Tag: LIV Golf Team Championship

Brooks Koepka vs. Phil Mickelson highlights 2023 LIV Golf Team Championship quarterfinal matches at Trump Doral

Eight teams will be in action on Friday, with four teams on a bye until Saturday’s semifinals.

DORAL, Fla. — After 13 events spread from Mexico to Saudi Arabia, the final event of the 2023 LIV Golf League season is here.

What sets the LIV Golf Team Championship, held once again at Trump National Doral, apart from the other big-money, no-cut events on the upstart circuit’s schedule is its unique format. Throughout the year, teams earn points for their finishes at each regular-season event. At the $50 million finale, teams are seeded based on their points earned over the season and then compete in both stroke and match play over three days. The top four teams have a bye for the first round, which is the quarterfinals.

The captains play the captains in a singles match, leaving three players to be split between another singles match and a foursomes (alternate shot) match. No ties. The first team to two points wins and advances to Saturday. Simple enough? (You can read more about the format here).

An interesting wrinkle is that the higher-seeded teams get to pick their opponents in the quarters and semis, which sets the table for a little trash talk as seen during Tuesday’s press conference which featured the captains of teams Nos. 5-12.

Up first was Louis Oosthuizen, captain of Stinger GC, who selected Kevin Na’s Iron Heads, the team that’s been comfortably in dead last all season long. Su-Ann Heng, a member of the LIV broadcast team and moderator of the captain selections, tried to get Oosthuizen to bring the heat with his reason for picking the Iron Heads, saying, “You don’t have to be kind. You can have a little fun.”

The soft-spoken South African said he “didn’t really want to play any of the other teams” before apologizing to Na, who claimed his team had “the better southern African” in Scott Vincent. Zing! Next up, Fireballs GC captain Sergio Garcia, who picked the three-way captained Majesticks (Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood).

“I guess they just want to have a Saturday off,” quipped Stenson.

Cam Smith and Ripper GC selecting Martin Kaymer’s Cleeks GC was a rather dull exchange, leaving Brooks Koepka and Smash GC to square off against Phil Mickelson and his HyFlyers GC.

“I didn’t really get much option in this,” said Koepka to a room full of laughter. “Yeah, so we’re playing, or I’m stuck with Phil, and the rest of the guys are playing with the other guys. It will be a good matchup.”

Mickelson was complimentary of Koepka’s year as the PGA champion and a two-time winner with LIV before adding, “There’s a lot of other guys I would rather be playing against. So I’ve got my work cut out for me.”

Here are the first-round matches for Friday’s quarterfinal round.

Fireballs GC vs. Majesticks GC

  • Singles: Sergio Garcia vs. Henrik Stenson
  • Singles: Eugenio Chacarra vs. Sam Horsfield
  • Foursomes: Abraham Ancer/Carlos Ortiz vs. Ian Poulter/Lee Westwood

Smash GC vs. HyFlyers GC

  • Singles: Brooks Koepka vs. Phil Mickelson
  • Singles: Jason Kokrak vs. Cameron Tringale
  • Foursomes: Chase Koepka/Matthew Wolff vs. James Piot/Brendan Steele

Stinger GC vs. Iron Heads GC

  • Singles: Louis Oosthuizen vs. Kevin Na
  • Singles: Branden Grace vs. Scott Vincent
  • Foursomes: Dean Burmester/Charl Schwartzel vs. Sihwan Kim/Danny Lee

Ripper GC vs. Cleeks GC

  • Singles: Cam Smith vs. Martin Kaymer
  • Singles: Marc Leishman vs. Richard Bland
  • Foursomes: Matt Jones/Jediah Morgan vs. Graeme McDowell/Bernd Wiesberger

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LIV Golf makes interesting tweak to Team Championship format for finale at Trump Doral

The three days of play will feature a little stroke play, a little match play and a whole lot of money.

The format for the 2023 LIV Golf Team Championship at Trump National Doral, Oct. 20-22, will look similar to last year’s event near Miami: a little bit of match play, a little bit of stroke play with a whole lot of money on the line.

Teams have been earning points all season based on their finishes: the winning team goes home with 32 points, while Nos. 9-12 in the weekly standings leave empty-handed. After LIV’s final regular-season event in Jeddah this week, teams will be seeded based on their position in the final standings for the Team Championship.

The three-day shotgun start event in Miami features a $50 million purse as well as a mix of singles and foursomes matches in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds on Friday and Saturday, with stroke play for Sunday’s final round.

