Legion XIII, Crussers, Stingers Battle in Liv Golf Team Final

The top three of the 2025 season that are in the title. Image with thanks to Liv Golf/X.

Agreement

Plymouth, Michigan: Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm defeated a good friend. Crushers GC Captain Bryson Deschambeau justified his line -up decision.

And Stinger GC captain Louis Oosthuizen held confidence with his hottest player.

Now their respective teams will compete on Sunday for the largest team prize in Liv Golf in the Michigan Team Championship.

Legion XIII, Crussers and Stinger each came forward with 2-1 wins on their opponents in the semi-final on Saturday.

All nine games except one of those nine games reached at least the 17th hole, with all three Crusers matches against Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC that sustained the full distance.

The promotion was non-stop and the last day of Sunday of the 2025 LIV golf season offers the same potential as the division shifts to stroke game at the Cardinal at Saint John’s, where all four scores for each team count.

“These teams here are incredible teams, incredible golfers,” Depchambeau said about the last three. “It will be a tough test tomorrow because they are definitely scoring conditions.”

Rahm, the two-time individual champion, has the chance to end the season with the team championship after he defeated Hyflyers GC captain Phil Mickelson.

Winning Combo

His young collaboration between Tom McKibbin and Caleb Surrat placed their second consecutive foursomes winning.

It was an emotional victory for Rahm, who attended Mickelsons Alma Mater, Arizona State and regards him as a mentor.

“He is such a good friend. You never want to beat a friend,” said Rahm.

“It feels good in a strange way because Phil and I have a nice rivalry. It is a strange feeling but proud of myself and how I fought today.”

Deschambeau chose to compete against the Talor Gooch of Smash GC instead of Koepka in Singles.

Gooch won Liv Golf Andalucía and led his team in points this season, but the decision still generated a lot of control.

In the end it was the winning call. Deschambeau made eight Birdies to Gooch’s six and needed a birdie on the last hole to win 1 up.

In the meantime, Anirban Lahiri held tough against Koepka, who needed his own Birdie to win 1. Foursomes partners Paul Casey and Charles Howell III delivered the other point for the Brekers.

Logical option

“Look, I could have risen against him,” said Dechambeau about Koepka, a five-time big winner and five-time LIV Golf champion.

“Brooks is a great hunter and I would have liked to have played against him, but I felt from a matchup perspective, Talor would become a more difficult power today.”

Couple GC captain Joaquin Neimann, a five-time tournament winner this year, was expected to be difficult for the dean Burmester of the Stingers, who won in Chicago two weeks ago in no. 1 singles.

Burmester was 4 to 12 holes, but Niemann showed his championship mettel and clawed back in the game with three consecutive birdies along the piece.

Burmester reacted with two matching pars and then won the last hole with a birdie to finish 2 for the decisive point of the matchup.

“I knew I still had to take good photos,” said Burmester. “He is a class player and he has proven it.”

Oosthuizen and his old partner Charl Schwartzel delivered the other point with a 2 & 1 victory over Sebastián Muñoz and Carlos Ortiz, two top 10 players from Torque, this season.

A year ago on the Dallas Team Championship, Stinger lost in the semi -final and then shot the lowest cumulative score of each team on the last day to finish fifth.

If that happens on Sunday, they win the title. The South Africans as the lowest placed team under three at no. 7; Legion XIII and the Crushers ended 1-2 in the seasonal point race.

Shot

“We all play to be in this situation, to have a chance tomorrow,” said Oosthuizen. “It’s going to be big or going home. We’re going to do our best to make everyone upset.”

In the meantime, the Crussers have the chance to become the first LIV golf team that won two team titles after they had claimed their first two years ago in Miami.

Last year they were upset by the iron heads in the semi -final. “It would mean a lot to our team,” said Dechambeau about a second victory. “Hopefully we end up on a high note.”

No team has been better this season than Legion XIII, which have the lowest stroke average of the competition and the best performance of the competition in the final round when the bet is highest.

Legion XIII won four times this season and has won eight of their first 27 tournaments since he came to Liv Golf last year as his first expansion team.

“What we have done now no longer matters,” said Rahm.

“Tomorrow you have 18 holes to prove it again, and that’s all we have. It’s the same for all of us. It has been a great season – and now it’s time to hopefully finish it.”

Slow combustion

Koepka and Lahiri played spirit games during their singles match, especially by slowing down the pace of the action.

Lahiri was deliberately slow, Koepka even slower, and in the end they were put on the clock, but did not suffer any punishments after accelerating their game.

“I think it cost us five holes,” said Koepka who won the match 1. “It wasn’t long, but I felt that we could play at my pace for the rest of the holes, and I felt that I was doing that.”

Asked if he was aware of the slow pace of his teammate’s match, Depchambeau said,

“They were definitely behind. I am sorry. It’s just fun. We try to have a good time. We try to win, right?

Run

With the competition play area now completed, the stage is set for all 12 teams to play for their final positions on Sunday.

The format switches to a stroke game, where all four count the scores for each team, just like during every round of the regular season 2025.

The three remaining teams left in the championship bars are Legion XIII, Crussers and Stinger who will compete for the top three places.

Couple, Smash and Hyflyers fell in the top layer of the ranking and will compete for fourth, fifth and sixth places. The Hyflyers are guaranteed to get their best definitive placement ever.

The winners of Saturday in the ranking were Fireballs GC, 4aces GC and Ripper GC who will compete for places seven to nine. The 4aces and Ripper have used to be team champions.

The losing teams in this bracket were the Rangartheat, Cleeks and Majesticks that will compete at 10th, 11th and 12th places. (Courtesy Liv Golf)

Semi -final results

Bracket championship

Legion XIII BT Hyflyers GC, 2-1 (Jon Rahm BT Phil Mickelson 2 & 1; Tyrell Hatton lost to Cameron Tringale 2 & 1; Tom Mckibbin/Cabel Surrat BT Andy Ogletree/Brendan Steele 3 & 1)

Crushers GC BT Smash GC, 2-1 (Anirban Lahiri lost to Brooks Koepka 1 Down; Bryson Deschambeau BT Talor Gooch 1 Up; Paul Casey/Charles Howell III BT Jason Kokrak/Graeme McDowell 2 Up)

Stinger GC BT Torque GC, 2-1 (Dan Burmester BT Joaquin Neimann 2 Up; Burn Grace lost from Mito Pereira 4 & 2; Louis Oosthuizen/Charl Schwartzel BT Sebastian Muñoz/Carlos Ortiz 2 & 1)

Ranking bracket

Fireballs GC BT Cleeks GC, 2-1 (Josele Ballester lost from Richard Mix 6 & 4; Abraham Ancer BT Adrian Meronk 2 & 1; Sergio Garcia/David Puig BT Martin Kaymer/Frederik Kjettrup, 4 & 2)

4aces GC BT Majesticks GC, 3-0 (Dustin Johnson BT Henrik Stenson 1 Up; Partick Reed BT Sam Horsfield 2 & 1; Thomas Pieters/Harold Varner III BT Ian Poulter/Lee Westwood 6 & 5)

Ripper GC BT Rangeatoats GC, 2-1 (Cam Smith BT Ben Campbell 1 Up; Lucas Herbert lost to Matthew Wolff 1 Up; Matt Jones/Marc Leishman BT Peter Uihlein/Bubba Watson 4 & 2)

Also read: Hyflyers dispel fire balls in the Liv Golf Team Championship upset

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