Lucas Herbert won his first LIV Golf individual title at the Maaden LIV Golf Virginia event by surviving a midnight coughing fit, a 30-minute weather delay and a five-stroke swing that put Sergio Garcia within one shot of the lead.
The 30-year-old Australian, a member of LIV's Ripper GC team, joined teammates Cam Smith, Marc Leishman and Matt Jones as an individual winner on the league, completing the set Ripper GC had openly chased for two and a half years.
"It's got a nice ring to it," Herbert said in his Sunday press conference. "I did a pretty good job of not letting myself get ahead of the moment until that shot went on the green on 18, and I kind of knew I could have a sword fight and still win. It was probably more relief to begin with. Spent about 60-odd holes with a lead on my own, so it was nice to kind of just get to the finish line and have this one presented to me, and achieve a goal that I've had for two and a half years now since I joined the league."
The path to the finish line was uglier than the final scoreline. Herbert held the 54-hole lead but slept badly. He woke at 12:30 am Sunday morning coughing, his preparation for the final round disrupted by illness.
"The hardest period of time for this entire week was the time between finishing the round on Friday and teeing it up today on Sunday," Herbert said. "You just don't even get a second before you start thinking about what if Bryson does this, or what if Sergio birdies the first two. You start running through these scenarios in your head, and it's not until you actually get on the golf course that you can actually do something about it. It was the most stressful 48 hours."
Once play began, Herbert raced to a five-shot cushion. Then the round threatened to come apart. He doubled the par-three ninth after hitting what he insisted was a good shot into the wrong spot. Garcia birdied the 10th to cut the margin further. A weather delay at the worst possible moment forced Herbert off the course just as the Spaniard's momentum built.
Herbert turned the round on a single putt at the 12th. Garcia missed his birdie putt. Herbert holed his, swung the momentum back, and immediately birdied the 13th to extend the cushion. He acknowledged later that he had told caddie Peewee in the moment that he needed exactly that response.
"I didn't feel like I did a lot wrong to make double," Herbert said of the ninth. "It's just you can't do it there. It's a great par three because it catches people doing what I did. I walked off that green, had a bit of a laugh with Peewee, and just reminded myself like I'm still two in front. Despite that car crash of a hole, I'm still two in front."
The Australian also leaned heavily on Peewee through the week. Herbert never got the chance to play the front nine in practice and walked the first hole only with his father-in-law on the eve of competition. He played the opening seven holes for the first time during Thursday's first round.
"He's a pretty special human being," Herbert said of Peewee. "I think we gel really, really well as a pair. Things that he is really strong at personality-wise are probably my weaknesses and vice versa. He's a guy that I trust implicitly. This is as much he deserves this as much as I do."
At seven career professional wins, Herbert was clear-eyed about the rarity of the moment, particularly against the depth LIV now puts in the field, including World Number One Jon Rahm.
"The next six hours are the best six hours you ever get," Herbert said. "This is my seventh time where I get to enjoy it. This is the fun bit. I've heard a lot of people in golf tell me that you don't know when it's your last. Hopefully it's not my last. I'll be very unhappy if it is, but I'm going to celebrate it like it might be."
Herbert also took a measured view of the field he had just beaten, noting that this was his second career victory featuring Rahm.
"I feel like I've had a good week when I've beaten Jon Rahm," Herbert said. "I'm going to take that as a victory. There's a lot of very high-quality players in this field. I'm pretty proud of it."
The individual victory secures Herbert a place at the US Open at Shinnecock Hills, and may also boost his world ranking position. As for what comes next, Herbert was content to let his teammate's mantra do the talking.
"As my teammate says, find another mountain to climb," Herbert said. "But right now, I'm pretty keen on making sure I celebrate this one pretty hard."
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*Originally published on [Golf News Global](https://golfnews.global/article/lucas-herbert-wins-2026-liv-golf-virginia-sergio-garcia-weather-delay). Visit for full coverage.*