Last year, only the four teams that advanced from the semifinals competed on Sunday. This season, all 12 teams and 48 players will play, including those eliminated in Friday’s quarterfinal rounds. The decision will guarantee all players will compete twice and aims to enhance the fan experience for the final round. That said, it may be rather confusing for fans to follow.

Team Championship format

Friday, Oct. 20 – Quarterfinals

  • Teams seeded 1-4 receive a bye.
  • Teams seeded 5-12 will compete in head-to-head match-play, where the highest-ranked teams select their opponents.
  • All 32 players from those eight teams will compete simultaneously in a shotgun start, with three matches taking place: two singles matches and one foursomes (alternate-shot) match.
  • Matches will be played until a winner is determined with no ties. Each match win earns a point. The first team to win two points will advance to Saturday’s semifinal round.

Saturday, Oct. 21 – Semifinals

  • Teams seeded 1-4 will play the winning teams from Friday, where once again the highest-ranked teams will choose their opponents.
  • All 32 players from those eight teams will compete simultaneously in a shotgun start, with three matches taking place: two singles matches and one foursomes (alternate-shot) match.
  • Matches will be played until a winner is determined with no ties. Each match win earns a point. The four teams who win two points will qualify to finish in the top four after Sunday’s final round. The teams eliminated in the semifinals will finish in the Nos. 5-8 bracket after Sunday’s final round. Eliminated teams on Friday will finish in the Nos. 9-12 bracket after Sunday’s final round.

Sunday, Oct. 22 – Finals

  • All 48 players and 12 teams will compete in one round of stroke play. All four individual scores count towards the team score.
  • The four teams that won in the semifinals will compete for 1st-4th place. The four teams eliminated in the semifinals will compete for 5th-8th place. The four teams eliminated in the quarterfinals will compete for 9th-12th place.

For example, if Kevin Na’s Iron Heads lose on Friday, then get hot on Sunday and win the final day of stroke play, they’d finish in ninth place. If Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers win in the quarterfinals, lose in the semifinals and finish first on Sunday, they’ll finish in fifth place.

Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces, last year’s winner of the inaugural Team Championship, are currently in first with a 10-point lead over Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers. Torque, captained by Joaquin Niemann, leads the league with four team victories this season and are in third place.

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Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed lead LIV Golf’s list of top prize money earners in its debut regular season

Of the 68 players to tee it up, 48 players made more than $1 million, with 15 making more than $4 million.

DORAL, Fla. — With $4 million going to the winner and $120,000 going to last place at each event, players were bound to make a ridiculous amount of money in LIV Golf’s first year. And they did.

Of the 68 players to tee it up on the upstart circuit led by Greg Norman and backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, a whopping 48 players made more than $1 million, with 15 making more than $4 million, including Pat Perez, who earned $961,000 for his individual performances and $3,062,500 for team bonuses. Dustin Johnson, LIV’s inaugural regular-season champion and the captain of Perez and the 4Aces, blew away the field thanks to $10,575,267 in individual earnings for a $13,637,767 total.

This week, LIV Golf will host its team championship event at Trump National Doral in Miami, where teams will make at minimum $1 million ($250,000 per player). If a team advances to the semifinals, they’ll earn $3 million ($750,000 per player), with $4 million going to fourth place ($1 million per player), $6 million to third ($1.5 million per player), $8 million to the runner up ($2 million per player) and $16 million to the winners ($4 million per player).

Here’s how much money each player earned on the course in LIV Golf’s first regular season.

Phil Mickelson among LIV golfers reacting to Rory McIlroy’s comments on the PGA Tour, Ryder Cup ahead of finale in Miami

“It’s pretty remarkable how far LIV Golf has come in the last six, seven months.”

DORAL, Fla. — Phil Mickelson didn’t want to “detract from what’s happening this week” at LIV Golf’s Team Championship in Miami at Trump National Doral, but a recent Rory McIlroy interview with the Guardian was too juicy to avoid.

At a press conference ahead of the upstart circuit’s season finale, Mickelson was complimentary of McIlroy, who said the “us versus them” dynamic between LIV Golf and players on the PGA and DP World tours has gotten out of control.

“You know, I think a lot of Rory. I really have the utmost respect for him, and I look at what he’s done in the game and how he’s played this year and his win last week and No. 1 in the world now, and I have a ton of respect for him,” said Mickelson. “We’ll have three months off after this event to talk about things like that and so forth, but this week something is happening that I don’t want to deflect focus on, which is we’ve never had a team event like this in professional golf.”

