STEELE TAKES ONE-SHOT LEAD; TORQUE LEADS TEAM RACE; HOMETOWN RIPPERS LOOM

ADELAIDE, South Australia – Phil Mickelson and his HyFlyers GC have yet to celebrate either a team or individual victory in LIV Golf. Now they’re one round away from a potential sweep of the two trophies up for grabs at LIV Golf Adelaide.

HyFlyer Brendan Steele shot an 8-under 64 in Saturday’s second round at The Grange Golf Club to finish the day 14 under, meaning a one-shot lead over Iron Heads GC’s Danny Lee on the individual leaderboard. Meanwhile the HyFlyers are tied for second place in the team competition, just one shot behind Torque GC.

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“We're definitely aware of it,” Steele said of the HyFlyers’ lack of trophy celebrations. “We know everything that's going on. We've talked about it. We were talking about it flying over here. Phil was like, this is the time, guys. This is our trip.”

But to complete the victory push, Steele will have to hold off a crowded individual leaderboard that has 14 players within five shots of the lead, including the season-long individual leader (Joaquin Niemann), the most recent individual winner (Dean Burmester) and the hometown favorite (Cameron Smith).

Steele was brilliant on Saturday, notching nine birdies and recording his best-ever LIV Golf round relative to par. It may take a similar round on Sunday to win his first event of any kind in seven years.

“It's going to be tough because there's a lot of birdies out there, obviously,” Steele said. “It's kind of a race to 20-under par I think at this point.”

To win the team title on a Sunday in which all four scores count, the HyFlyers will have to overcome a battle-tested Torque team that won four times last season and has yet to finish outside the top five in the first five tournaments this season.

On Saturday, Torque received three 5-under 67s from captain Niemann, Mito Pereira and Sebastián Muñoz, meaning Ortiz’s 68 that left him in solo third on the individual leaderboard didn’t count.

Meanwhile, there’s the looming presence of the local favorites, the all-Australian Ripper GC led by Smith. The captain is tied for fifth at 11 under after a 7-under 65 on Saturday, and teammate Matt Jones is tied for ninth at 10 under, after shooting 68. 

A year ago in Adelaide, the Rippers were a non-factor on the team leaderboard, but now they could set off a wild celebration in South Australia with a victory of any kind.

Smith, a three-time LIV Golf winner, said a team victory on Sunday could be even more satisfying than individual success.

“I think so,” he said. “I think this is a week we've spoke about literally the last year, and for it to all happen so quickly it seems like, and then for us to be in the position that we're in after Saturday is a pretty cool spot.”

With tight leaderboards in both the individual and team stakes, the final round at The Grange promises to be an epic shootout. The X factor could be the support the Rippers have received this week.

“They've been unbelievable,” Jones said of the Adelaide fans. “The amount of times people just yell out your name going down every hole, it's unbelievable, and it's fantastic to satisfy. They've showed up to support the team this week, and hopefully tomorrow can be a really good day for us.”

Said Smith: “I think not only us but probably every other Australian wants us to do well and wants us to win tomorrow. That's a lot of weight on the shoulders as it is, but we're ready for tomorrow.”

TEAM COUNTING SCORES

Standings and counting scores for Saturday’s second round of the team competition at LIV Golf Adelaide. The three best scores from each team count in the first two rounds while all four scores count in the final round. The team with the lowest cumulative score after three rounds wins the team title.

1. TORQUE GC -35 (Pereira 67, Niemann 67, Muñoz 67; Rd. 2 score -15)

T2. HYFLYERS GC -34 (Steele 64, Tringale 65, Ogletree 70; Rd. 2 score -17)

T2. IRON HEADS GC -34 (Na 65, Lee 67, Vincent 69; Rd. 2 score -15)

4. RIPPER GC -33 (Herbert 65, Smith 65, Jones 68; Rd. 2 score -18)

5. STINGER GC -29 (Burmester 66, Oosthuizen 66, Schwartzel 67; Rd. 2 score -17)

T6. RANGEGOATS GC -28 (Wolff 66, Pieters 67, Watson 67; Rd. 2 score -16)

T6. CRUSHERS GC -28 (Howell III 65, DeChambeau 68, Lahiri 71; Rd. 2 score -12)

T8. 4ACES GC -23 (Johnson 66, Reed 66, Varner III 69; Rd. 2 score -15)

T8. LEGION XIII -11 (Hatton 66, Rahm 69, Surratt 69; Rd. 2 score -12)

10. CLEEKS GC -20 (Bland 68, Kaymer 68, Meronk 68; Rd. 2 score -12)

11. SMASH GC -19 (Koepka 66, McDowell 66, Gooch 68; Rd. 2 score -16)

12. FIREBALLS GC -13 (Ancer 69, Chacarra 69, Puig 69; Rd. 2 score -9)

13. MAJESTICKS GC -8 (Horsfield 68, Westwood 69, Poulter 74; Rd. 2 score -5)