CAPTAIN DECHAMBEAU STICKS TO THE TRIED AND TESTED AGAINST CLEEKS
Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau picked up Cleeks as their semifinal opponents as the 2023 LIV Golf season heads to an exciting climax.
Second in the Team Championship last year to 4Aces, and second coming into Miami after a brilliant season that saw the Crushers win two titles and record two seconds and two thirds, DeChambeau had the second pick and opted for the Martin Kaymer-led team.
Cleeks are trending in the right direction. They secured their first podium finish of the season in Jeddah, and then took out the all-Australian Rippers GC in the quarterfinals on Friday.
“In the team discussions, we were either thinking the Rippers were going to be the next choice for us, or it was going to be the Cleeks, and we felt personally our matchups would stack up better,” said a confident DeChambeau explaining his choice in the press conference Friday.
“We feel like with the matchups that they had today, we have a good team to go against them, and we think we can get all points. It’s just the best feeling we had.”
With Captains required to play against the rival Captain, the first singles match will be DeChambeau against Martin Kaymer. In the second singles, Crushers have stuck to their gameplan last year and will send out Paul Casey, while Charles Howell III and Anirban Lahiri will pair up in the foursomes.
Casey will be up against the rampant 50-year-old Richard Bland, who took down Rippers’ Marc Leishman 4&3 on Friday. Howell and Lahiri will face the European Ryder Cup players Graeme McDowell and Bernd Wiesberger.
If Crushers win their match against Cleeks, they will fight for positions one to four in overall team championships through Sunday’s strokeplay round, with every score counting towards the team total.
As DeChambeau said in Jeddah, winning is on top of their minds after getting eliminated last year in the semifinals.
“We are a team that is coming in hot. Just have the boys keep playing the way they are. They’re a special bunch of guys, and they know how to get the job done when it matters,” DeChambeau said at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club.
“This year is going to be a lot different than last year, I believe. If we bring this form into next week, I am very excited for the guys and seeing what we can do in Miami.”