LIV Golf winner Dan Burmester explains wifes | Golf News

LIV Golf star Dan Burmester battled back from a shaky starting to secure victory in a three-way playoff against Jon Rahm and Josele Ballester at the Chicago event, drawing motivation from his spouse’s ultra-marathon achievement.

The 36-year-old claimed his second profession particular person LIV Golf triumph in Chicago, including to his Miami victory from April of last 12 months. The South African golfer, who made headlines with a viral incident Down Under last 12 months, defeated 2024 LIV Golf champion Rahm and Ballester after both gamers failed to convert birdie alternatives from 12 toes on the 18th gap during the playoff.

Burmester collected $4 million for his second LIV Golf championship. He also celebrated workforce success with Stinger, which captured the workforce championship by defeating Torque.

The victory proved “emotional,” for Burmester, who revealed he had been wrestling with personal challenges before reaching glory.

His spouse’s completion of an extremely marathon in West Virginia served as his driving power. “This has been emotional. Since kind of before Virginia, I’ve been going through a bit of a rough time, personal stuff, and I’ve just been grinding and trying to get better,” he said.

“I think about my kids and my wife back home, and I’m just trying to do the best I can for them. My wife finished an ultra marathon the week of West Virginia.

“That Sunday I used to be on my telephone watching her, and that actually gave me an inspiration to variety of — if she will be able to do that, she will be able to run 90 whatever kilometers in a day, 9 and a half hours or whatever it was, then I can do something.

“Yeah, for me, that was where it’s at. Then after three bogeys in a row to start, I was like, fudge, I don’t know where I’m going. The head was nowhere.

“But I just saved at it, and Jason, my caddie, was just phenomenal. He was just like, we never give up. We’re not going to give up. We’ve been through an excessive amount of c— to give up.

“That’s what we did. Then I had a chance in regulation. Obviously hit a good putt, lagged it, just to protect my lead, and then to hit that out of the rough and get the right bounce and then roll it in — I watched Jon’s go left. I knew I had the right line, and to roll it in in front of everybody that’s here is amazing.”

Rahm’s loss in Chicago marked another crushing blow for the Spaniard. The former world No. 1 appears set to give up his LIV title this 12 months.

Joaquin Niemann at present tops the leaderboard and seems destined to declare the 2025 championship. Rahm has struggled to flip his strong showings into victories this season.

Chicago represented the 30-year-old’s nearest miss to claiming a win. The ex-Masters champion secured second place twice in Riyadh and Andalucia, though Chicago delivered his first playoff heartbreak of 2025.