Iron Heads GC, the 13th and lowest seed at the LIV Golf Team Championship, had the help of a hole-in-one as they upset Brooks Koepka’s fourth-seeded Smash GC in the quarterfinals Friday at Maridoe Golf Club in Carrollton, Texas.
Scott Vincent of Zimbabwe hit the one-hop ace that turned the Iron Heads’ fortunes around. The team rallied to a 2-1 win over Smash and was one of five teams to advance to Saturday’s semifinals.
Each head-to-head matchup Friday and Saturday consists of two singles matches and one foursomes (alternate-shot) match. Friday’s five winners are joining the top three seeds — Crushers GC, Legion XIII and Ripper GC — for the semifinals. The four teams who reach Sunday’s finals will play 18 holes of stroke play, with the lowest combined team score determining the champion.
In addition to the Iron Heads’ upset, Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC took down Torque GC 2-1, Fireballs GC swept Majesticks GC 3-0, Stinger GC topped Cleeks GC 3-0 and 4Aces GC beat RangeGoats GC 2-1.
Friday was a tough elimination for Smash, as they were the highest seed in action and got their choice of any quarterfinal opponent. They chose the last-place Iron Heads, with Koepka saying he “just went from the bottom up” to make the decision.
While Koepka took care of business against Iron Heads captain Kevin Na 6 and 5, the other matches were far closer. Danny Lee of New Zealand held on for a 1-up win over Talor Gooch to deliver Iron Heads a point.
The Smash duo of Jason Kokrak and Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell started on the third hole and led Vincent and Japan’s Jinichiro Kozuma 4 up through 11 holes. At the par-3 14th, Vincent’s tee shot landed just past the hole, took one small hop backwards and disappeared into the cup.
That sparked a charge for the Iron Heads, who won the 15th, first and second holes to force a playoff hole. Kozuma sank a long par putt to hand the Iron Heads the 19-hole victory and the decisive point.
“I want to give some props to my boys. They fought hard,” Na said. “Danny had a great match, and Scott Vincent and Jini coming down the stretch, they were 4-down at one point, and for them to fight back and Jini to make some clutch putts at the end.”
Despite the upset, No. 1 seed Crushers GC, the defending league champions, still picked Iron Heads to be their semifinal opponent.
“We just picked them,” Crushers captain Bryson DeChambeau said. “No reason.”
HyFlyers over Torque was a 12-versus-5 upset. Torque captain Joaquin Niemann of Chile defeated Andy Ogletree 4 and 3, but the HyFlyers’ strategy of using captain Mickelson in foursomes paid off. Cameron Tringale handled the other singles match for HyFlyers, beating Sebastian Munoz of Colombia 3 and 2, while Mickelson and Brendan Steele defeated Chile’s Mito Pereira and Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz 2 and 1.
“That flexibility can make a difference in getting your team the best dynamics, the best chance to win,” Mickelson said of opting to play the foursomes match rather than singles. “You saw a lot of mix-ups today, and I think we’ll probably see the same going into tomorrow as teams try to find their best format.”
In the Fireballs’ sweep of the Majesticks, Eugenio Chacarra of Spain fended off Sweden’s Henrik Stenson in 19 holes; David Puig of Spain was a 3-and-2 winner over Englishman and match-play veteran Ian Poulter; and Fireballs captain Sergio Garcia of Spain and Abraham Ancer of Mexico topped Englishmen Lee Westwood and Sam Horsfield 2 and 1.
The all-South African Stinger GC had a fine day against Cleeks. Branden Grace needed 19 holes to beat Poland’s Adrian Meronk; Dean Burmester won 4 and 3 over Finland’s Kalle Samooja; and captain Louis Oosthuizen teamed with Charl Schwartzel to defeat Germany’s Martin Kaymer and England’s Richard Bland 4 and 2.
Finally, 4Aces prevailed even though captain Dustin Johnson did not secure a point for his team. Peter Uihlein beat Johnson 3 and 1 to score the RangeGoats’ point. But Patrick Reed dusted Belgium’s Thomas Pieters 5 and 4, and Harold Varner III and Pat Perez edged Bubba Watson and Matthew Wolff 2 and 1.
Following the Crushers’ selection of the Iron Heads, No. 2 seed Legion XIII picked the HyFlyers as their semifinal foe and No. 3 seed Ripper chose the Fireballs, leaving Stinger to face 4Aces.
–Field Level Media
