On Saturday, the LIV Golf Team Championship produced more drama, as the bottom seed Ironheads GC quartet defeated Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC side to move into the final on Sunday.
Along with the Ironheads, Legion XIII GC managed to get through to the final despite captain, Jon Rahm, being forced out through illness, with the 4Aces GC and Ripper GC completing the final spots.
There was lots of tight golf on display Saturday and, arguably, the most dramatic game was Ripper GC against Fireballs GC, with one pivotal moment coming in the match between Lucas Herbert and David Puig.
Starting on the 16th hole, Fireballs Puig won the 16th and 18th to move 2-up, as the duo then won three holes each over the next eight to keep Puig 2-up with seven holes to go.
As the pair halved the ninth, 10th and 11th, the 22-year-old remained two clear and, with four holes remaining, you could be forgiven for thinking that the game was all but up for Herbert, whose Ripper side had already lost the final match 3&1 to be 1-0 down overall.
However, the Australian battled back and, with a par-birdie-par run on the 12th, 13th and 14th, he regained the lead as a par at the last handed him a 1-up victory over Puig, who had led for the majority of the day.
The relationship between Sergio Garcia and David Puig has been fascinating to watch this year. He’s clearly taken him under his wing and helping him so much in his career. David Puig will be a Ryder Cup player at some point, when all the off course nonsense is sorted out 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/uFk1QwXbLBSeptember 21, 2024
Certainly, the loss had an affect on Puig, who was seen being consoled by his captain, Sergio Garcia, as the young Spaniard was near to tears as the top match of Marc Leishman and Eugenio Chacarra went to playoff holes.
To make things worse, Ripper’s Leishman then defeated his opponent with a par at the first playoff hole, which knocked out Fireballs and secured a spot in the final for the Australian quartet.