McIlroy also took exception to Mickelson’s recent comment that LIV Golf is trending upwards and the PGA Tour is trending downwards, calling that statement “propaganda.”

“But just — maybe I shouldn’t have said stuff like that, I don’t know,” responded Mickelson, “but if I’m just looking at LIV Golf and where we are today to where we were six, seven months ago and people are saying this is dead in the water, and we’re past that, and here we are today, a force in the game that’s not going away, that has players of this caliber that are moving professional golf throughout the world and the excitement level in the countries around the world of having some of the best players in the game of golf coming to their country and competing. It’s pretty remarkable how far LIV Golf has come in the last six, seven months. I don’t think anybody can disagree with that.”

The Greg Norman-led operation receives its financial backing from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, where no expense has been spared. Building a new golf series certainly isn’t easy, and LIV has done well to attract a few of golf’s biggest names like Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith. But the problems that come with building a startup become less challenging when you’ve got hundreds of millions of dollars to throw around. According to Sports Illustrated, LIV Golf’s first-year expenditure totaled upwards of $784 million, with another $1 billion committed for next year, when the series becomes a 14-event league.

As for excitement levels across the world, so far LIV has held seven events: Four in the United States, one in England, one in Thailand and one in Saudi Arabia.

McIlroy also said he felt “betrayal” in regards to LIV players putting their Ryder Cup futures in jeopardy, noting how Graeme McDowell had a chance to captain the Europeans in 2027 and the legacies of Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood are mainly based around the biennial bash against the Americans.

“A betrayal? We can still qualify for the team as far as I’m aware. Unless we’ve been told we can’t qualify, then I’m still ready to play as much as I possibly can and try and make that team,” said Poulter. “I mean, look, my commitment to the Ryder Cup I think goes before me. I don’t think that should ever come in question. I’ve always wanted to play Ryder Cups and have played with as much passion as anyone else that I’ve ever seen play a Ryder Cup.

“You know, I don’t know where that comment really has come from, to be honest.”

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Some match play, some stroke play and a $50M purse: LIV Golf announces format for upcoming Team Championship in Miami

The Team Championship is scheduled for October 28-30.

On Tuesday, the LIV Golf Series announced the format for its upcoming Team Championship scheduled for October 28-30 at Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami, Florida.

The event will consist of both match play and stroke play and teams will play for a $50 million purse.

“This has been a transformative year for golf and we’re just getting warmed up. After only five LIV Golf events, the sport has entered a new era — one designed to be daring and different,” LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman said in a release. “The Invitational Series finale, played at the fan-favorite Blue Monster at Doral, is befitting our game-changing model that delivers an innovative, one-of-a-kind experience for players and fans. I’m looking forward to this monumental event that will harness the beloved traits of team golf and head-to-head rivalries in a historic setting.”

Teams earn a certain number of points at the end of each LIV event depending on their finishing position. The winning team goes home with 32 points, while places 9th-12th don’t earn any points. After LIV’s last regular-season event in Jeddah, standings will be set for the Team Championship.

Team Championship format

Friday, October 28 – Quarterfinals
  • Teams seeded one-four will receive a bye.
  • Teams seeded five-12 will compete in head-to-head match-play competitions.
  • Highest-ranked teams select their opponents.
  • All 32 players amongst the eight teams will compete in a shotgun start.
  • For each head-to-head team match-up, three matches will take place: two singles matches and one alternate-shot (foursomes) match.
  • Matches will be played until a winner is determined. Each match winner receives one point.
  • Teams earning two points will advance to Saturday’s semifinals.
 Saturday, October 29 – Semifinals
  • Teams seeded one-four will join the winning teams from Friday for another day of head-to-head team match play.
  • Highest-ranked teams select their opponents.
  • All 32 players amongst the eight teams will compete in a shotgun start.
  • Teams compete in the same format as Friday: two singles matches and one alternate-shot (foursomes) match, with each match winner receiving one point.
  • The four teams earning two points will advance to the Team Championship.
 Sunday, October 30 – Team Championship
  • The four winning teams will compete in a shotgun-start round of stroke play.
  • All 16 players will compete in twosomes with team captains playing together.
  • All four scores count towards the team’s score.
  • At the end of Sunday’s round, the squad with the lowest team score is the LIV Golf Invitational Series Team champion.

The Dustin Johnson-led 4 Aces GC currently leads the standings with 136 points after four straight wins.

LIV’s next event will be played in Thailand and is scheduled for October 7-9.

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