[Photo: Mateo Villalba/LIV Golf]
Ripper GC’s second straight LIV Golf teams title in 2026 was special. Watching Anthony Kim complete one of golf’s great comeback stories made it something else entirely.
RELATED: Anthony Kim completes unlikely comeback with emphatic victory as Ripper GC goes back-to-back
“I cried,” Lucas Herbert admitted, summing up what many inside the ropes were feeling as Kim sealed his remarkable individual win – his first since returning from a 12-years hiatus, where he battled then courageously overcame drug, alcohol and mental health struggles.
Marc Leishman, who overlapped with Kim on the PGA Tour in the early 2010s, didn’t try to hide the emotion either.
“There’s not many players on tours around the world where you’re trying not to tear up on the last green when they’re winning,” Leishman said. “Being a dad myself and seeing his daughter run out, knowing what him and his wife have been through, geez, not too many better stories than that, I don’t think.”
Leishman went further, reflecting on just how close Kim came to never having this moment.
“It’s an unbelievable story, the place he got to and how close he was to not being here. I’m not talking about in Adelaide, I’m talking about not being on this planet,” Leishman said. “It’s pretty touching, actually, how good a story this is. I hope that people realise how it’s a fairytale, it really is. Not just golf but life… I couldn’t be happier for AK.”
Ripper GC captain Cam Smith called it simply: “It was awesome. It was unreal. So good.”
As emotional as Kim’s win was, the Rippers had their own business to finish. Playing in front of a record-breaking home crowd at Grange Golf Club, the energy was palpable – and at times overwhelming.
“It felt like every person, Adelaide or Australia, I’m not sure which one, but every one of them was following our group,” Herbert said. “It was pretty special.”
Smith admitted the support cuts both ways.
“It’s unreal. It’s so cool,” he said. “It’s a sense of energy, but it’s also a sense of pressure, as well, because you don’t want to let them down… Not only are you going to let these guys down, but you’re letting down the home crowd, as well.”
They didn’t.
With the job done, Ripper GC claimed their second team crown in as many weeks after triumphing last week in LIV’s season opener in Saudi Arabia. To cap off a day of fairytales and back-to-back team glory, the Rippers savoured the biggest reward of all: the fans.
“I see on social media all the time that LIV has no fans, so it’s pretty nice to see that a few of them turned out this week, and you can see why,” said Herbert. “It’s clearly the best event. It’s been voted the best event in the world, and you can absolutely see why. There’s so many people out here. It’s such a great atmosphere. There’s so many kids out here, as well. I feel like between every green and tee, I’m high-fiving kids the whole way down, which that’s what we did all this for. That’s what we really wanted to be here to make an impact for.
“It’s pretty special to hear those numbers that new records have been set. I’m sure Greg Norman, wherever he is in the world, is smiling away at what this has turned into.”
