[IMAGES: LIV Golf]
Cam Smith’s big gamble paid off at the LIV Golf Dallas Team Championship. Just!
The Ripper GC skipper said his decision to play foursomes with Matt Jones – instead of designating a singles match for himself – wasn’t a risky one, given that they both play the same ball. But it looked to backfire when they lost to Fireballs GC captain Sergio Garcia and Abraham Ancer.
“Jonesy and I have very similar games, and we play the same ball, so it was really a no-brainer for us, although probably from the outside it looked like a bit of a squiff decision,” Smith said heading into the semi-finals at Maridoe Golf Club.
Cue the ice-cold combination of Lucas Herbert and Marc Leishman. Both Aussies rallied to beat their opponents in singles for Ripper GC to advance. Adding to the theatre of it all was Leishman having to make a clutch par putt to beat Eugenio Chacarra on the first playoff hole.
“That might have been the most I felt my heartbeat, ever,” an emotional Leishman said afterwards.
Herbert, meanwhile, earned himself a new nickname for his never-say-die performance.
Meanwhile, 13th-seeded Iron Heads GC added another chapter to their amazing Cinderella story at the LIV Golf Dallas Team Championship, sweeping the top-seeded and defending champions Crushers GC.
But Kevin Na’s squad isn’t the only team authoring a compelling run to Sunday’s championship round.
Legion XIII entered the week as the No.2 seed with a league-high four wins but lost captain Jon Rahm, who withdrew prior to Saturday’s semi-final with flu-like symptoms. Rahm won the season-long Individual Championship last week.
And Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC, who won the inaugural Team Championship in 2022, seek to redeem themselves after a disappointing regular season that was very un-Ace-like, resulting in the 10th overall seed.
But it’s the Iron Heads who have easily been the biggest surprise in the first two days at Maridoe. After defeating No. 4 seed Smash GC in the quarter-finals, they crafted another upset against the Crushers.
Danny Lee’s 2-up win in singles over Crushers captain Bryson DeChambeau, a Dallas-area hero and reigning US Open champion playing in front of his hometown fans, registers as arguably the largest shock in the young history of the Team Championship.
“I felt like I took down a Goliath today,” Lee said. “It’s Bryson DeChambeau, the most popular golfer on the planet right now.”
Meanwhile, Scott Vincent beat Paul Casey 1-up while Na and Jinichiro Kozuma – the hero in Friday’s foursomes win – beat Anirban Lahiri and Charles Howell III, 3 and 1.
“I’m really proud of my boys,” Na said. “It’s a great feeling, a confidence boost the last two days going into Sunday. I’m telling my boys, anything can happen.”
The Iron Heads have never won a tournament as a team and have just one podium finish in the 35 previous LIV Golf events, none this year. Until this week, they had never won a single match at the Team Championship, much less advanced to the next round. Lee’s individual title last year in Tucson remains the only trophy won by any Iron Heads player.
But now they are one of four survivors with a chance to claim LIV Golf’s biggest team prize. Sunday’s championship round will be stroke play, with every score counting for each team’s total.
“Iron Heads are highlighting the underdog story,” Casey said. “Everybody loves an underdog story. You’ve got a lot to cheer about them. … They are a great story. I mean, in a weird way, you always kind of root for the guy that beat you. So, I’m always a Crusher, but maybe, we’ll be secretly cheering for those guys.”
The unexpected development in losing Rahm didn’t derail Legion XIII against HyFlyers GC. Reserve player John Catlin took his place in No. 1 singles and pushed Cameron Tringale to 20 holes before losing.
Meanwhile, Tyrrell Hatton beat Andy Ogletree 5 & 4 in the other singles while youngsters Caleb Surratt and Kieran Vincent handled HyFlyers Captain Phil Mickelson and Brendan Steele, 4 & 3, in another surprising outcome.
“It would have been nice to have him playing today,” Hatton said of Rahm. “He’s a pretty special player. But ultimately, we still have to go out there and give it our best, and thankfully we were able to advance to tomorrow.”
The 4Aces also had to rely on their singles players after the Stinger GC duo of Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel beat Pat Perez and Harold Varner III in foursomes. Johnson outlasted Dean Burmester and Patrick Reed beat Branden Grace in matches that each went 18 holes.
“Obviously, we’ve got a chance to redeem ourselves tomorrow,” Johnson said. “If we all four play well and we win the whole title, then yeah, you kind of forget about the rest of the year.”
SEMIFINAL RESULTS
IRON HEADS GC def. CRUSHERS GC, 3-0
Singles 1: Scott Vincent (Iron Heads) def. Paul Casey (Crushers), 1 up. With the match square with three holes left, Vincent birdied the par-5 17th for the decisive winning hole.
Singles 2: Danny Lee (Iron Heads) def. Bryson DeChambeau (Crushers), 2 up. Lee never trailed against the hometown favorite, who twice rallied from 2 down to square the match. Lee won two of the final three holes for the upset.
Foursomes: Kevin Na-Jinichiro Kozuma (Iron Heads) def. Anirban Lahiri-Charles Howell III (Crushers), 3 & 1. The Iron Heads won four holes during a five-hole stretch and responded to every Crushers threat after that.
LEGION XIII def. HYFLYERS GC, 2-1
Singles 1: Cameron Tringale (HyFlyers) def. John Catlin (Legion XIII), 20 holes. Catlin, filling in for Jon Rahm, took a late lead but Tringale won the final hole in regulation before his birdie won the last completed match of the day.
Singles 2: Tyrrell Hatton (Legion XIII) def. Andy Ogletree (HyFlyers), 5 & 4. Ogletree had the lead after six holes, but Hatton then flipped the match, winning six of the next seven holes to cruise to victory.
Foursomes: Caleb Surratt-Kieran Vincent (Legion XIII) def. Phil Mickelson-Brendan Steele (HyFlyers), 4 & 3. The young Legion XIII duo won four of the first six holes, and then reeled off three consecutive winning holes in a terrific performance.
RIPPER GC def. FIREBALLS GC, 2-1
Singles 1: Marc Leishman (Ripper) def. Eugenio Chacarra (Fireballs), 19 holes. Leishman was 2 up with five to play, then Chacarra grabbed the lead by winning three of the next four holes. Leishman squared the match after Chacarra found trouble off the tee, then won with a par on the playoff hole.
Singles 2: Lucas Herbert (Ripper) def. David Puig (Fireballs), 1 up. Herbert rallied with three consecutive winning holes down the stretch.
Foursomes: Sergio Garcia-Abraham Ancer (Fireballs) def. Cameron Smith-Matt Jones (Ripper), 3 & 1. The Fireballs played bogey-free golf to rally after an early deficit and put the match away by winning two of the final three holes.
4ACES GC def. STINGER GC, 2-1
Singles 1: Dustin Johnson (4Aces) def. Dean Burmester (Stinger), 1 up. Johnson rallied on the final nine holes with three birdies and then matched pars on the final hole to avoid a playoff.
Singles 2: Patrick Reed (4Aces) def. Branden Grace (Stinger), 1 up. Grace rallied on three different occasions, but Reed made the decisive birdie at the par-3 eighth in a match in which he never trailed.
Foursomes: Louis Oosthuizen-Charl Schwartzel (Stinger) def. Harold Varner III-Pat Perez (4Aces), 3 & 2. The South African duo won the opening hole, were 5-up through nine, and were solid the rest of the way in winning their second foursomes match this week.
