Miami – Golfing Agency

4 Aces team win inaugural LIV Golf team title in Miami

detlef32 — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 11:19:02 +0000

Dustin Johnson’s 4 Aces quartet claimed victory as this year’s inaugural LIV Golf series concluded with a season-ending team event in Miami.

Twelve teams competed for a $50m (£45.2m) pot, with the winners getting $16m (£13.8m) to share equally between them.

Four teams made it through to the final day on Sunday when the 4 Aces finished on seven under and won by one shot.

Patrick Reed, Talor Gooch and Pat Perez were the other members of the team.

Two-time major winner Johnson had already won the inaugural individual LIV Golf championship, receiving $18m (£16.2m) of prize money, going into the season finale.

The American clinched victory for his side with a short putt on the last hole as Team Punch, whose captain is Australia’s Cameron Smith, finished runners-up on six under.

The Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf series, which has offered a $25m purse at its previous tournaments, has caused deep division in the sport.

There are currently no world ranking points on offer for those that have chosen to join the series and LIV golfers have been banned from the PGA Tour.

Rumours around the event were that LIV is targeting four of the world’s top 15 golfers for the 2023 season.

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2022 LIV Golf in Miami leaderboard, scores: Dustin Johnson’s 4 Aces GC wins inaugural team championship

detlef32 — Sun, 30 Oct 2022 23:07:06 +0000

The first LIV Golf season wrapped Sunday at Trump National Doral with the 4 Aces GC claiming the 2022 LIV Golf Team Championship crown. Led by captain Dustin Johnson, the all-American squad of Talor Gooch, Patrick Reed and Pat Perez successfully fended off Cameron Smith’s Punch GC, translating a memorable regular season into an even more lucrative year.

After narrowly getting by Cleeks GC in the semifinals match-play portion of the team championship, the top team from the regular season was able to utilize a well-balanced approach to reach a cumulative score of 7 under. This total was enough to skirt past Punch GC by a single stroke and both the Crushers GC and Stinger GC with margin.

Despite the team championship turning into a two-team race, there were still plenty of pivotal moments unfolding late in the day. The marquee pairing of Johnson and Smith delivered theatrics as the Champion Golfer of the Year signed for the round of the day with a 7-under 65, and Johnson turned on the after burners by delivering down the stretch to come in with a 2-under 70.

While the two headmen for their respective squads were the final pair on the golf course, the battle between the two teams ultimately came down to their teammates. Smith’s teammates Matt Jones, Marc Leishman and Wade Ormsby collectively shot over par, while Johnson’s were more than able to hold their own.

Perez was their biggest question mark coming into the week but contributed in an impressive fashion for the 4 Aces with a 2-under 70 after a poor regular season.

“I get a lot of grief, people saying I never show up, so I did today,” said Perez, whose best individual finish was a T15 at LIV Boston. “So, everybody can shut up.”

Gooch added a 1-under 71 while Reed carded a 2-under 70 to give the 4 Aces four under-par rounds. Reed’s final stroke proved to hold the most importance as the former Masters champion connected from roughly 10 feet for birdie on his final hole to break the deadlock between the top two teams. A par from Johnson on the 18th hole then secured the team title for the 4 Aces.

With its victory at the 2022 LIV Golf Team Championship, the 4 Aces won a total of five times in its first season together. Raising the trophy at each event held in the United States, the checks will continue to roll in as their effort at Trump National Doral came with a $16 million payday ($4 million per player).

All members of the 4 Aces will be eating good, but especially Johnson as his on-course earnings adds up to roughly $35 million for the season. Finishing the year as the top individual and leading his team to the ultimate prize, the two-time major champion was the clear star of LIV Golf in 2022.

“It has been amazing,” said Johnson. “Obviously, the fans are what makes it. This week has been incredible. The whole season has just gotten better and better and then obviously this finale has been unbelievable. … Coming down the stretch here, you couldn’t draw it up any better with me and Cam [Smith] battling it out to win the team championship.”

The other teams won’t be left scraping their plates as Punch GC earned $8 million for finishing runner up with Smash GC collecting $6 million and Stinger GC taking home $4 million.

Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC were in the mix early and tied for the lead halfway through the round until collective disaster struck for the LIV Golf Jeddah winners. Koepka carded four bogeys over a six-hole stretch while his brother Chase Koepka signed for a pair of double bogeys and sent their name down the leaderboard.

Stinger GC was never in the fight as LIV Golf Portland winner Branden Grace signed for a quadruple-bogey seven in his third hole of the day and sealed the fate for the South African squad with an 8-over 80.

