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Chronicle and results of the quarter-finals round in the team final of LIV Golf

Full Spanish presence in the Dallas semi-finals with two big surprises

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David Puig, en su partido ante Ian Poulter © LIV Golf
David Puig, en su partido ante Ian Poulter © LIV Golf

The four Spaniards competing in LIV Golf will be in tomorrow’s semi-finals of the tournament that wraps up the 2024 season, in Dallas, which is played by teams. Jon Rahm had his place secured with his Legion XIII after finishing in the second position of the general classification by squads of the course. And the Fireballs GC have joined the one from Barrika with Sergio García, David Puig and Eugenio López-Chacarra (along with his teammate Abraham Ancer) prevailing this Friday in the quarterfinals against the Majesticks.

The crosses brought about real matches with a Ryder Cup aroma. And the players of the Armada did not fail, showing themselves very reliable in the game format chosen for this event, with two individual matches and one by pairs in foursomes mode (alternate shots). Precisely Sergio García and Abraham Ancer, in this last duel, were the first to score a point after winning 2&1 against Lee Westwood and Sam Horsfield after winning their first hole, losing the next two, and then comfortably coming back.

The second point was scored by Puig against Ian Poulter, who resisted as best he could and even managed to sink a stratospheric putt from more than 15 meters when he was three down with three holes to play. It only served to prolong the agony and he ended up succumbing to the golfer from La Garriga by 3&2. And already with the victory of the Fireballs assured, Henrik Stenson also drew on experience to overcome a two-hole disadvantage with two to play against Chacarra to at least not lose his match, although it was already of no use to him.

The first team to earn their place in tomorrow’s semi-finals, in addition to the top three in the general classification who are already waiting for an opponent, were the Stinger GC. Burmester had no problems beating Samooja by 4&3 and the pair formed by Oosthuizen and Schwartzel comfortably beat Bland and Kaymer by 4&2. The final effort of Meronk to get into his match against Grace and manage to equalize it was to no avail.

The most evenly matched tie in theory was the one between the RangeGoats GC, ninth in the general classification during the regular season, and the 4Aces GC, who finished tenth. This 2024 has not been Dustin Johnson‘s year, that’s clear, and it was confirmed again today as he fell defeated by 3&1 in one of the individual duels of the cross against Peter Uihlein. Luckily for the one from South Carolina, his teammates did the job. Patrick Reed beat Thomas Pieters by 5&4 and the pair formed by Harold Varner III and Pat Pérez won 2&1 against Bubba Watson, in a year to forget, and Matthew Wolff.

The first surprise of the afternoon was the elimination of the Torque GC from the individual runner-up of the tour, Joaquín Niemann. The Chilean had no problems beating Ogletree by 4&3 and putting the 1-0 for his team against the HyFlyers GC. But his teammates were not up to par at any time. Sebastián Muñoz lost his individual match against Cameron Tringale by 3&2. And in the foursomes, with a very unfortunate Mito Pereira pairing with Carlos Ortiz, the final blow was given by Phil Mickelson and Brendan Steele winning by 2&º and putting their team in tomorrow’s semi-finals.

A similar situation to Niemann‘s was experienced by Brooks Koepka. The one from West Palm Beach was the first player to win his quarterfinal match ‘destroying’ Kevin Na by 6&5. His teammate Talor Gooch, winner of the tour in the individual category last year, could not cope with Danny Lee and always being below, ended up losing by one hole. So everything was in the hands of the foursome where Jason Kokrak and Graeme McDowell did everything in their power to lose and they ended up achieving it. With four up with seven holes to go, they let Jinichiro Kozuma and Scott Vincent tie the match by making a carousel of mistakes under the attentive and worried gaze of Brooks. And in the only match that went to the playoff, a terrible iron from McDowell sending the ball next to a paved road, with controversial drop included, ended up condemning the Smash GC, who lost to the IronHeads GC, the worst team of the season, 13th in the general, and who advance in search of the miracle.

Thus, the Crushers GC, the Legion XIII and the Ripper GC, exempt from the quarterfinal round, will be joined tomorrow in the semi-finals by the IronHeads GC, the HyFlyers GC, the Fireballs GC, the Stinger GC and the 4Aces GC. The first three will choose their opponent for Saturday’s cross in order, while the two teams remaining after these choices will face each other in the fourth semi-final. The winners will go to Sunday’s final to compete for the top four team positions of the season and the losers will fight in the last round for the final 5th to 8th positions.

Check the live results of the Dallas Team Championship