DORAL, Fla. — Who’s ready for a little match play?
The LIV Golf Team Championship is back at Trump National Doral this week, where the league’s 12 teams will contend for a $50 million purse that will see a whopping $14 million go to the winner just a week after Talor Gooch claimed the $18 million individual championship. Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC are back to defend their title – this year with Peter Uihlein instead of Gooch – and are one of four teams to earn a bye for Friday’s quarterfinal round of matches.
The format is unlike any other in golf (par for the course for LIV) and features a mix of both match and stroke play. Friday’s quarterfinal and Saturday’s semifinal matches will include three matches in each round, two singles and a foursomes (alternate shot). No ties. The first team to two points wins and advances. (You can read more about the format here).
Come Sunday, all 12 teams will compete in stroke play, where all four scores will count (in regular season events, the worst score is dropped from the team total), but only the top four teams can win the top prize. The teams to lose on Saturday will compete for places 5-8, with Friday’s losers going for places 9-12.
Here’s everything you need to know and storylines to watch for this week near Miami.
How to watch
Get that stream ready. The shotgun start begins at 1:15 p.m. ET and you can watch live from 1-6 p.m. ET only on the CW app or LIV Golf apps. LIV did well to get on TV this year across the United States, but the Friday set up will need a tweak for 2024.
Quarterfinal byes
Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC, Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC, Joaquin Niemann’s Torque GC and Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats GC have the day off (the 4Aces and RangeGoats are having a friendly match at a nearby course).
Those four captains will pick their opponents for Saturday’s semifinals following the conclusion of play on Friday.
Quarterfinal matches
There’s only one really great match in the first round with Brooks Koepka (Smash GC) vs. Phil Mickelson (HyFlyers GC). Sergio Garcia (Fireballs GC) vs. Henrik Stenson (Majesticks GC) in a former European Ryder Cup star showdown isn’t bad, and the young vs. old meeting of Abraham Ancer/Carlos Ortiz (Fireballs GC) vs. Ian Poulter/Lee Westwood (Majesticks GC) has the potential to be fun … or a blowout.
Find all the matches here.
Prize money payouts
First place gets $14 million, second gets $8 million all the way down to dead last place, which gets a cozy consolation prize of $1.25 million. But remember, team prize money goes back to the team at LIV events. In the Team Championship, the teams keep 60 percent and each player takes home 10 percent. Not too shabby for three days (at most) of work.
| Position | Payout |
| 1 | $14 million |
| 2 | $8 million |
| 3 | $6 million |
| 4 | $4 million |
| 5 | $3.25 million |
| 6 | $3 million |
| 7 | $2.75 million |
| 8 | $2.5 million |
| 9 | $2 million |
| 10 | $1.75 million |
| 11 | $1.5 million |
| 12 | $1.25 million |
How will Wolff respond?
Earlier this week Brooks Koepka called out his teammate Matthew Wolff for the second time in seven days, making for an awkward Smash GC team room. Wolff didn’t have much to say on the matter on Friday, instead focusing on his golf after a lackluster season.
This time last year the former star at Oklahoma State was one of the most sought-after players by captains looking to improve their teams. Fast forward to today and Wolff is once again contemplating his future with LIV but for polar opposite reasons. He’s contracted with LIV until 2025, but only for this year with Smash GC. Another new season could mean another new team for Wolff, but let’s see how this week plays out first.
Gamesmanship from Lefty
Cameron Smith called out Phil Mickelson for slow play and “gamesmanship” in their quarterfinal match last year, saying “He seemed to take forever today. I think we were three or four holes behind, so that was a bit painful.”
Koepka, Mickelson’s opponent this year, has been outspoken on his utter disdain for slow play – against Mickelson, nonetheless – and is more of the Roy McAvoy “grip it and rip it” type.
“I wasn’t intentionally playing slow. I know that in the 2021 PGA final round, Brooks felt the same way,” said Mickelson. “But really, all I was trying to do was get a visualization of the shot and get in kind of like my own little bubble and world. Maybe I was playing slow; maybe I wasn’t. It wasn’t my intent. My intent was to get into a calm state and have good visualization and play my best golf.
“But look, I’m going to be trying to do the same thing (Friday). I’m not trying to play slow,” he added. “I’m always saying, look, go ahead. Go ahead and hit. Like I’m not trying to throw you out of your rhythm but I don’t want to be taken out of mine, either.”
Gooch’s revenge
Talor Gooch helped Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC win the team title last year. Ahead of the 2023 season, Gooch told Johnson he wanted to change teams and took his talents to Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats GC. Johnson didn’t want someone on his team who didn’t want to be there, so he let him go.
“Me and Talor, we’re fine and we’re friends,” said Johnson back in February ahead of LIV’s first event of the season in Mexico, “but I did tell him, though, he should enjoy being on stage in Miami because that was the last time he’s going to do that.”
The RangeGoats enter this week as the No. 4 seed with the 4Aces in the top spot. Gooch already spoiled Johnson’s individual title defense this season, can he do the same for the lucrative team title?
