Rahm’s Legion XIII, DeChambeau’s Crushers advance to LIV Golf’s team final

Bryson DeChambeau went out of his way to avoid playing Brooks Koepka Saturday in the semifinals of the LIV Golf Team Championship, something Koepka was not pleased with, saying, “I don’t know what he was afraid of.”

It ended up working out well for DeChambeau.

On Saturday at the Cardinal at Saint John’s in Michigan, he made birdie on the final hole against Talor Gooch to win his singles match and help propel his Crushers squad into Sunday’s team finale with Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII and Louis Oosthuizen’s Stinger team.

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Each of those three teams won their respective matches 2-1 in the mixed-team format that had two singles matches and one foursomes contest.

For Legion XIII against Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers, Rahm topped Mickelson in singles while Tom McKibbin and Caleb Surratt beat Andy Ogletree and Brendan Steele in foursomes. Tyrrell Hatton lost to Cameron Tringale in the other singles match.

Although Koepka ended up beating Anirban Lahiri for his Smash team, DeChambeau’s win over Gooch and the foursomes victory—Paul Casey and Charles Howell beat Jason Kokrak and Graeme McDowell—were enough for the Crushers to move to Sunday’s final.

Legion XII and the Crushers have been the best two teams all season with Rahm’s team winning four team titles and DeChambeau’s winning three times. The Stinger team came into this event ranked eighth. Rahm won the individual title last week in Indianapolis over Joaquin Niemann despite not winning once tournament all season.

Now match play is over. The three teams will play stroke play for the title with all four scores counting.

“I think these teams up here are incredible teams, incredible golfers, and it’s going to be a tough test tomorrow because it’s scoring conditions out there for sure,” DeChambeau said. “It’s about who makes the most putts and who wedges it close.”

Said Rahm: “When it comes to tomorrow, looking forward to it. Any team here is strong. Any team has a chance. Hopefully we can keep doing what we’ve done all year and have a good showing tomorrow and get it done.”

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