, Corinne Suter, made her season debut Saturday after injuries and was more than a second slower than Vonn.

Vonn will extend her lead in the season-long World Cup downhill standings, after finishing second and third in the other races. Saturday’s race was the fourth of nine scheduled downhills in the World Cup this season.

She is chasing a ninth World Cup downhill season title a full 10 years after her eighth.

AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing

Austria's Magdalena Egger is lifted on a helicopter after crashing during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Zauchensee, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Austria's Magdalena Egger gets medical assistance after crashing during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Zauchensee, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

United States' Lindsey Vonn is airborne as he speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Zauchensee, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Lindsey Vonn reacts at the finish line during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Zauchensee, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta)

United States' Lindsey Vonn speeds down the course during an alpine ski, women's World Cup downhill, in Zauchensee, Austria, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)