Team matchups, specific matches set for Friday’s quarterfinals at Dallas Championship
CARROLLTON, Texas – Opponents have been selected, lineups have been revealed, and the stage is now set for Friday’s quarterfinals at the LIV Golf Dallas Team Championship, with five team vs. team matchups scheduled for Maridoe Golf Club.
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The matchups were announced Thursday, with the higher-seeded teams picking their opponents. Each matchup will consist of two singles and one foursomes match. The 15 quarterfinals matches begin with a shotgun start Friday at 11:15 a.m. CDT.
Matchups and specific matches include:
4. Smash GC vs. 13. Iron Heads GC. Singles: Brooks Koepka (captain) vs. Kevin Na (captain); Talor Gooch vs. Danny Lee. Foursomes: Jason Kokrak/Graeme McDowell vs. Jinichiro Kozuma/Scott Vincent.
5. Torque GC vs. 12. HyFlyers GC. Singles: Joaquin Niemann (captain) vs. Andy Ogletree; Sebastián Muñoz vs. Cameron Tringale. Foursomes: Mito Pereira/Carlos Ortiz vs. Phil Mickelson (captain)/Brendan Steele.
6. Fireballs GC vs. 11. Majesticks GC. Singles: Eugenio Chacarra vs. Henrik Stenson (co-captain); David Puig vs. Ian Poulter (co-captain). Foursomes: Sergio Garcia (captain)/Abraham Ancer vs. Lee Westwood (co-captain)/Sam Horsfield
7. Stinger GC vs. 8. Cleeks GC. Singles: Branden Grace vs. Adrian Meronk; Dean Burmester vs. Kalle Samooja. Foursomes: Louis Oosthuizen (captain)/Charl Schwartzel vs. Martin Kaymer (captain)/Richard Bland
9. RangeGoats GC vs. 10. 4Aces GC. Singles: Peter Uihlein vs. Dustin Johnson (captain); Thomas Pieters vs. Patrick Reed. Foursomes: Bubba Watson (captain)/Matthew Wolff vs. Harold Varner III/Pat Perez
For the first time, captains are no longer required to play each other, and several teams took advantage of the format change. In fact, five captains – Garcia (Fireballs), Oosthuizen (Stinger), Kaymer (Cleeks), Watson (RangeGoats) and Mickelson (HyFlyers) – will partner one of their teammates in foursomes.
As for the opponents’ selection, Smash’s Koepka has the first pick and selected the lowest-ranked team, Iron Heads. Torque’s Niemann selected the next-lowest team, HyFlyers. Fireballs’ Garcia followed by taking the next-lowest team, Majesticks. But then the Stingers’ Oosthuizen opted to select the No. 8 Cleeks instead of the No. 9 RangeGoats. That left the RangeGoats and 4Aces, the 2022 Team Champions, as the last remaining teams.
Teams must win at least two of their three matches to advance to Saturday’s semifinals. Those five winning teams will join the three teams with first-round byes – No. 1 seed Crushers GC, No. 2 Legion XIII and No. 3 Ripper GC – in another round of match-play competition. The top-seeded teams will again get to select their opponents.
The four winning teams on Saturday will play for the Team Championship in Sunday’s final round, while the four losing teams will play for places 5-8. The other five teams will play for places 9-13. Sunday’s final round will be stroke play competition, with all scores counting for their respective teams.
The Crushers, captained by Dallas-area resident Bryson DeChambeau, are the defending Team Champions.