No Jon Rahm, no problem for Legion XIII at LIV Golf team championship semifinals

CARROLLTON — Tyrell Hatton woke up Saturday morning under the impression that one of the world’s best golfers — and the recently-crowned LIV Golf individual champion — would play alongside him in the team championship semifinals at Maridoe Golf Club.
Plans change. So does health. Jon Rahm, team captain of Legion XIII and the world’s 15th-ranked player, withdrew from competition on Saturday morning with an illness. Hatton — who served in his place as captain — and the rest of Legion XIII punched their ticket into Sunday’s final round no less.
“I mean, it would have been nice to have him playing today,” Hatton said. “He’s a pretty special player. That aside, we still have to go out there and give it our best, and thankfully we were able to advance to tomorrow.”
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Hatton, John Catlin, Caleb Surrat and Kieran Vincent bested the Phil Mickelson-led Hyflyers GC 2-1 in the team format match play semifinals on Saturday and will compete for the team championship on Sunday against Iron Heads GC, Ripper GC and Aces GC.
“We exchanged a few messages probably 10 minutes ago,” Hatton said of Rahm. “He sounds like he’s doing a little bit better, which is good to hear. It was good for the team to win today.”
Sunday’s final round will be an 18-hole stroke play event between the four remaining teams. Hatton (No. 38 in the world), two-time major championship winner Dustin Johnson (team captain of the Aces) and former Masters champion Patrick Reed (of the Aces) will be the most notable golfers in the field with Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Kopeka among those who were eliminated in the tournament’s first two rounds.
“Obviously there’s only four teams that have a chance, so why not?” said Johnson, who beat Stinger GC 2-1 on Saturday alongside Reed, Harold Varner II and Pat Perez. “Obviously all four scores count and everyone going to have to play well if we want to win.”
Ripper GC — led by Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Lucas Herbert and Matt Jones — entered Saturday’s competition third in the LIV Golf team standings behind first-place Crushers GC (which was upset Saturday by Iron Heads GC) and Legion XIII.
“Yeah, I think we’ve played well on Sundays when all four scores have counted all year,” Smith said. “There’s no reason that we can’t go out there tomorrow and do the same thing. I think it’s a hard test out there. It’s easy to get behind the 8-ball. Probably a lot of patience and a lot of resiliency out there tomorrow given the conditions.”
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