MIAMI: The top four seeds entering this week’s LIV Golf Team Championship survived upsets during a tense match-play semifinal Saturday and will now compete for the team title in Sunday’s final championship round of the 2023 season.
Defending champion 4Aces GC, along with Crushers GC, Torque GC and RangeGoats GC, advanced to the top tier that will battle in stroke-play competition Sunday on the iconic Blue Monster at Trump National Doral. Unlike regular-season events in which three scores counted for the team competition, every player’s score will count on Sunday.
“It takes a whole team effort tomorrow,” said 4Aces Captain Dustin Johnson. “I like it. It’s four teams and we’re battling for the trophy.”
Sunday’s final round will begin with players in foursomes determined by their tiers.
Johnson survived a late rally by HyFlyers GC Captain Phil Mickelson to win his singles match, 2 & 1. The outcome was pivotal after the HyFlyers’ Cameron Tringale beat Patrick Reed, 4 & 3, in the other singles match while the 4Aces’ Pat Perez and Peter Uihlein won their foursomes match against Brendan Steele and James Piot.
Johnson was 2 up through 13 holes, but Mickelson tied the match two holes later. Johnson responded by winning the next two holes for the 4Aces’ 2-1 team win.
“I played a lot of golf with Phil and I knew it was going to be a good match,” Johnson said. “It always is … I knew it was going to come down to me and Phil.”
The 2023 Individual Champion, Talor Gooch of RangeGoats GC, was 1 down through 15 holes to young Fireballs GC star Eugenio Chacarra. With the other two matches split, RangeGoats’ fate was in his hands, and Gooch responded by winning the final three holes.
“He put up a great fight,” Gooch said of Chacarra, who was the best player in Friday’s quarterfinals with a 6 & 5 win over the Majesticks’ Sam Horsfield. “It was a dogfight. I made a few mistakes that he capitalized on. But fortunately we were able to come through in the end.”
Crushers GC’s captain, Bryson DeChambeau, had a stellar performance in beating Cleeks GC’s captain, Martin Kaymer. DeChambeau played his final 11 holes in nine under. The Crushers won the other singles match, with Paul Casey’s 7 & 5 win over Richard Bland, to advance with a 2-1 victory.
“It’s a huge opportunity for us,” said DeChambeau, whose team lost in the semifinals in 2022. “Last year we left pretty sour, and this year is a different story. We’ve got some guys that are playing some better golf and I’m playing a little bit better. Hopefully, I can do that tomorrow and give ourselves an opportunity to win. We’ve been prepping for this all year.”
Torque GC, which won a league-best four tournament titles this season, swept Stinger GC 3-0. Sebastian Munoz had the most dominant victory of the day, beating Branden Grace, 7 & 6, and Niemann never trailed in his 2 & 1 win over Louis Oosthuizen.
“We still have one more day,” Niemann said. “But this is the position that we wanted to be in.”
Gooch has the opportunity to win both the individual and team Championships, a feat that Johnson accomplished last season. He also has the chance to win the team title with two different teams, having played for the 4Aces last year.
“This was the plan from the get-go,” Gooch said. “We’re in position. It’s time to go do it.”
