On the back of Smith’s playoff defeat in the individual event, Ripper GC registered their first podium finish of the year in Hong Kong but it was on home turf where their season burst into life.

Individually, all four team members finished inside the top 20 at the completion of 54 holes, enough to force the first ever LIV Golf team playoff against the South African Stinger GC team.

Smith and Leishman represented the Rippers while Louis Oosthuizen and Dean Burmester squared off for the Stingers, scores counting for all four players on each hole.

After dodging a bullet on the first playoff hole, Leishman’s par and Smith’s bogey on the second extra hole sent the home crowd into a state of delirium.

Despite the extensive celebrations that followed, they backed that up by winning the team event at Singapore a week later and arrived at the season-ending team event in Dallas in the hunt to be crowned team champions.

Third in the standings entering the Team Championship Dallas, Ripper GC defeated Fireballs GC in the semi-finals thanks to individual wins by Herbert and Leishman and then won the final thanks to rounds of 4-under 68 from Smith, 3-under 69 from Herbert and rounds of 2-under 70 from both Jones and Leishman.

What happened after that remains a closely guarded secret within the four walls of Ripper GC.

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