The dream finish remained tantalizingly out of reach for South Africa's golfing heroes at LIV Golf's maiden voyage to Johannesburg.
Instead of celebrating on the 18th green before a raucous home crowd, the four members of Southern Guards GC found themselves on the nearby first tee, separated by mere feet but feeling worlds away from the championship celebration they desperately sought. Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace and Dean Burmester came agonizingly close to forcing a playoff for the team title, falling just one shot short.
Despite the heartbreak, their efforts didn't go unnoticed by the eventual individual champion.
"Got to give my literal hat off to the Southern Guards and South Africa this week for showing up," said individual winner Bryson DeChambeau. "They really showed what a LIV Golf event could and should be."
The Crushers GC ultimately claimed the team championship, rallying in the final round to edge out the home favorites. But even in victory, the winning team recognized the magnitude of what the Southern Guards accomplished for the tournament and the sport in their homeland.
"The rumors are I was conceived here, but I was apparently born in England," Casey revealed after the final round. "Burmy and those guys always give me a little, hey, if you want to jump teams, come to the Southern Guards. I can be kind of a mascot or something. The half-guy."
In the aftermath of their victory, Casey made it his mission to console the disappointed South African stars, recognizing their role in creating something special.
"To see this scene today – actually just all week, the Southern Guards were amazing," Casey said. "Louis and those guys said, this is what we're going to do, and then they followed through, and thanks to everybody, the government and the country and the fans to make this what it was."
The atmosphere throughout the week drew comparisons to golf's most prestigious team competition.
"This might be better than Adelaide. That might upset some people down in Australia, but those scenes on 18 were just fantastic. Those made the hairs on my neck stand up," Casey said. "That was like a Ryder Cup-type feeling to it, the passion out there, team-against-team kind of thing."
The reference to Adelaide wasn't casual. LIV Golf Adelaide has established itself as the league's flagship event, drawing a record 115,000 fans across four rounds last month – the highest attendance for any golf tournament in Australian history. When LIV Golf announced Johannesburg would join the 2026 schedule, South Africans immediately set their sights on surpassing their southern hemisphere rivals.
While the final attendance figures fell slightly short of Adelaide's record, more than 100,000 spectators passed through the gates at Steyn City, making it the largest golf tournament ever held in South Africa. The success was immediate and overwhelming, with the league announcing the tournament's return for 2027 before Sunday's final round concluded.
"I don't care what Adelaide is saying," said McKenzie. "They said, 'Minister, you must sell one ticket less than us.' So, I want to see how they're going to chase me."
McKenzie has set a target of selling 250,000 tickets for the 2027 event, scheduled for April 22-25. Early-bird ticket sales began just hours after the announcement, with some price tiers already selling out.
The Southern Guards may not have claimed the trophy they desperately wanted, but their week-long performance created something potentially more valuable – a template for how LIV Golf can capture the imagination of an entire nation. The scenes of passion and patriotism at Steyn City demonstrated the unique power of the league's team format when local heroes have everything to play for.