Phil Mickelson hails Joaquin Niemann, admits lackluster season for his LIV golf team
The LIV Golf Dallas event is all set to kickstart on September 20 at the Maridoe Golf Club. A selection show and press conference were recently held to decide the matchups for the quarterfinals on Friday.
Bryson DeChambeau's Crushers GC, Jon Rahm's Legion XIII, and Cameron Smith's Ripper GC are currently leading the standings. According to norms, these teams will get a bye into the semi-finals on Saturday. The rest of the teams will have to fight it out on Friday.
It will be a head-to-head clash between the remaining ten teams and will include three matches: two singles and one foursome. The matchups were selected according to seedings, with the highest getting the first chance. Joaquin Niemann's Torque GC is 5th seeded and went second in selection. The Chilean golfer chose Phil Mickelson's HyFlyers GC to go against on Friday.
Niemann said about his choice, via asaptext:
"I mean, it wasn't that easy to pick, but I always wanted to play against Phil"
When asked about the matchup, Phil Mickelson said:
"Yeah, I really like the team of Torque. I think they're an incredible team. Joaco is one of the best players in the game, and I've had a chance to play with him a number of times this year, and it's just impressive watching him play. Then the rest of his team are just really good guys and solid players. I've enjoyed watching their success,"
Both Mickelson and his team have had a subpar performance this season. Lefty mentioned how it would be a good "opportunity" for the team to prove their mettle.
"Our team is looking forward to the challenge, and we haven't had the year that we wanted to this year, and this is an opportunity for us to showcase what we're able to do against one of the really strong teams in the league,"
Joaquin Niemann had a heartbreaking campaign at the LIV Golf Individual Championship. Mathematically, only he and Jon Rahm were eligible to win the title. The 25-year-old was overtaken by Rahm on the leaderboard just prior to the event. Sadly, Niemann couldn't secure the title with the win and lost it to Rahm.
Why is Phil Mickelson not playing the singles match at the LIV Golf Dallas quarterfinals?
With Phil Mickelson's HyFlyers GC set to go against Joaquin Niemann's Torque GC, the former made the surprising decision of not to play the singles event. Instead, he chose Andy Ogletree and Cameron Tringale for the singles match. They will clash against Niemann and Sebastian Munoz, respectively.
Mickelson was the first captain to not play in the singles. He was asked the reason behind the choice, and he answered:
"Andy Ogletree won the '21 Amateur. He's a very touch match play competitor. Cam Tringale won all his matches last year. I wanted them both in singles,"
The foursome event will see Phil Mickelson and Brendan Steele of HyFlyers GC go against Mito Pereira and Carlos Ortiz of Torque GC. Mickelson further added:
"Steeley and I are really annoying to play against. I'm annoying, but when you put me and Steeley, it goes to another level, and I feel like that could be a challenge just dealing with that,"
The HyFlyers GC vs. Torque GC round is part of match-up B.