It was a day of upsets in Miami as Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers stunned Smash, and the unfancied Cleeks also progressed to the Team Championship semis in the 2023 LIV Golf finale,

The big boys still await but it was a stunning show from Friday’s quarter-final showings as they underdogs now face the top two seeds in Saturday’s semi-finals at Trump National Doral.

It was not looking good as HyFlyers captain Phil Mickelson lost his high-profile singles match to Smash skipper Brooks Koepka, fresh from his Jeddah win, 6&4, in a battle of LIV Golf’s most decorated major winners. But teammate Cameron Tringale beat Jason Kokrak in the other singles match, while the duo of Brendan Steele/James Piot beat Chase Koepka/Matthew Wolff in foursomes to give the ninth-seeded HyFlyers a 2-1 victory.

“So excited about these guys. So proud of what they did, the way they played,” Mickelson said. “It’s inspiring. Look forward to the opportunity these guys gave me.”

Cleeks captain Martin Kaymer, who has struggled all season through injury, lost to Ripper captain Cameron Smith after a late rally to send his match to an extra hole. But the evergreen Richard Bland beat Marc Leishman in the other singles, while Graeme McDowell/Bernd Wiesberger claimed a thrilling match against Matt Jones/Jediah Morgan in foursomes that went three extra holes. McDowell rolled in the winning birdie putt from 20 feet to give the 10th-seeded Cleeks a 2-1 victory.

It means an early end to the season for Jeddah winner Brooks Koepka, and Individual Championship runner-up Cam Smith.

It is also the second consecutive year the Cleeks have pulled off an upset at Doral. Last year as the 10th seed, they beat seventh-seeded Torque. With a podium finish in Jeddah last week and now a quarter-final win on Friday, the Cleeks will have plenty of momentum entering Saturday, and the top teams will be cautious.

“We’re a little bit dangerous looking going into tomorrow,” McDowell said. “We’ve kind of shifted into the next gear. We’ll try to stay in that gear.”

Fifth-seeded Stinger won all three of their matches against Iron Heads, while sixth-seed Fireballs safely got through against the Ryder Cup-experienced Majesticks, 2-1.

But now to the weekend business and the captains of the top four seeds have selected their semi-final opponents:

No. 1 4 Aces v No. 9 HyFlyers
No. 2 Crushers v No. 10 Cleeks
No. 3 Torque v No. 5 Stinger
No. 4 RangeGoats v No. 6 Fireballs

The defending team champs 4 Aces, led by Dustin Johnson, will pose a tough challenge for the HyFlyers, but Mickelson — who will face DJ in singles — looks forward to the opportunity.

“The Aces are the strongest team on LIV. They won it last year,” Mickelson said. “They’ve led throughout the year this year. But I’m really proud of my team for today and the effort that our guys made down the stretch to win and to finish the matches off.”

Johnson said selecting the lowest-seeded team available was the obvious choice. “I was sitting over here with the team, and they wanted to play the HyFlyers, so I said OK,” the captain said.

The Crushers lost in the semi-finals last year with the same lineup, but captain Bryson DeChambeau said his team is stronger this year.

“I feel like we’re a force to be reckoned with, and we’ve just got to keep playing our game in the way we know we can and see what happens,” DeChambeau said.

With $50 million on the line, everyone is taking this one seriously.

Torque, the youngest team in the LIV Golf League, won more tournament titles (four) than any other team this season, but they’ll face a tough South African squad that posted the only shutout on Friday.

“They’ve got youth, so he’ll learn. So, we’ll see,” Stinger captain Louis Oosthuizen said of his match against Torque skipper Joaquin Niemann. “It’s going to be fun tomorrow.”

RangeGoats Captain Bubba Watson will face Fireballs Captain Sergio Garcia, but the intriguing match-up will be 2023 Individual Champion Talor Gooch against young Eugenio Chacarra, who had the best performance Friday with a 6&5 win over the Majesticks’ Sam Horsfield.

“We’re going to go out there, we’re going to give it our best,” said Garcia, who lost a tight match against Majesticks co-captain Henrik Stenson. “My boys played amazing today, so I hope that they do more of the same tomorrow, and hopefully I’ll play a little bit better, and we’ll see if we can get that W.”

