HyFlyers, Cleeks pull off upsets to reach LIV Golf Team Championship semi-finals

MIAMI: HyFlyers GC and Cleeks GC pulled off the upsets as lower-seeded teams during Friday’s quarterfinal matches of the LIV Golf Team Championship in Miami and will face the top two seeds in Saturday’s semi-finals at Trump National Doral.

HyFlyers’ captain, Phil Mickelson, lost his high-profile singles match to Smash GC captain, Brooks Koepka, six and four, in a battle of LIV Golf’s most decorated major winners.

But teammate Cameron Tringale beat Jason Kokrak in the other singles match, while the duo of Brendan Steele and James Piot beat Chase Koepka and Matthew Wolff in foursomes to give the ninth-seeded HyFlyers a 2-1 victory.

Mickelson said: “So excited about these guys. So proud of what they did, the way they played. It’s inspiring. Look forward to the opportunity these guys gave me.”

Cleeks GC captain, Martin Kaymer, lost to Ripper GC captain, Cameron Smith, after a late rally to send his match to an extra hole. But Richard Bland beat Marc Leishman in the other singles, while Graeme McDowell and Bernd Wiesberger claimed a thrilling match against Matt Jones and Jediah Morgan in foursomes that went three extra holes. McDowell rolled in the winning birdie putt from 20 feet to give the 10th-seeded Cleeks a 2-1 victory.

It was the second consecutive year the Cleeks have pulled off an upset at Doral. Last year as the 10th seed, they beat seventh-seeded Torque. With a podium finish in Jeddah last week and now a quarterfinal win on Friday, the Cleeks will have plenty of momentum entering Saturday.

McDowell said: “We’re a little bit dangerous looking going into tomorrow. We’ve kind of shifted into the next gear. We’ll try to stay in that gear.”

Fifth-seeded Stinger GC won all three of its matches against Iron Heads