Danny Lee’s quest for a second LIV Golf title has fallen short after early bogeys cost his chance of victory at the Adelaide event today.

Starting one shot behind overnight leader and eventual winner Brendan Steele, Lee had two bogeys over the opening eight holes which all but ended his hopes on a birdie-friendly course at The Grange Golf Course.

Lee sat one shot back from playing partner Steele on the fifth tee following a steady start of pars. But when he walked off the eighth green, missed putts for birdie and pars saw him drop two shots over the four holes while Steele birdied all of them, pulling six shots clear.

Lee found some form on the back nine to shoot a one-under 71 and finish at 14-under in a share of ninth. It’s his best finish of the season and earns him US$340,000 ($572,400).

Steele (18-under) held off late challenges from Stingers duo Louis Oosthuizen (17-under) and Charl Schwartzel (16-under), Jon Rahm (16-under) and HyFlyers teammate Andy Ogletree (16-under) to earn his maiden LIV Golf title – winning by one shot following a third round 68.

Hometown favourite Cam Smith couldn’t deliver an individual win for the Adelaide fans, finishing at 13-under and missed a crucial par putt on the 18th that meant his all-Aussie Ripper GC team squandered the team title on the 54th hole. They finished tied on a record total of 53-under with the Stingers which led to the first team playoff. Smith and Marc Leishman eventually delivered the team title to the packed 18th gallery on the second playoff hole in a two-ball combined format against Oosthuizen and Miami winner Dean Burmester.

Lee will take plenty of confidence despite not putting together three solid days after shooting rounds of 64 and 67 to sit one back at the start of the final round.

He without a doubt played his best golf of the six events so far this season. The 33-year-old earned six points today, his final-round score costing him as he fell back in the points list of all the players tied for ninth.

Lee underwent wrist surgery at the end of last season and struggled to find form early in the season. He won a tournament in his maiden season last year, LIV Golf Tucson, which came with a $4 million first-place cheque, but coming into Adelaide had yet to record a top-24 finish in the opening five starts of 2024.

Today’s result gets Lee on the board almost halfway into the season, with the players sitting in the bottom half of the season-ending standings facing a possible cut from the league next year.

“Playing good golf takes care of a lot of stuff, and I don’t like to think about that kind of stuff,” Lee said after sitting near the top of the leaderboard on day one at Adelaide.

“You can’t get too caught up in that kind of stuff. I feel like that’s only putting a lot of pressure on yourself, so you’ve just got to let it go and keep your head down, and just keep doing what we’ve been doing.”

The next tournament is in Singapore, starting Friday (NZT).