LIV Dallas

CARROLLTON — The LIV Golf Team Championship kicked off with a bang on a Texas-hot final day of summer Friday afternoon at Maridoe Golf Club with two teams registering major upsets to increase the excitement of opening day.

Match play can be so unpredictable and the 13th-seeded Iron Heads, captained by Kevin Na, used a one-up win by Danny Lee over Talor Gooch and then two clutch putts of 10 and 20 feet by Jinichiro Kozuma of Japan to defeat the fourth-seeded Smash in sudden death for a spot in the 8-team semifinals Saturday.

Captained by uber talented Brooks Koepka, a five-time major championship winner who dispatched Na quickly with a 6 and 5 win, could only watch as his foursomes team of Jason Kokrac and Graeme McDowell squandered a 4-up lead to Kozuma and his partner Scott Vincent. It was an ace on the par 3 15th hole by Vincent, of Zimbabwe, that began to turn the tide in favor of the Iron Heads.

Earlier, another underdog team, the 12th-seeded Hyflyers, led by captain Phil Mickelson upset the Torque captained by Joaquin Nieman. Mickelson, playing with Brendan Steele, showed flashes of greatness as they won their foursome match to go with a Cameron Tringale win over Sebastian Munoz for the requisite 2 points needed to advance.

The beginning of the first LIV Golf event in North Texas was memorable with loud music blaring, an announcer exhorting the large and enthusiastic crowd and two skydivers landing on the emerald fairways of Maridoe.

Traversing the linksland of this urban prairie was not too difficult except for the hot weather but hydration stations and plenty of shade trees helped the day be more tolerable for the fans who were shouting encouragement to Mickelson and other well-known players like Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia, accomplished pros not seen in North Texas for some time.

Waiting in the wings but ready for the second round of match on Saturday are teams led by Bryson DeChambeau (The Crushers), Jon Rahm (Legion XIII) and Cameron Smith (Ripper Golf Club). They will join the five winning teams that advanced from Friday’s play for what is shaping up to be an appealing event.

The course is in splendid shape but has a natural look that reminds one of the courses in Great Britain.

“This course is all about golf and not necessarily aesthetics,” Duff Stamner said.

A Longview native now living in Dallas, Stamner couldn’t resist attending the LIV tournament in town with its marquee players.

After Saturday’s match play, four teams of four players will remain for a medal play finale on Sunday with every score counting to determine the team champion.

To view the team and player matchups for Saturday, go to livgolf.com.