Here are all the scores from the final day of the 2022 LIV Golf Team Championship

1. 4 Aces GC (-7)

Dustin Johnson	70 (-2)
Patrick Reed	70 (-2)
Talor Gooch	71 (-1)
Pat Perez	70 (-2)

2. Punch GC (-6)

Cameron Smith	65 (-7)
Marc Leishman	74 (+2)
Matt Jones	70 (-2)
Wade Ormsby	73 (+1)

3. Smash GC (+4)

Brooks Koepka	74 (+2)
Jason Kokrak	68 (-4)
Peter Uihlein	75 (+3)
Chase Koepka	75 (+3)

4. Stinger GC (+10)

Player	Score
Louis Oosthuizen	71 (-1)
Charl Schwartzel	71 (-1)
Branden Grace	80 (+8)
Hennie Du Plessis	76 (+4)

We’ve got reaction and analysis to the Bermuda Butterfield Championship and LIV Miami. Follow and listen to The First Cut podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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2022 LIV Golf in Miami leaderboard, scores: Louis Oosthuizen sends Stinger GC to finals over Bryson DeChambeau

detlef32 — Sat, 29 Oct 2022 22:56:10 +0000

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The match play portion of LIV Golf’s season-ending championship is complete. The top four teams over the first two days at Trump National Doral have moved on to championship Sunday, where teams will play stroke play for $34 million worth of prize money.

The match of the day on Saturday determined the last team in the championship. Bryson DeChambeau and Louis Oosthuizen went 23 holes before Oosthuizen beat DeChambeau 1 up. That sent the Stinger GC onto Sunday, joining the 4 Aces, Punch GC and Smash GC in the finale.

The 4 Aces — which had dominated the season –narrowly escaped on Saturday in the semifinals. Dustin Johnson destroyed Shergo Al Kurdi 5 and 3, but Patrick Reed lost to Laurie Canter. Pat Perez and Talor Gooch had to squeak out a 1-up win over Graeme McDowell and Richard Bland in the foursomes match for the Aces to have a chance to cap their terrific season with a $16 million first prize on Sunday.

One of the other featured matches of the day saw Sergio Garcia defeat Cameron Smith 2 and 1. Despite the individual win, the Fireballs couldn’t pull out the team victory. Marc Leishman of Punch GC beat Carlos Ortiz 1 up and Matt Jones and Wade Ormsby defeated the team of Eugenio Chacarra and Abraham Ancer by the same margin to down Garcia’s squad.

In the final match, Smash GC beat the Majesticks in all three matches. Brooks Koepka downed Ian Poulter, Peter Uihlein bested Lee Westwood, and Chase Koepka and Jason Kokrak narrowly got past Henrik Stenson and Sam Horsfield.

Punch is the outlier in the finals. All three of the other teams came into the finals ranked in the top five on the year, but Punch came in having finished 11th in the regular season. However, they did make the biggest move down the stretch by adding Open champion Smith, and that could pay off (literally) for them in a big way on Sunday in Miami.

Individual stroke play is the game on the final day, and all four scores count. The lowest aggregate team score will take home $16 million ($4 million per player). The other three finishing spots aren’t bad, either.

1st: $16 million
2nd: $8 million
3rd: $6 million
4th: $4 million

Here are the scores from each of the semifinal matches in the 2022 LIV Golf Team Championship.

4 Aces (1): 2 | Cleeks GC (10): 1

4 Aces	Dustin Johnson over Shergo Al Kurdi	5 and 3
Cleeks GC	Laurie Canter over Patrick Reed	2 and 1
4 Aces	Pat Perez/Talor Gooch over Graeme McDowell/Richard Bland	1 UP

Stinger GC (4): 2 | Crushers (2): 1

Stinger	Louis Oosthuizen over Bryson DeChambeau	1 UP (23 holes)
Crushers	Paul Casey over Branden Grace	1 UP (20 holes)
Stinger	Charl Schwartzel/Hennie du Plessis over Charles Howell III/Anirban Lahiri	2 UP

Punch GC (11): 2 | Fireballs (3): 1

Fireballs	Sergio Garcia over Cam Smith	2 and 1
Punch GC	Marc Leishman over Carlos Ortiz	1 UP
Punch GC	Matt Jones/Wade Ormsby over Eugenio Chacarra/Abraham Ancer	1 UP

