Dallas preview: RangeGoats GC face 4Aces GC at Team Championship
Team: RangeGoats Golf Club
Season-long team standings: 9th
Friday opponent: No. 10 4Aces GC
Fun team stat: RangeGoats GC finished the 2024 regular season leading the LIV Golf League in Eagles Made (20) and Driving Distance (315.9 yards).
Preview
The 2024 regular season wasn’t one for the record books for RangeGoats Golf Club. But even though the results weren’t great during the regular season, there is still time to end the year on a high note.
RangeGoats GC, the No. 9 seed, will face No. 10 seed 4Aces GC on Friday at the LIV Golf Dallas Team Championship. It might prove to be the most entertaining matchup of the day, pitting two teams with massive star power against each other while featuring some players who have previously played for the opposing team. In short, the action will be hot at Maridoe Golf Club.
“It’s a phenomenal team we’re playing against,” Captain Bubba Watson said. “The Aces are unbelievable. Nobody wanted to pick them, obviously, and so it’s going to be a tough matchup.”
And Watson knows interest will be high.
“I think it’s going to be made for TV,” he said. “It’s a perfect pairing. They’re really good, and I think our team hasn’t had the best year, but it’ll be a fun challenge for us. We’ll probably be the underdogs, so we’ll try to match them shot for shot, and hopefully we make one more putt than they do.”
Here’s how Friday’s quarterfinals will work: The 10 teams that didn’t earn a bye will compete in a shotgun start, and it will consist of 40 players. For each head-to-head team matchup, three matches (two singles, one alternate shot) will take place. Matches will be played until a winner is determined and each match winner will receive one point. The team earning two points will advance to Saturday’s semifinals.
In singles, Peter Uihlein will face Dustin Johnson while Thomas Pieters will face Patrick Reed. In foursomes, it will be Watson/Matthew Wolff vs. Harold Varner III/Pat Perez.
“Everybody wanted to play singles, but then you look at Peter Uihlein, who’s won a U.S. Amateur, so he’s pretty good at match play,” Watson said. "Short game is unbelievable; that’s what you want in match play. Then Thomas plays a different golf ball, so it just made sense to put me and Wolff together for golf-ball reasons. Then the high energy that Wolff has, he’s fun to be around. Me and him can talk video games and talk other things and then golf gets in the way. It’s going to be a blast.”
And Watson is also looking forward to competing against Varner III, a former RangeGoat GC member.
“Obviously playing against Harold, it’ll be fun,” Watson said. “It’s what we love to do. We love the competition and it’s probably the best matchup for TV.”
The first goal for RangeGoats GC will be to survive and advance. And they might lean on Uihlein to lead the way. Uihlein is one of only two LIV Golf players who has a 3-0 match-play record in LIV Golf League history. He is 2-0 in singles and 1-0 in foursomes. Pieters is 1-0 in match play on the LIV Golf League while Watson is 0-1 and Wolff is 0-2.
As for the venue, Maridoe GC should be a good fit. It measures 7,438 yards and plays as a par 72, so while not overly long, it has enough distance to challenge average-length players who will have to rely on a deft short game.