The top four seeds all won their respective semifinal matches on Saturday at the LIV Golf Team Championship in Miami.
4Aces GC, Crushers GC, Torque GC and RangeGoats GC are set to compete for the title on Sunday at Trump National Doral Golf Course. Every player’s score will count in the final round as the squads face off in stroke play.
Attempting to defend its championship from a year ago, 4AcesGC, the No. 1 seed, beat HyFlyers GC 2-1. 4Aces captain Dustin Johnson took down HyFlyers captain Phil Mickelson 2 and 1, and Pat Perez and Peter Uihlein teamed up to best James Piot and Brendan Steele 4 and 3.
“It’s awesome,” Perez said of reaching the final. “Obviously the end to the whole thing, you want to win the tournament. But the other thing, you want to win, (Sunday). That’s the thing. You want to be the team champion overall for the week and the year, and that’s what we’re looking forward to.
“We’re all leaning on each other and we’re all putting in the work to do it and hopefully tomorrow it pays off.”
Second-seeded Crushers GC also prevailed 2-1 over Cleeks GC, with Bryson DeChambeau getting the ball rolling with a 4 and 3 victory in the captain’s match. Paul Casey then snagged a 6-and-5 win before the duo of Graeme McDowell and Bernd Wiesberger got Cleeks on the board with a 3-and-2 triumph.
No. 3 Torque GC was the only squad to complete a sweep, blanking Stinger GC, the fifth seed, 3-0. Captain Joaquin Niemann won 2 and 1 and Sebastian Munoz prevailed 7 and 6 ahead of a 2-up victory from David Puig and Mito Pereira.
“It was a lot more stressful at the end than I thought. I thought we were dominating pretty good. I was 4-up. Our foursome was 3-up and Sebastian already won,” Niemann said. “I think that’s what match play brings. We had to close it out, and yeah, Louis (Oosthuizen) on my side, he started playing great golf at the end, and I was able to make good putts in the end, so pretty happy.”
RangeGoats GC fell into an early hole when Fireballs GC’s Sergio Garcia downed fellow captain Bubba Watson, but Watson’s team recovered to come out on top, 2-1. Talor Gooch beat Eugenio Chacarra 2 up, and Harold Varner III and Thomas Pieters pulled out a decisive 2-and-1 victory.
“I struggled,” Watson said. I just didn’t make any putts. I had a three-putt. Sergio, he made four or five birdies. So he just stayed just ahead of me all day. And then all I could do after that is pull for the team. And the dream is still alive because we are here talking to y’all, so it’s good.”
–Field Level Media