Smash GC (5): 3 | Majesticks (6): 0

Smash GC	Brooks Koepka over Ian Poulter	3 and 1
Smash GC	Peter Uihlein over Lee Westwood	4 and 2
Smash GC	Chase Koepka/Jason Kokrak over Henrik Stenson/Sam Horsfield	1 UP

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2022 LIV Golf in Miami leaderboard, scores: Phil Mickelson, Cameron Smith highlight Day 1 of Team Championship

detlef32 — Fri, 28 Oct 2022 23:18:25 +0000

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The 2022 LIV Golf Team Championship in Miami got underway on Friday at Trump National Doral. Featuring singles and foursomes matches, the bottom eight teams from the regular-season standings were pitted against each other in a new format during what is the last of LIV Golf’s eight events of its inaugural season.

With the top four teams looking on and enjoying byes into the semifinals, Friday’s quarterfinals were headlined by the singles match between the Hy Flyers’ Phil Mickelson and Punch GC’s Cameron Smith. The two major champions battled back and forth for most of the afternoon as Mickelson employed a bit of gamesmanship, slow playing the notoriously quick Smith around Trump National Doral.

While Mickelson and Smith’s bout went the distance, with the Australian proving victorious and securing an upset victory over the higher seeded Hy Flyers, the duel between Harold Varner III and Brooks Koepka was over in a blink of an eye. Despite winning at LIV Golf Jeddah, the four-time major champion was no match for Varner as the East Carolina product carded seven birdies and claimed a commanding 4 and 3 victory. Unfortunately for Varner, his teammates were of little assistance. Peter Uihlein knocked off James Piot 5 and 3, and the foursomes match fell the way of Koepka’s Smash GC, ultimately sending them to the semifinals.

Ian Poulter’s Majesticks and the Martin Kaymer-less Cleeks GC will also be making their way to tomorrow’s competition. The Majesticks laid it on the Iron Heads early and often as none of their three matches reached the 17th hole. It was a a much more stressful story for the Cleeks as late heroics from Laurie Canter were needed to skirt past Joaquin Niemann’s Torque GC.

The competition now ramps up in the semifinals as the 4 Aces, Crushers, Fireballs and Stinger GC will be making their LIV Golf Team Championship debuts. With only one more day of match play, teams will need to continue to gel together before Sunday’s stroke play portion of the event.

Here are the scores from each of the quarterfinal matches in the 2022 LIV Golf Team Championship.

Smash GC (5): 2 | Niblicks (12): 1

Niblicks	Harold Varner III over Brooks Koepka	4 and 3
Smash	Peter Uihlein over James Piot	5 and 3
Smash	Jason Kokrak/Chase Koepka over Hudson Swafford/Turk Petit	2 and 1

Majesticks (6): 3 | Irons Heads (9): 0

Majesticks	Ian Poulter over Kevin Na	4 and 2
Majesticks	Lee Westwood over Sihwan Kim	4 and 3
Majesticks	Sam Horsfield/Henrik Stenson over Sadom Kaewkanjana/Phacara Khongwatmai	4 and 2

Cleeks (10): 2 | Torque (7): 1

Torque	Joaquin Niemann over Shergo Al Kurdi	5 and 3
Cleeks	Laurie Canter over Jediah Morgan	1 UP
Cleeks	Graeme McDowell/Richard Bland over Adrian Otaegui/Scott Vincent	2 UP

Punch (11): 2 | Hy Flyers (8): 1

Punch	Cameron Smith over Phil Mickelson	1 UP
Punch	Marc Leishman over Matthew Wolff	4 and 2
Hy Flyers	Bernd Wiesberger/Cameron Tringale over Matt Jones/Wade Ormsby	3 and 2

Semifinal matchups

4 Aces (1) vs Cleeks (10)	Dustin Johnson vs Shergo Al Kurdi	Patrick Reed vs Laurie Canter	Pat Perez/Talor Gooch vs Graeme McDowell/Richard Bland
Crushers (2) vs Stinger (4)	Bryson DeChambeau vs Louis Oosthuizen	Paul Casey vs Branden Grace	Charles Howell III/Anirban Lahiri vs Charl Schwartzel/Hennie Du Plessis
Fireballs (3) vs Punch (11)	Sergio Garcia vs Cameron Smith	Carlos Ortiz vs Marc Leishman	Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra/Abraham Ancer vs Matt Jones/Wade Ormsby
Smash (5) vs Majesticks (6)	Brooks Koepka vs Ian Poulter	Peter Uihlein vs Lee Westwood	Jason Kokrak/Chase Koepka vs Henrik Stenson/Sam Horsfield

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2022 LIV Golf in Miami: Team Championship schedule, field of players, prize money, purse, live stream online

detlef32 — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 18:28:46 +0000

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In the blink of an eye, the very first LIV Golf season is on the cusp of its conclusion. Finishing its inaugural campaign at Trump National Doral in Florida, this week’s 2022 LIV Golf Team Championship in Miami will take on a different shape than prior LIV Golf events. With individual titles wrapped up as Dustin Johnson finished atop the regular-season standings, the focus now shifts to the teams.

