The first day of the LIV Golf Team Championship at Trump National Doral featured the elimination of Phil Mickelson’s team, Hy Flyers.
Cameron Smith of Australia defeated Mickelson 1 up in match play to help end Mickelson’s season on Friday in Miami.
Smith’s team, Punch, advanced to the quarterfinals by beating Hy Flyers 2-1. Smash defeated Niblicks 2-1, Majesticks beat Iron Heads 3-0 and Cleeks took down Torque 2-1.
Each first-round match was made up of three pairings — two singles matches and one alternate-shot (foursomes) match, all worth one point.
The top four teams in the season standings — 4 Aces, Crushers, Fireballs and Stinger — earned a bye straight into the semifinals, which will be played Saturday in the same format.
In addition to Smith beating Mickelson in a tight match, teammate and Australian countryman Marc Leishman beat Matthew Wolff 4 and 2 in their other singles match. Cameron Tringale and Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger earned a point in vain for Hy Flyers by beating Australians Matt Jones and Wade Ormsby 3 and 2.
Smash got past Niblicks in spite of captain Brooks Koepka losing 4 and 3 to Harold Varner III. Peter Uihlein tamed James Piot 5 and 3, and the duo of Jason Kokrak and Chase Koepka outlasted Turk Pettit and Hudson Swafford 2 and 1.
Captain Ian Poulter of England led Majesticks by defeating Kevin Na of Iron Heads 4 and 2. Majesticks got the sweep as Englishman Lee Westwood beat Sihwan Kim 4 and 3, and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson and England’s Sam Horsfield beat the Thai duo of Sadom Kaewkanjana and Phachara Khongwatmai 4 and 2.
Joaquin Niemann of Chile beat Jordan’s Shergo Al Kurdi 5 and 3 to score Torque a point over Cleeks. But Cleeks won anyway, as England’s Laurie Canter beat Australian Jediah Morgan 1 up and England’s Richard Bland and Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell won 2 up over Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent and Spain’s Adrian Otaegui.
On Saturday, 4 Aces will face Cleeks, Smash will play Majesticks, Fireballs will battle Punch and Stinger will square off with Crushers.
The four winning teams will advance to Sunday’s final round, which will utilize standard stroke play. All four players on each team will compete and everyone’s scores will count toward the team score, with the lowest team score winning the team championship and $16 million from the $50 million prize pool.
–Field Level Media