$218m-worth world’s second-highest paid athlete to miss crucial LIV Golf event that could decide team’s fate
LIV Golf announced on Saturday, September 21 that Jon Rahm will not be playing in the Team Championship with his Legion XIII team. The Spaniard was recently named the world's second highest paid athlete by Forbes with earnings of $218 million.
Jon Rahm is suffering from severe flu symptoms and has decided not to lead his team at the LIV Golf Team Championship. His place will be taken by reserve player John Catlin.
Jon Rahm's team, Legion XIII, is set to play Phil Mickelson's HyFlyers GC in the semifinals. With Rahm's withdrawal, the matches between the two teams in the next round will be:
- Singles 1: John Catlin (Legion XIII/reserve) vs. Cameron Tringale (HyFlyers)
- Singles 2: Tyrrell Hatton (Legion XIII) vs. Andy Ogletree (HyFlyers)
- Foursomes: Caleb Surratt-Kieran Vincent (Legion XIII) vs. Phil Mickelson-Brendan Steele (HyFlyers)
Legion XIII qualified directly for the semifinals by finishing second in the team standings for the season. That same status gave it the opportunity to choose HyFlyers GC as its opponent.
The Mickelson-led HyFlyers, meanwhile, qualified for the semifinals after a sensational win over Joaquin Niemann's Torque GC in the quarterfinals.
In the rest of Friday's matches, Iron Heads GC pulled off the big upset by defeating fourth-place regular season finisher Smash GC. Fireballs GC, Stinger GC, and 4Aces GC also won to advance to the semifinals.
A look at the semifinal match-ups for the LIV Golf Team Championship
The three seeded teams in the LIV Golf Team Championship semifinals had the opportunity to choose their opponents for this Saturday's matches. The format will be similar to the quarterfinals, with two singles matches (match play) and one foursomes match.
The captains have scheduled the matches as follows:
CRUSHERS GC vs. 13. IRON HEADS GC
Singles 1: Paul Casey (Crushers) vs. Scott Vincent (Iron Heads)
Singles 2: Bryson DeChambeau (Crushers) vs. Danny Lee (Iron Heads)
Foursomes: Anirban Lahiri-Charles Howell III (Crushers) vs. Kevin Na-Jinichiro Kozuma (Iron Heads)
LEGION XIII vs. 12. HYFLYERS GC
Singles 1: John Catlin (Legion XIII/reserve) vs. Cameron Tringale (HyFlyers)
Singles 2: Tyrrell Hatton (Legion XIII) vs. Andy Ogletree (HyFlyers)
Foursomes: Caleb Surratt-Kieran Vincent (Legion XIII) vs. Phil Mickelson-Brendan Steele (HyFlyers)
RIPPER GC vs. 6. FIREBALLS GC
Singles 1: Marc Leishman (Ripper) vs. Eugenio Chacarra (Fireballs)
Singles 2: Lucas Herbert (Ripper) vs. David Puig (Fireballs)
Foursomes: Cameron Smith-Matt Jones (Ripper) vs. Sergio Garcia-Abraham Ancer (Fireballs)
STINGER GC vs. 10. 4ACES GC
Singles 1: Dean Burmester (Stinger) vs. Dustin Johnson (4Aces)
Singles 2: Branden Grace (Stinger) vs. Patrick Reed (4Aces)
Foursomes: Louis Oosthuizen-Charl Schwartzel (Stinger) vs. Harold Varner III-Pat Perez (4Aces)
The four winning teams will qualify for Sunday's final. During the final day, the format will be stroke play and the scores of all players will count towards the final team score. The winner will be declared the LIV Golf Team Champion.