Team Championship Quarterfinals set: DJ vs. Koepka among the key matches

PLYMOUTH, Mich. – Two-time LIV Golf Individual Champion Jon Rahm will make his Team Championship debut, while two of the league’s highest-profile players, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka, will square off in singles during Friday’s Quarterfinals at The Cardinal at Saint John’s.

Matchups were revealed Thursday for the six head-to-head showdowns between teams, with lineups also announced for the two singles and one foursomes (alternate shot) matches.

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Teams that win at least two matches keep their title hopes alive for another round of match-play competition in Saturday’s Semifinals, while the losing teams are eliminated from title consideration and must compete in the bottom half of the bracket.

The highest-seeded teams were able to select their opponents and match their lineups to the lower-seeded teams. The six matchups are:

• Legion XIII (No. 1 seed) vs. Cleeks Golf Club (11th)
• Crushers GC (2) vs. Majesticks GC (12th)
• Fireballs GC (3) vs. HyFlyers GC (10th)
• Torque GC (4) vs. RangeGoats GC (9th)
• 4Aces GC (5) vs. Smash GC (6th)
• Ripper GC (6th) vs. Stinger GC (7th)

Rahm, the captain of Legion XIII, was not able to participate in last year’s Team Championship in Dallas due to illness. He comes off a 11-under 60 on Sunday at LIV Golf Indianapolis on the final day of the regular season that allowed him to overtake Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann in the points standings and win the Individual Championship for the second consecutive year.

“Last year was hard … Not being able to play was rough. But they did incredible without me, really good players,” said Rahm, whose Legion XIII team finished fourth. “This year, I’m just really happy to be a part of it.”

Rahm had his choice of selecting any of the 11 other teams, including the 12th-seed Majesticks GC, who beat No. 13 Irons Heads GC in Wednesday’s play-in match. Instead of opting for the Majesticks, he picked the 11th-seeded Cleeks, with Rahm selecting to play LIV Golf Riyadh winner Adrian Meronk in Singles.

Rahm cited the Majesticks’ heavy match-play experience with veteran tri-captains Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Henrik Stenson as a reason to avoid them. He also said the Majesticks’ early look at the course in competitive conditions was also a factor.

“With an extra day of practice on the golf course and competition, they could be a very dangerous, dangerous team,” Rahm said.

Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau then selected the Majesticks; he’ll face Westwood in singles. Teammate Anirban Lahiri will make his Singles debut in the other match against Sam Horsfield after playing in foursomes the previous three years.

“Respect for Jon for not picking us,” Poulter said. “That would have been a difficult matchup. I'm not saying the Crushers are going to be an easier matchup, but we've got two slightly elder teams, us obviously the wily old foxes against a couple of veterans on the Crushers team.”

By picking the HyFlyers, Fireballs GC Captain Sergio Garcia could have lined up against Phil Mickelson in singles. Instead, Garcia will partner with Spanish protégé Josele Ballester in foursomes, with David Puig going up against Mickelson in an all-Arizona State match.

“I thought it would have been fun to have a bit of a rematch of the 2016 Ryder Cup where Sergio and I went head-to-head,” Mickelson said. “I thought that would’ve been fun, but I understand why he wanted to play with Josele after having him just come to the league recently.”

Niemann then selected RangeGoats GC and will play captain Bubba Watson in singles. Meanwhile, Niemann has Indianapolis winner Sebastian Munoz, who finished fourth in the individual standings, partnering with Carlos Ortiz, who finished eighth in points. It’s the only partnership involving top-10 players, and they’ll take on Matthew Wolff and Peter Uihlein, who finished 38th and 42nd, respectively.

“They wanted the challenge,” Watson said of his foursomes pairing. “I said, well, have fun with that match.”

Johnson was left with the opportunity to choose either Ripper GC, Stinger GC or Smash GC. He selected eighth-seeded Smash. Johnson then could have opted to play his former 4Aces teammate Talor Gooch but instead selected Koepka, who has five LIV Golf career victories, second-most to Niemann’s seven.

Asked if he thought about taking on Gooch, who won earlier this year in Andalucia, Johnson replied: “Maybe for a second, but I don’t know. It just didn’t make any sense. … Why wouldn’t I play against Brooks?”

Based on form, the matchup heavily favors Johnson, who comes off his first podium of the season, a third place in Indianapolis. Koepka finished 50th last week, his worst result of the season, and he did not produce a top-24 points finish in his last six LIV Golf starts.

Even so, “I think it will be a good matchup,” Koepka said.

That left the all-Australian Ripper taking on the all-South African Stinger in arguably LIV Golf’s most natural team rivalry between two sporting countries. Last year in Adelaide, Ripper beat Stinger in the first-ever LIV Golf team playoff.

“I’m sure these boys want to get one back on us, so we’re going to have to play pretty well tomorrow,” said Ripper Captain Cameron Smith.

The Rippers are the defending LIV Golf Team Champions, having won in Dallas last year, but they come off a last-place finish in Indianapolis. Meanwhile, the Stingers are in better form, having won two weeks ago in Chicago, with Dean Burmester claiming the individual title.

Burmester and Branden Grace, who has three top-5 finishes in his last four starts, will play singles, while Stinger Captain Louis Oosthuizen will continue his long-time partnership with Charl Schwartzel.

“Me and Charl are very comfortable playing from under the trees at the moment,” joked Oosthuizen, “so we won’t be yelling at each other.”