The Grange Roared. AK Answered
LIV Golf Adelaide has always sold noise. This year, it delivered meaning. Anthony Kim walked into the biggest regular-season theatre LIV has, and walked out with a trophy 5,795 days in the making.
LIV Golf Adelaide has always sold noise. This year, it delivered meaning. Anthony Kim walked into the biggest regular-season theatre LIV has, and walked out with a trophy 5,795 days in the making.
Anthony Kim didn’t just win in Adelaide. He came back to life in public.
TOP 10 – LIV GOLF ADELAIDE (INDIVIDUAL)
1. Anthony Kim -23 (67-67-68-63) 265
2. Jon Rahm -20 (68-63-66-71) 268
T3. Tyrrell Hatton -17 (69-69-66-67) 271
T3. Peter Uihlein -17 (69-67-67-68) 271
T3. Bryson DeChambeau -17 (66-67-64-74) 271
T6. Dean Burmester -16 (69-71-67-65) 272
T6. Lucas Herbert -16 (71-65-67-69) 272
T8. Marc Leishman -15 (66-72-70-65) 273
T8. Sebastián Muñoz -15 (69-67-69-68) 273
T8. Branden Grace -15 (71-64-69-69) 273
T8. Cameron Smith -15 (72-67-64-70) 273
TEAM LEADERBOARD – LIV GOLF ADELAIDE
1. Ripper GC -55
2. Legion XIII -53
3. 4Aces GC -52
On Sunday at The Grange, with the grandstands shaking and the Watering Hole doing what the Watering Hole does, Kim shot a bogey-free 9-under 63 to win LIV Golf Adelaide by three.
Sixteen years without a professional victory ends with fists pumping, a family hug on the green, and a press conference that landed like a sermon.
Kim looked rattled and calm all at once. “I’m very overwhelmed with this feeling right now,” he said. Then he promised more: “My plan is to keep getting better and start winning some more trophies.”
How the final round flipped
Saturday night set up the kind of Sunday LIV has been chasing since day one.
Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm shared the 54-hole lead at 19-under, five clear of the field.
Kim was the third man in that last group, not a cameo, not a nostalgia act, but right there with two major champions.
And then the script tore up.
Rahm and DeChambeau didn’t have their best day (71 and 74, respectively). Kim did have his. He didn’t blink. No bogeys. Just putts dropping and shoulders loosening as the noise rose.
In his own words: he hadn’t putted well for three days, then “started seeing the lines on the green” and told himself to…
“give yourself as many chances as possible, and you can win this thing.” Anthony Kim
The story wasn’t only the score. It was the way the round felt: a man who has lived through the worst versions of himself, now playing with the simplest purpose, hit it, hole it, move on.
When asked what the win meant with his wife and daughter there, Kim didn’t reach for a polished quote. He went straight for the heart: “Best moment of my life so far”…
“…and for her to be able to run on the green and see her dad isn’t a loser was one of the most special moments of my life.” Anthony Kim
Adelaide, the four-day festival, and why this matters for LIV
LIV didn’t just add an extra round in 2026. It added heft.
Adelaide expanded to four days and 72 holes, and local reporting suggested organisers were tracking for another crowd north of 115,000 after last year’s 102,000+ mark.
That matters because Adelaide is LIV’s clearest proof of concept: that it buys in, and a fan experience that’s closer to a summer festival than a golf tournament.
Now add this: a comeback win so unlikely it forces even sceptics to pause.
On Saturday, DeChambeau called Kim’s journey “an inspiring story” that “deserves… a lot more media attention,” and pointed directly at what LIV can be: “It shows some of the opportunities that LIV Golf can provide and give hope to people.”
Rahm, too, urged Kim to tell the story properly, “movie, documentary series, book, whatever it is.”
Kim himself framed it in brutal, human terms. Asked what message he’d give to people battling, he said: “Don’t fucking quit.”
Not PR. Not brand. Just a line that lands because you believe he’s earned the right to say it.
And then there was the smaller, perfect detail that somehow made it bigger: asked how he’d celebrate, Kim shrugged and said he might watch Frozen.
That’s fatherhood. That’s perspective. That’s the point.
Outpouring for AK
The reaction wasn’t just “nice win” polite. It was global, and it cut straight through the usual LIV/PGA noise. Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald led it with a proper, thoughtful message, calling it a redemption story, praising the work it takes to “come back, face it, and rebuild”, and finishing with “That takes real strength.”
Ian Poulter, never short on feeling, went full Adelaide mode: “Truly unbelievable… Start the movie… so awesome to see. Respect,” while others piled in from every corner of the sport, from Annika Sörenstam calling it an “incredible story of overcoming demons” to Billy Horschel branding it “inspirational”.
What does it mean going forward…
For LIV, this is Adelaide doing Adelaide things, but with a new layer. The league has always had stars. It now has a modern redemption story that cuts through the old arguments and the tired shouting.
For Kim, it’s a win that doesn’t end the story, it starts the next chapter. “Nothing is holding me back,” he said. “I just have to keep working.”
PAR Selections Results
EVENT 2: ADELAIDE — RESULTS (SETTLED)
WIN PICK (WIN-ONLY, 1.0u)
Pick Odds Result Net P/L
Jon Rahm 11/4 2nd -1.0
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ADELAIDE WIN TOTAL -1.0
EACH-WAY VALUE (10 places, 1/5 odds, 1.0 EW each)
Pick (EW) Odds Result Win P/L Place P/L Net P/L
Joaquin Niemann 10/1 T12 -1.0 -1.0 -2.0
Talor Gooch 22/1 T17 -1.0 -1.0 -2.0
Marc Leishman 33/1 T8 -1.0 +5.6 +4.6
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ADELAIDE EW TOTAL +0.6
ADELAIDE TOTAL (WIN + EW) -0.4
SEASON-TO-DATE (RIYADH + ADELAIDE)
Riyadh total: -4.3
Adelaide total: -0.4
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RUNNING TOTAL: -4.7