Afternoon of surprises in the quarter-final round of the team final at LIV Golf, taking place in Michigan. Three of the top six in the season standings, who chose their opponents for this first match-up, have been eliminated at the first hurdle. Among them, the Fireballs of Sergio García, who will no longer be able to compete for the team victory in the tour. A debacle that also nearly affected Legion XIII of Jon Rahm…
The man from Barrika continues his season’s trend: winning without winning. He lost his match against a solid Adrian Meronk by 2&1, and his team’s access to tomorrow’s knockout round was left in the hands of his teammates. McKibbin and Surratt did not falter, winning 2&1 against Kaymer and Kjettrup, and everything was decided in the singles match between Tyrrell Hatton and Richard Bland, which was tied until the last hole.
The Englishman, who played very long from the tee, made a mistake with his approach and sent his ball to the edge of the green, in an impossible position to putt. He had to play a chip to try to leave it close and go for par. The Frenchman, on the other hand, hadn’t hit as far with his tee shot but had a ‘match ball’ with a putt of about five metres. His execution was dreadful. Not only did he miss it, but he left it so short that he complicated the par. The pressure got to him, and he missed his second putt, gifting the classification to Legion XIII when he was almost out of the tournament.
In the duel between the Fireballs and the HyFlyers, surprisingly, the captain of the former, Sergio García, did not play one of the two singles matches. He preferred to play the foursomes match with Ballester against Ogletree and Steele. And he lost it by one down. Cameron Tringale, on the other hand, easily defeated Abraham Ancer 3&1 and sealed the passage in favour of the team captained by Phil Mickelson, whose one-up victory against David Puig was no longer necessary for his team.
The 4Aces of Dustin Johnson also fell by the wayside in the quarter-final clash against the Smash and will fight from tomorrow for positions 7th to 12th in the final standings. The South Carolinian lost by one to Brooks Koepka, and Talor Gooch won one up against Patrick Reed, nullifying the point Kokrak and McDowell had earned in the alternate shot match, thrashing Pieters and Varner III by 6&5.
The last surprise, somewhat lesser due to being a more evenly matched duel, was delivered by the Stinger of the South Africans, overcoming the Ripper of Cameron Smith. Oosthuizen and Schwartel comfortably won the foursome 4&3 against Jones and Leishman, while Burmester defeated Herbert 4&2. Smith’s 3&2 victory in his match against Branden Grace was to no avail. His team was also out of the title race.
Those who did their homework were the Crushers of DeChambeau, knocking out the Majesticks. Bryson won 4&2 against Lee Westwood, while Paul Casey and Charles Howell III clearly defeated Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson in the alternate shot match, 5&4. The scientist’s team was the first to advance to the next round of the tournament.
The Torque of Joaquín Niemann also did not fail, who, after the disappointment of last Sunday losing the Order of Merit to Jon Rahm, found victory again by defeating Bubba Watson 2&1. Although Mito Pereira fell 2&1 to Ben Campbell, Sebastián Muñoz, who came from winning in Indianapolis, and Carlos Ortiz did not falter in their foursome, defeating Peter Uihlein and Matthew Wolff 2&1.
As in the previous round, the captains of the winning teams, based on their position in the circuit’s team standings, will choose their opponents in order for tomorrow’s round in search of a place in the fight for Sunday’s title.
