HyFlyers captain Phil Mickelson rolled back the years in leading his team to an upset win over third seeds Fireballs led by Sergio Garcia at the Michigan team championship on Friday. Image courtesy LIV Golf.
From a Correspondent
Plymouth, Michigan: Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC pulled off the biggest upset during Friday’s quarter-finals of the LIV Golf Michigan team championship and next have a chance to knock off the league’s top-ranked team in the semi-finals.
The 10th-seeded HyFlyers were the only team to sweep all three of their matches on Friday, beating Sergio Garcia’s third-seeded Fireballs GC.
Their reward is a Saturday matchup against Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII, who won four tournaments this season but barely survived against the upset-minded Cleeks Golf Club.
“It’s a great opportunity for us,” Mickelson said. “We look forward to the opportunity to take on the No. 1 team.”
Rahm, the two-time LIV Golf individual champion, is hoping to bounce back from a singles loss to Adrian Meronk that forced his teammates to win their other two matches.
As captain of the top-seeded team, Rahm was able to choose any of the other Friday winners as an opponent.
He opted to select the HyFlyers and then announced that he would face off against Mickelson – his good friend and fellow Arizona State alum – in one of the two singles matches.
“As of late, our most head-to-head matches have been on YouTube, so slightly different stakes,” Rahm said.
“Really looking forward to it. He’s a great friend and a great competitor. No matter what, it’s going to be a fun day for both of us.”
Rough day
It wasn’t a fun day for the defending team champions, as the all-Australian Ripper GC were knocked out with a 2-1 loss to Stinger GC, a team they had beat last year in Adelaide in LIV Golf’s first-ever team playoff.
The all-South African team now get another chance at Joaquin Neimann’s Torque GC, who eliminated the Stingers in the 2023 team championship.
“They beat us badly in Miami,” said Stinger captain Louis Oosthuizen.“So, it’s a little bit of a revenge tomorrow.”
Six matchups took place on Friday – two singles matches and one foursomes, with the winning teams keeping their hopes alive.
The losing teams dropped to the bottom half of the bracket and can only hope to finish as high as seventh place.
Besides Legion XIII, Torque, HyFlyers and Stinger, the other two teams advancing to the championship bracket were Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC and Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC. (courtesy LIV Golf)
Friday results
Legion XIII beat Cleeks 2-1 (Tyrrell Hatton bt Richard Bland 19 holes; Jon Rahm lost to Adrian Meronk 2&1; Tom McKibbin/Caleb Surrat bt Martin Kaymer/Frederik Kjetterup 2&1).
Crushers bt Majesticks 2-1 (Brysion DeChambeau bt Lee Westwood 4&2; Anirban Lahiri lost to Sam Horsfield 2&1; Paul Casey/Charles Howell III bt Ian Poulter/Henrik Stenson 5&4).
HyFlyers bt Fireballs 3-0 (Phil Mickelson bt David Puig 19 holes; Cameron Tringale bt Abraham Ancer 3&1; Andy Ogletree/Brendan Steele bt Josele Ballester/Sergio Garcia 1 up)
Torque bt RangeGoats 2-1 (Joaquin Neimann bt Bubba Watson 2&1; Mito Pereira lost to Ben Campbell 2&1; Sebastian Munoz/Carlos Ortiz bt Peter Uihlein/Matthew Wolff 2&1)
Smash bt. 4Aces 2-1 (Brooks Koepka lost to Dustin Johnson 1 up; Talor Gooch bt Patrick Reed 1 up; Jason Kokrak/Graeme McDowell bt Thomas Pieters/Harold Varner III 6&5)
Stinger bt Ripper 2-1 (Dean Burmester bt Lucas Herbert 4&2; Branden Grace lost to Cameron Smith 3&2; Louis Oosthuizen/Charl Schwartzel bt Matt Jones/Marc Leishman 4&3)
Saturday matches
Championship bracket
Winning teams will play for the team championship in Sunday’s stroke-play finals; losing teams will play for final positions 4 to 6.
1. Legion XIII vs. 10. HyFlyers GC
Singles: Rahm vs. Mickelson; Hatton vs. Tringale
Foursomes: McKibbin/Surratt vs. Ogletree/Steele
2. Crushers GC vs. 8. Smash GC
Singles: Lahiri vs. Koepka; DeChambeau vs. Gooch
Foursomes: Casey/Howell III vs. Kokrak/McDowell
4. Torque GC vs. 7. Stinger GC
Singles: Niemann vs. Burmester; Pereira vs. Grace
Foursomes: Muñoz/Ortiz vs. Oosthuizen/Schwartzel
Rankings bracket
Winning teams will play for final positions 7 to 9 on Sunday; losing teams will play for final positions 10 to 12.
3. Fireballs GC vs. 11. Cleeks GC
Singles: Ancer vs. Meronk; Ballester vs. Bland
Foursomes: Garcia/Puig vs. Kaymer/Kjettrup
5. 4Aces GC vs. 12. Majesticks GC
Singles: Johnson vs. Stenson; Reed vs. Horsfield
Foursomes: Pieters/Varner III vs. Poulter/Westwood
6. Ripper GC vs. 9. RangeGoats GC
Singles: Smith vs. Campbell; Herbert vs. Wolff
Foursomes: Jones/Leishman vs. Uihlein/Watson
Also read: Rahm shades Neimann again as Munoz, Torque sweep at Indy
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