The second round of LIV Golf season finale the Team Championship produced an almighty shock when the bottom seed, Kevin Na’s Iron Heads GC, knocked out Bryson DeChambeau's defending champions Crushers GC.
Before the tournament at Maridoe Golf Club in Dallas, Na’s team had endured a difficult season with sixth at LIV Golf Adelaide the best it had to show for its 13 events.
However, with just one day of action to come in the season, Na’s team, which also includes Danny Lee, Jinichiro Kozuma and the relegated Scott Vincent, is one of four with a chance of lifting the trophy and claiming the top prize of $14m.
Iron Heads GC made Saturday’s semi-finals after producing its first shock, when it beat Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC, which was seeded fifth. However, there were few expectations that the team would overcome the challenge of knocking out DeChambeau’s outfit, which also has Anirban Lahiri, Paul Casey and Charles Howell III.
In the end, Na’s team didn’t just win, it did so in style with a clean sweep. The captain partnered Kozuma in the foursomes match against Lahiri and Howell III, winning 3&1, while Vincent took on Casey in one of the two singles matches, where he finished 1-up. Arguably the biggest shock came when Lee took on DeChambeau, and he finished 2-up against the US Open champion to complete a 3-0 whitewash in DeChambeau's home city.
Elsewhere, Legion XIII was dealt a blow at the start of the day when captain Jon Rahm withdrew from the Team Championship with ‘severe flu symptoms’ and was replaced by John Catlin.
However, the team, which also features Tyrrell Hatton, Caleb Surratt and Kieran Vincent, did its leader proud with a 2-0 win over Phil Mickelson’s Hy Flyers GC, with the most eye-catching result being Hatton’s 5&4 singles win over Andy Ogletree.
Cameron Smith’s Ripper GC is also still in with a chance of finishing first after a 2-1 win against Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC, while Dustin Johnson’s 4 Aces GC is the remaining team in contention for the top prize after victory against Louis Oosthuizen’s Stinger GC.
The final round features a format where all 52 players from the 13 teams compete in a shotgun start with one round of strokeplay. All four individual scores from each team member counts towards the team score.
However, only the four teams who progressed from Saturday’s semi-finals remain in with a chance of winning the Team Championship, with the four defeated teams competing for positions five to eight and the five beaten quarter-finalists set to decide positions nine to 13.
