'He Seemed To Take Forever' - Cameron Smith Takes Slow Play Dig At Mickelson

On Friday, the quarter finals of the LIV Golf Team Championship teed off at Trump National Doral, with eight teams looking to make it through to the semi final stage and a shot at the top prize.

Before the matches got underway, there had already been some needle between the sides, with Phil Mickelson asking Brooks Koepka where his Green Jacket was, in response to his countryman's jibe at never being World No.1. However, on Friday, it was Mickelson who was involved yet again, as his opponent, Cameron Smith, accused him of gamesmanship and specifically slow play.

The match between the two Major winners was the highlight of the quarter final games, with the current Champion Golfer of the Year going up against the Golf Hall of Famer and, in a tightly contested battle which ended up going to the final hole, it was Smith who got the better of Mickelson with a 1-up win.

As the 12 matches went out on to the course in the shotgun start, eight singles and four foursomes, the duo began on the ninth, with Smith taking the early advantage. Mickelson battled back though, as the pair couldn't be separated going down the eighth hole (their 18th). After Mickelson failed to get up and down for birdie, it was left to the Australian to hole the winning putt and secure the win for his Punch GC team.

Following the match, Smith admitted that he "didn’t hole as many putts" as he’d like, with the 29-year-old then taking a slight dig at Mickelson, as he added “I think Phil maybe had some gamesmanship in there a little bit. He seemed to take forever today. I think we were three or four holes behind, so that was a bit painful. But other than that, it was good.” 

Despite Matt Jones and Wade Ormsby's 3&2 defeat to Bernd Wiesberger and Cameron Tringale, Smith's fellow countryman, Marc Leishmann, dispatched Matthew Wolff 4&2 to move on to the semi finals, where the Punch GC side will face the Fireballs GC team captained by Sergio Garcia.

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In the other matches out on the course, the Smash GC team, captained by Koepka, defeated the Niblicks GC 2-1, while the Majesticks GC team, this week led by Ian Poulter instead of usual skipper, Lee Westwood, claimed a clean-sweep over the Iron Heads GC team captained by Kevin Na.

Again, there had been some trash-talk between the two captains, with Poulter stating to Na that "I'm not sure it's possible to play any slower." After the match, which Poulter won 4&2, the Englishman then took another dig at the American, as he added "he drew first blood, and he walked it in. So I was like F you, basically, I'm going to make this really hard for him today."

Away from the trash talk, in the final team match, the Cleeks GC side secured a 2-1 victory over Torque GC, with the experienced duo of Graeme McDowell and Richard Bland claiming a tight 2-up win against Scott Vincent and recent DP World Tour winner, Adrian Otaegui.