The top two seeds at the LIV Golf Team Championship, Legion XIII and Crushers GC, needed breaks to go their way in order to win their matches 2-1 and advance out of the quarterfinals Friday at The Cardinal at Saint John’s in Plymouth, Mich.
Captained by Spanish star Jon Rahm, top-seeded Legion XIII edged No. 11 seed Cleeks GC 2-1 thanks to Englishman Tyrrell Hatton’s 19-hole win in singles. It was a similar scene for the second-seeded Crushers, under the care of Bryson DeChambeau, who secured a 2-1 win over No. 12 Majesticks GC with his singles victory.
Third-seeded Fireballs GC, captained by Sergio Garcia of Spain, were the victims of the only 3-0 sweep of the day as Phil Mickelson’s 10th-seeded HyFlyers GC moved on instead.
The other matches saw No. 4 Torque beat No. 9 RangeGoats GC, No. 8 Smash GC take down No. 5 4Aces GC and No. 7 Stinger GC edge No. 6 Ripper GC, all by 2-1 scorelines. The teams played two singles matches and one foursome (alternate shot) against their opponent.
Following Friday’s matches, six teams remained alive for the $14 million first prize and the top seeds were able to dictate their semifinal opponents. Legion XIII selected HyFlyers and set up a singles match between Rahm and Mickelson.
Then, DeChambeau’s Crushers chose to face Koepka’s Smash — but the ex-PGA Tour rivals will not go head to head. After Koepka’s lineup was revealed, DeChambeau opted to put India’s Anirban Lahiri against Koepka, while DeChambeau will play Talor Gooch.
Asked why DeChambeau seemingly shied away from the No. 1 singles slot against Koepka, he replied, “I’ve got my reasons. It’s not personal, though, I can tell you that.”
The third semifinal will pit Torque (captained by Chile’s Joaquin Niemann) against Stinger (South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen). The six teams that lost in the championship bracket Friday will continue on to the rankings bracket to play for places 7-12.
On Friday, Legion XIII’s foursomes team (Tom McKibbin of Northern Ireland and Caleb Surratt) birdied two straight holes to break a late tie and beat Cleeks (Martin Kaymer of Germany, Frederik Kjettrup of Denmark) 2 and 1. But Rahm faltered on the back nine of his singles match against Adrian Meronk, losing a 1-up lead and falling 2 and 1 to the Pole.
Hatton and fellow Englishman Richard Bland needed extra holes after spending the last six holes of regulation all square. Hatton saved par as they replayed the first hole but Bland missed a tying par putt to the left, handing Legion the victory.
“I didn’t do my duty as a captain today and made this an uphill battle for all of us,” Rahm said. “The two young guys came through, finished strong with two birdies. Then Tyrrell doing Tyrrell things. He seems to be unflappable hitting those short putts.”
The Crushers duo of Charles Howell III and Englishman Paul Casey beat the Majesticks’ Ian Poulter of England and Henrik Stenson of Sweden in foursomes, 5 and 4. But England’s Sam Horsfield took a late lead and defeated Lahiri 2 and 1, leaving it to DeChambeau and his match against Englishman Lee Westwood.
Westwood went 1 up through four but it was all DeChambeau the rest of the way. The two-time major champ’s birdie putt at the third-to-last hole provided the Crushers a 4 and 2 win to clinch.
In the HyFlyers’ sweep of the Fireballs, Mickelson needed to birdie a 19th hole to beat Spanish youngster David Puig 1 up.
Another notable result was Smash’s victory over Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces. Though Johnson beat Koepka 1 up with a birdie on the final hole, Smash’s Gooch beat Patrick Reed by the same score and the foursomes team of Jason Kokrak and Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell steamrolled Harold Varner III and Belgian Thomas Pieters 6 and 5.
–Field Level Media
