The International Series Rankings leader John Catlin once again underlined his potential for the big stage by making an impressive cameo in the season-ending LIV Golf Dallas Team Championship at the weekend.
Catlin had been offered a coveted place as alternate on the franchise earlier this year thanks to some superb form which brought back-to-back wins at the International Series Macau presented by Wynn and the Saudi Open presented by PIF, after qualifying from Asian Tour Q School at the start of the season.
He has already shown his undoubted talents with four appearances for Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC and one start for Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC.
His best was a superb season-high T7 finish in Nashville on Crushers GC duty, while he also helped Smash GC to the team tournament trophy in Greenbrier.
This weekend he was called into action at Maridoe Golf Club for none other than Jon Rahm, captain of the No.2 seeds Legion XIII, with the Spanish two-time major winner and 2024 individual champion suffering severe flu-like symptoms all weekend.
The 33-year-old, who also finished runner-up at International Series Morocco after losing out to New Zealand’s Ben Campbell in the first hole of the sudden-death play-off, was selected to line up against Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers in the semi-finals of the team championship, where he was picked to face Cameron Tringale in the No.1 singles match.
Catlin took the match to 20 holes before losing out to his opponent, but Legion XIII still progressed to the final as Tyrrell Hatton beat Andy Ogletree 5&4 in the other singles while youngsters Caleb Surratt and Kieran Vincent surprised HyFlyers GC captain Phil Mickelson and Brendan Steele 4&3.
Legion XIII ultimately finished off the podium in fourth, behind Ripper GC, 4Aces GC and Iron Heads GC, in a final day of stroke play where all scores counted for the team. Catlin shot a two-under 70 while England’s Hatton carded a four-under 68, Caleb Surratt finished with a one-under 71 and Vincent returned a one-over 73 after two late birdies.
Catlin is aiming to secure a permanent place on the LIV Golf League roster next season and will be guaranteed a spot if crowned The International Series Rankings champion for 2024. He currently leads the standings ahead of Morocco champion Campbell, and is also Asian Tour Order of Merit leader.
The Rankings also offer a second chance of entry onto the LIV Golf League through the season-ending LIV Golf Promotions event.
Last season, players ranked two to eight received a bye into the second round of the three-day, four-round tournament while the next top 25 eligible players in the top 40 earned entry into the first round along with all Asian Tour 2023 champions.
Ahead of the 2024 season, Ogletree won the automatic spot and claimed a place on Mickelson’s team as rankings champion while Zimbabwean Vincent earned a spot on the brand-new Legion XIII team after securing one of three golden tickets at the LIV Golf Promotions event alongside Kalle Samooja of Finland and Jinichiro Kozuma of Japan.
Elder brother Scott Vincent was the first person to take the pathway onto LIV Golf from The International Series after joining the Iron Heads GC by winning the inaugural rankings race in the 2022 season.
The International Series is the most prized pathway in golf. It consists of 10 elite tournaments sanctioned by the Asian Tour and offers the year-long Rankings leader promotion to the LIV Golf League
