Dallas recap: Stingers scale heights, and experience stinging lows, in 2024 season finale
CARROLLTON, Texas – Stinger GC's form at the season-ending Dallas Team Championship was a microcosm of their entire 2024 campaign: the brilliant mixed with the disappointing and the painful.
After arriving at Maridoe Golf Club as the seventh seeds, the all-South African combination shone brightly in Friday's opening quarterfinal matches with a 3-0 whitewash of eighth-seeded Cleeks GC.
However, in Saturday's semifinals, the Stingers collectively misfired as they were upset 2-1 by 10th-seeded 4Aces GC and on Sunday they had to settle for fifth place after competing in Tier 2 for positions fifth through eighth on the final leaderboard.
The last day of the season was a bitter-sweet experience for the Stingers who posted the best cumulative score of strokeplay among all 13 teams with a total of 15-under – four shots better than Ripper GC, who won LIV Golf's biggest team prize and the Championship title after vying for supremacy in Tier 1.
"It's a satisfying end to this week but a big sting, like knowing if we would have played in the final four we would have won the whole thing, " said captain Louis Oosthuizen after he had fired a 4-under 68, Branden Grace a brilliant 65, Charl Schwartzel a 66 and Dean Burmester a 74.
"It's the second year in a row that we were not in the last four and that we were playing for the fifth spot. But we played really well. We came in here ready and felt that our game was good," added Oosthuizen, who ended the 2024 regular season ranked sixth in the individual points standings.
"Branden showed today that he's making a turn. Hopefully he can keep going. 7-under is a great score. I thought 4- or 5-under was going to be really good."
Oosthuizen was also delighted with his team's form on day one when he and Schwartzel beat Cleeks GC captain Martin Kaymer and Richard Bland 4 & 2 in the foursomes, Burmester outclassed Finland's Kalle Samooja 4 & 3 and Grace edged Poland's Adrian Meronk after 19 holes.
Grace's victory was especially satisfying for the team since the 36-year-old from Pretoria had struggled for results this season, ultimately finishing in the Drop Zone and facing relegation.
"We were very happy to put him out there in singles," Oosthuizen said with a smile after a day when the temperature peaked at 99 with a heat index of 108. "Branden can be tough. He will be in your face the whole time."
Saturday, however, was very different for the Stingers as the only point came from Oosthuizen and Schwartzel who comfortably handled 4Aces GC's Harold Varner III and Pat Perez 3 & 2. Burmester lost a tight match with Dustin Johnson 1-down and Grace was defeated by the same margin at the hands of Patrick Reed.
"We thought the three strongest points would be me and Charl playing together and then Dean and Branden playing on their own," said Oosthuizen. "We knew Branden and Reed was going to be a coin toss. The two of them are good match players and you sort of feel like it can go either way.
"As for Dean, he said to me afterwards he did not play great against DJ. He played brilliantly on day one but in match play, that happens. I think we would have not changed anything if we had to do it again. The 4Aces were just a little better than us."
Overall, Oosthuizen and his Stinger team mates can reflect on a hit-or-miss 2024 LIV Golf season that included four podium finishes along with six results of ninth or worse.
Their best performance was a runner-up spot in Adelaide, where they were beaten in a playoff for the title by Ripper GC, while their lowest moment came in Chicago where they wound up in a very disappointing 13th place.
"This season we have had great weeks, but we never really, as a team, did what we had to do," said Oosthuizen, who was a runner-up on the individual leaderboard this year in both Jeddah and Adelaide. "We had two guys that were really good, solid, and then we needed one more score. "
Burmester, who ended the 2024 regular season ranked ninth in the points standings after winning his first LIV Golf individual title in Miami, felt that Sundays (when all four scores count) had especially hurt the Stingers this year.
"If we look at it from a statistical point of view, it's definitely that," said the 35-year-old from Mutare, Zimbabwe. "This year, with the four (scores) to count on Sunday, it hasn't really worked out that well for us. If all four of us can pitch up on a Sunday, we'll be up there. And also we've had a lot of highs and a lot of lows this season ... not enough consistency."
Oosthuizen was in agreement: "It was either that we were very good or we were very poor. And it's difficult to pinpoint what exactly that was. Me and Dean had great seasons, and Charl played really well.
"We'll talk about it and discuss if there's something that we can do to improve that consistency, but we're all looking forward to next year. Hopefully we can get into that top four at next year's Team Championship."