QUARTER-FINAL RESULTS

No. 5 Stinger def No. 12 Iron Heads GC, 3-0
Louis Oosthuizen (Stinger) def. Kevin Na (Iron Heads), 5&3. Oosthuizen won four consecutive holes to finish the first nine and never looked back.
Branden Grace (Stinger) def. Scott Vincent (Iron Heads), 2 & 1. Grace was 1 down before winning four of the last five holes.
Dean Burmester/Charl Schwartzel (Stinger) def. Sihwan Kim/Danny Lee (Iron Heads), 2&1. The Stingers rallied from an early deficit and won four holes during a seven-hole stretch to gain control.

No. 6 Fireballs def. No. 11 Majesticks GC, 2-1
Henrik Stenson (Majesticks) def. Sergio Garcia (Fireballs), 1-up. Stenson rallied midway through the round, winning three holes during a six-hole stretch.
Eugenio Chacarra (Fireballs) def. Sam Horsfield (Majesticks), 6&5. Chacarra won five of the first six holes and shot 5 under for the 13 holes.
Abraham Ancer/Carlos Ortiz (Fireballs) def. Ian Poulter/Lee Westwood (Majesticks), 4&2. The Fireballs won three of the last five holes and closed out the match with a birdie.

No. 10 Cleeks GC def. No. 7 Ripper GC, 2-1
Cameron Smith (Ripper) def. Martin Kaymer (Cleeks), 19 holes. Smith was 3-up with three holes to play before Kaymer rallied to send the match to an extra hole, which Smith won with a birdie at the par-5 10th.
Richard Bland (Cleeks) def. Marc Leishman (Ripper), 4&3. The red-hot Bland was 3-up through five holes and never trailed.
Graeme McDowell/Bernd Wiesberger (Cleeks) def. Matt Jones/Jediah Morgan, 21 holes. In a sizzling extra-holes finish, McDowell’s 20-foot putt on the 21st hole was the final point that put the Cleeks through to the semis.

No. 9 HyFlyers GC def. No. 8 Smash GC, 2-1
Brooks Koepka (Smash) def. Phil Mickelson (HyFlyers), 6&4. Koepka was 1-up through six holes, then took control by winning four of the next five holes.
Cameron Tringale (HyFlyers) def. Jason Kokrak (Smash), 2&1. Tringale closed out the win with a long birdie putt on the 18th while Kokrak hit two shots in the water.
James Piot/Brendan Steele (HyFlyers) def. Chase Koepka/Matthew Wolff, 1-up. The HyFlyers held on after taking the lead with a birdie at the par-3 13th, halving the final seven holes.

SEMI-FINALS
No. 1 4 Aces v No. 9 HyFlyers
Captain Singles: Dustin Johnson (4Aces) vs. Phil Mickelson (HyFlyers)
Singles: Patrick Reed (4Aces) v Cameron Tringale (HyFlyers)
Foursomes: Pat Perez/Peter Uihlein (4Aces) v James Piot/Brendan Steele (HyFlyers)
No. 2 Crushers v No. 10 Cleeks
Captain Singles: Bryson DeChambeau (Crushers) v Martin Kaymer (Cleeks)Singles: Paul Casey (Crushers) v Richard Bland (Cleeks)
Foursomes: Charles Howell III/Anirban Lahiri (Crushers) v Graeme McDowell/Bernd Wiesberger (Cleeks)
No. 3 Torque v No. 5 Stinger
Captain Singles: Joaquin Niemann (Torque) v Louis Oosthuizen (Stinger)
Singles: Sebastian Munoz (Torque) v Branden Grace (Stinger)
Foursomes: Mito Pereira/David Puig (Torque) v Dean Burmester/Charl Schwartzel (Stinger)
No. 4 RangeGoats v No. 6 Fireballs
Captain Singles: Bubba Watson (RangeGoats) v Sergio Garcia (Fireballs)
Singles: Talor Gooch (RangeGoats) v Eugenio Chacarra (Fireballs)
Foursomes: Thomas Pieters/Harold Varner III (RangeGoats) v Abraham Ancer/Carlos Ortiz (Fireballs)