'Punch' Led by Smith Advances to LIV Golf Team Championship Semifinals

'Smash', 'Majestic', and 'Click' Join
Top 4 Teams with Bye Pass Advance to Semifinals

Cameron Smith is taking a shot on the 9th hole during the quarterfinal match of the LIV Golf Invitational Series Team Championship held on the 28th (local time) at Trump National Doral Miami in Miami, USA. / Photo by AFP Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Seohee Lee] In the final round of the LIV Golf Invitational Series, the Miami Team Championship, the lowest-ranked teams 'Click GC' (hereafter GC omitted) and 'Punch' caused an upset by defeating higher-ranked teams and advanced to the semifinals.

On the 28th (local time), in the quarterfinals held at Trump National Doral Golf Club (par 72) in Miami, USA, 'Smash', 'Majestic', 'Click', and 'Punch' each secured victories.

The four winning teams will face the top four teams, who advanced with byes, in the semifinals on the 30th.

The matches were played in a match play format, with each team fielding four players competing in two singles matches and one foursomes match. In the foursomes match, two players alternate shots to determine the score.

In the semifinals on the 29th, the first-ranked '4 Aces' chose to face 'Click'. The second-ranked 'Crusher' drew attention by selecting the fourth-ranked 'Stinger' instead of a lower-ranked team. The third-ranked 'Fireball' will face 'Punch', and the fifth-ranked 'Smash' will compete against 'Majestic'. The semifinals will follow the same format as the quarterfinals, consisting of two singles matches and one foursomes match.

'Smash' narrowly defeats lowest-ranked 'Niblick'

'Smash' (5th place), expected to easily defeat the lowest-ranked 'Niblick' (12th place), was almost eliminated after captain Brooks Koepka lost 4&3 to Harold Varner III in a singles match.

However, Peter Uihlein secured a decisive 5&3 victory over James Piot, and in the foursomes match, Jason Kokrak and Chase Koepka defeated the duo of Turk Pettit and Hudson Swafford 2&1, leading to a final score of 2-1 and advancing to the semifinals.

'Majestic' achieves a commanding win by choosing 'Ironhead'

'Majestic's strategy of selecting 9th-ranked 'Ironhead', two ranks higher than 11th-ranked 'Punch', paid off.

'Majestic' showed overwhelming performance with Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood winning their singles matches 4&2 against Kevin Na and 4&3 against Kim Si-hwan, respectively. In the foursomes match, Henrik Stenson and Sam Horsfield also defeated Sadom Kaewkanjana and Pachar Kongwatmai 4&2, securing a 3-0 clean sweep.

10th-ranked 'Click' causes upset by defeating 7th-ranked 'Talk'

In the match between 'Talk' (7th) and 'Click' (10th), the lower-ranked team caused an upset by defeating the higher-ranked team.

In the singles matches, Talk's Joaquin Niemann defeated Click's Shergo Al Kurdi 5&3, but Jediah Morgan lost to Rory Canter by one hole, leveling the score at 1-1.

However, in the foursomes match, Talk's Scott Vincent and Adrian Otaegui lost by two holes to Graham McDowell and Richard Bland, resulting in the lower-ranked team pulling off the upset.

'Punch' led by Cameron Smith also advances to semifinals

The 8th-ranked 'Highflyer', which effectively had no right to choose opponents, was stopped by 'Punch' (11th), led by Cameron Smith.

Smith narrowly defeated Highflyer captain Phil Mickelson by one hole. The two players exchanged wins on two holes each and remained all square until the 17th hole. However, Mickelson made a bogey on the final hole (par 4), while Smith secured par, resulting in Smith's victory.

Also in singles, Highflyer's Matthew Wolff lost 4&2 to Mark Leishman. Although Highflyer won the foursomes match 3&2 with Bernd Wiesberger and Cameron Tringale against Max Jones and Wade Ormsby, they were ultimately eliminated with a final score of 2-1.