The 2022 LIV Golf Team Championship in Miami got underway on Friday at Trump National Doral. Featuring singles and foursomes matches, the bottom eight teams from the regular-season standings were pitted against each other in a new format during what is the last of LIV Golf’s eight events of its inaugural season.
With the top four teams looking on and enjoying byes into the semifinals, Friday’s quarterfinals were headlined by the singles match between the Hy Flyers’ Phil Mickelson and Punch GC’s Cameron Smith. The two major champions battled back and forth for most of the afternoon as Mickelson employed a bit of gamesmanship, slow playing the notoriously quick Smith around Trump National Doral.
While Mickelson and Smith’s bout went the distance, with the Australian proving victorious and securing an upset victory over the higher seeded Hy Flyers, the duel between Harold Varner III and Brooks Koepka was over in a blink of an eye. Despite winning at LIV Golf Jeddah, the four-time major champion was no match for Varner as the East Carolina product carded seven birdies and claimed a commanding 4 and 3 victory. Unfortunately for Varner, his teammates were of little assistance. Peter Uihlein knocked off James Piot 5 and 3, and the foursomes match fell the way of Koepka’s Smash GC, ultimately sending them to the semifinals.
Ian Poulter’s Majesticks and the Martin Kaymer-less Cleeks GC will also be making their way to tomorrow’s competition. The Majesticks laid it on the Iron Heads early and often as none of their three matches reached the 17th hole. It was a a much more stressful story for the Cleeks as late heroics from Laurie Canter were needed to skirt past Joaquin Niemann’s Torque GC.
The competition now ramps up in the semifinals as the 4 Aces, Crushers, Fireballs and Stinger GC will be making their LIV Golf Team Championship debuts. With only one more day of match play, teams will need to continue to gel together before Sunday’s stroke play portion of the event.
Here are the scores from each of the quarterfinal matches in the 2022 LIV Golf Team Championship.
Smash GC (5): 2 | Niblicks (12): 1
|
Niblicks |
Harold Varner III over Brooks Koepka |
4 and 3 |
|
Smash |
Peter Uihlein over James Piot |
5 and 3 |
|
Smash |
Jason Kokrak/Chase Koepka over Hudson Swafford/Turk Petit |
2 and 1 |
Majesticks (6): 3 | Irons Heads (9): 0
|
Majesticks |
Ian Poulter over Kevin Na |
4 and 2 |
|
Majesticks |
Lee Westwood over Sihwan Kim |
4 and 3 |
|
Majesticks |
Sam Horsfield/Henrik Stenson over Sadom Kaewkanjana/Phacara Khongwatmai |
4 and 2 |
Cleeks (10): 2 | Torque (7): 1
|
Torque |
Joaquin Niemann over Shergo Al Kurdi |
5 and 3 |
|
Cleeks |
Laurie Canter over Jediah Morgan |
1 UP |
|
Cleeks |
Graeme McDowell/Richard Bland over Adrian Otaegui/Scott Vincent |
2 UP |
Punch (11): 2 | Hy Flyers (8): 1
|
Punch |
Cameron Smith over Phil Mickelson |
1 UP |
|
Punch |
Marc Leishman over Matthew Wolff |
4 and 2 |
|
Hy Flyers |
Bernd Wiesberger/Cameron Tringale over Matt Jones/Wade Ormsby |
3 and 2 |
Semifinal matchups
|
4 Aces (1) vs Cleeks (10) |
Dustin Johnson vs Shergo Al Kurdi |
Patrick Reed vs Laurie Canter |
Pat Perez/Talor Gooch vs Graeme McDowell/Richard Bland |
|
Crushers (2) vs Stinger (4) |
Bryson DeChambeau vs Louis Oosthuizen |
Paul Casey vs Branden Grace |
Charles Howell III/Anirban Lahiri vs Charl Schwartzel/Hennie Du Plessis |
|
Fireballs (3) vs Punch (11) |
Sergio Garcia vs Cameron Smith |
Carlos Ortiz vs Marc Leishman |
Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra/Abraham Ancer vs Matt Jones/Wade Ormsby |
|
Smash (5) vs Majesticks (6) |
Brooks Koepka vs Ian Poulter |
Peter Uihlein vs Lee Westwood |
Jason Kokrak/Chase Koepka vs Henrik Stenson/Sam Horsfield |