The LIV Golf Team Championship in Miami will take place over three days and feature everything from byes, singles matches, foursomes and stroke play as teams compete for the $50 million purse.

Johnson’s 4 Aces GC commands the No. 1 overall seed and has earned a bye in Friday’s quarterfinals. Teams seeded Nos. 2-4 — Crushers GC, Fireballs GC and Stinger GC — will also have the day off while those squads ranked Nos. 5-12 vie for a spot in Saturday’s semifinals.

Four-time major champion Brooks Koepka will lead his fifth-ranked Smash GC into the Team Championship following its victory at LIV Golf Jeddah. Koepka had his pick of the litter as the higher seeds chose the teams with whom they wish to match up against in the quarterfinals, and the same is true for the semifinals.

Captains from each team will match up against each other in a singles match. The remaining three members from each team will be split up between another singles match and a foursomes match. Whichever team earns two points will advance to the next day.

There is some strategy to this as Majesticks GC, in particular, has already renamed its captain. Typically reserved for Lee Westwood, it is instead European Ryder Cup stalwart Ian Poulter who will lead the Majesticks in the Team Championship and will be featured in a singles match. Other changes to teams include recent DP World Tour winner Adrian Otaegui joining Joaquin Niemann’s Torque GC and Hennie du Plessis rejoining the South African squad Stinger GC.

The last day of competition will return to standard stroke play between the final four teams. Each player’s score will count for their team with the lowest cumulative squad being crowned the first LIV Golf team champion.

How to watch LIV Golf Team Championship in Miami

Event: LIV Golf Team Championship in Miami | Oct. 28-30
Start time: 12 p.m. ET
Location: Trump National Doral — Doral, Florida
Live stream: LIVGolf.com, Facebook, YouTube

Quarterfinal matchups

Smash (5) vs Niblicks (12)	Brooks Koepka vs Harold Varner III	Peter Uihlein vs James Piot	Jason Kokrak/Chase Koepka vs Turk Petit/Hudson Swafford
Majesticks (6) vs Iron Heads (9)	Ian Poulter vs Kevin Na	Lee Westwood vs Sihwan Kim	Sam Horsfield/Henrik Stenson vs Phacara Khongwatmai/Sadom Kaewkanjana
Torque (7) vs Cleeks (10)	Joaquin Niemann vs Martin Kaymer	Jediah Morgan vs Laurie Canter	Adrian Otaegui/Scott VIncent vs Graeme McDowell/Richard Bland
Hy Flyers (8) vs Punch (11)	Phil Mickelson vs Cameron Smith	Matthew Wolff vs Marc Leishman	Bernd Wiesberger/Cameron Tringale vs Matt Jones/Wade Ormsby

Teams for LIV Golf Team Championship

1	4 Aces	Dustin Johnson	Patrick Reed, Talor Gooch, Pat Perez
2	Crushers	Bryson DeChambeau	Paul Casey, Charles Howell III, Anirban Lahiri
3	Fireballs	Sergio Garcia	Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz, Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra
4	Stinger	Louis Oosthuizen	Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace, Hennie du Plessis
5	Smash	Brooks Koepka	Jason Kokrak, Peter Uihlein, Chase Koepka
6	Majesticks	Ian Poulter	Lee Westwood, Henrik Stenson, Sam Horsfield
7	Torque	Joaquin Niemann	Scott Vincent, Adrian Otaegui, Jediah Morgan
8	Hy Flyers	Phil Mickelson	Bernd Wiesberger, Matthew Wolff, Cameron Tringale
9	Iron Heads	Kevin Na	Sadom Kaewkanjana, Phacara Khongwatmai, Sihwan Kim
10	Cleeks	Martin Kaymer	Graeme McDowell, Laurie Canter, Richard Bland
11	Punch	Cameron Smith	Marc Leishman, Matt Jones, Wade Ormsby
12	Niblicks	Bubba Watson (non-playing)	Harold Varner III, Hudson Swafford, James Piot, Turk Petit

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