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LIV Golf scenarios: How Cam Smith can wrap up the title in Chicago

Golf Digest Middle East — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 08:12:29 +0000

Cam Smith. LIV Golf

With two tournaments remaining in the regular season, just nine players have a chance to become the 2023 LIV Golf League Individual Champion — and Ripper captain Cameron Smith might wrap up the season-long race by winning next week’s LIV Golf Chicago.

Smith, having won two of the last three LIV Golf tournaments, currently has a 21-point lead over RangeGoats’ three-time winner Talor Gooch, while 4 Aces’ Patrick Reed sits in third, 50 points behind.

Smith will clinch the title in Chicago if he wins (worth 40 points) and Gooch finishes no better than fourth (worth 18 points). Smith won for the first time as a LIV member last year at Rich Harvest Farms and will enter next week as the favourite.

All other players besides Gooch will be mathematically eliminated from winning the Individual crown should Smith finish either first or second in Chicago. The Individual Champion, as well as the bonus-earning top three finishers, will be officially awarded after next month’s LIV Golf Jeddah.

Besides Smith and Gooch, the other players who’ll enter next week still alive in the Individual Champion race are Reed, Smash captain Brooks Koepka, Stinger’s Branden Grace, Torque’s Mito Pereira, Crushers captain Bryson DeChambeau, 4 Aces captain and defending Individual Champion Dustin Johnson and RangeGoats’ Harold Varner III.

Their fates hinge not only on their own performances in Chicago but how Smith finishes.

Reed, for instance, must finish inside the top nine on the points leaderboard to have any hope. Even then, he’ll may be eliminated depending on where Smith finishes.

Meanwhile, Johnson must win and hope Smith finishes no better than ninth on the points leaderboard. If Smith finishes outside the points (top 24), then DJ could finish second and remain alive. Beyond those two scenarios, Johnson’s title defence will officially end.

Gooch, the points leader for most of the season until Smith moved ahead of him by winning the most recent LIV event in Bedminster, will remain alive no matter what he does, as long as Smith finishes fourth or worse.

Here’s a look at every scenario for the eight players chasing Smith. Please note that these involve the points leaderboard with tiebreakers (not the traditional golf leaderboard that includes ties).

IF SMITH FINISHES …
1st – Gooch must finish top 3; all others eliminated
2nd – Gooch must finish top 9; all others eliminated
3rd – Gooch must finish top 14; Reed must win; all others eliminated
4th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 2; Koepka, Grace must win; all others eliminated
5th or 6th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 2; Koepka, Grace, Pereira, DeChambeau must win; Johnson, Varner eliminated
7th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 3; Koepka, Grace, Pereira, DeChambeau must win; Johnson, Varner eliminated
8th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 3; Koepka, Grace must finish top 2; Pereira, DeChambeau must win; Johnson, Varner eliminated
9th, 10th or 11th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 3; Koepka, Grace must finish top 2; Pereira, DeChambeau, Johnson must win; Varner eliminated
12th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 4; Koepka, Grace must finish top 2; Pereira, DeChambeau, Johnson, Varner must win
13th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 4; Koepka, Grace, Pereira, DeChambeau must finish top 2; Johnson, Varner must win
14th or 15th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 5; Koepka, Grace must finish top 3; Pereira, DeChambeau must finish top 2; Johnson, Varner must win
16th or 17th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 6; Koepka, Grace must finish top 3; Pereira, DeChambeau must finish top 2; Johnson, Varner must win
18th, 19th or 20th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 7; Koepka, Grace must finish top 3; Pereira, DeChambeau must finish top 2; Johnson, Varner must win
21st, 22nd, 23rd or 24th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 8; Koepka, Grace must finish top 3; Pereira, DeChambeau must finish top 2; Johnson, Varner must win
25th or below – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 9; Koepka, Grace, Pereira, DeChambeau must finish top 3; Johnson must finish top 2; Varner must win

Starting with Charles Howell III, who’s currently 10th in points, all players more than 80 points behind Smith have been eliminated from the No. 1 spot.

Even so, finishing second and third in season-long points is still an attractive outcome for players since it comes with significant bonus money from the Individual Champion pool.

Theoretically, the top 29 players on the points list remain in contention for a top-three finish (Reed, the current No. 3, has 120 points). With the maximum of 80 points still available by sweeping the individual titles at Chicago and Jeddah, that means even David Puig (No. 29 with 40 points) is not mathematically eliminated.

But for middle-of-the-standings players like Puig, the more realistic incentive is to finish inside the top 24 in season-long points to earn a guaranteed spot for the 2024 LIV Golf League season.

Currently, Pat Perez is the bubble boy at No. 24 with 47 points. That’s an average of 4.3 points for the first 11 tournaments. If that average stays constant, that means a projected total of 56 points for the 24th spot.

With two regular-season tournaments remaining, big moves can still be made.

Cleeks’s Richard Bland was 41st in points after LIV Golf Andalucía but has finished top 11 in his last three starts and is now inside the bubble at 22nd. Fireballs’s Abraham Ancer was 41st in points going into Bedminster but posted a LIV-career-best third and jumped 11 spots to 30th.

It’s a sprint to the finish. Whether it’s the Individual Champion race or security for 2024, there’s plenty at stake for all 48 players.

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LIV Golf returns to Rich Harvest Farms in Chicago — all you need to know

Golf Digest Middle East — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 06:14:27 +0000

Rich Harvest Farms. LIV Golf

Round 12 of the 14-event LIV Golf League 2023 season is just around the corner — here is a quick glance at all you need to know

ABOUT THE TOURNAMENT

When: September 22-24, 2023
Where: Rich Harvest Farms, Sugar Grove, Illinois
Competition: 54 holes of stroke play
Field: 48 players/12 teams
Purse: $25 million ($20 million individual, $5 million team)
Winner’s share: $4 million (individual), $3 million (team)
Local tee time: Shotgun start for Rds 1-2 at 12.15pm, Rd 3 at 12.05pm

KEY STORYLINES

LIV Golf returns to Chicago, site of last year’s win by Cameron Smith (individual) and 4 Aces (team)
Defending champion Smith has two wins in 2023 and leads the season-long individual points standings
Smith comes off a dominant seven-stroke victory in Bedminster, the largest individual winning margin in LIV Golf history
Smith’s all-Australian Ripper won its first team trophy at Bedminster — the eighth different team to win a LIV Golf tournament
Two tournaments remain in the 2023 regular season that will crown the individual champion and determine seeding for the season-ending Team Championship in Miami
Five teams – 4 Aces, Torque, Stinger, Crushers and RangeGoats – remain mathematically alive for the top four seeds that will receive first-round byes
Jediah Morgan, James Piot, Chase Koepka and Sihwan Kim are currently in the Drop Zone with two tournaments left to improve their status

WHAT THEY SAID

2022 LIV Golf Chicago champion Cameron Smith:
I think the fans were awesome there last year. That’s probably what I remember the most. And the corn fields, that was pretty cool. But the fans were unreal, they were behind me all week and I can’t wait to get back there and show them something else.

Three-time 2023 winner Talor Gooch:
I didn’t have a great tournament there last year so I’m ready to go try and make up for it.

Former University Of Illinois star Thomas Pieters:
There’s going to be a lot of friends out there. A lot of faces I haven’t seen in a long time. The Illini fundraiser for our golf team is the Sunday before so I’m going to go to that. Yeah, it’s going to be really cool to see coach again and some of the guys, some of the former golfers. They are going to come back for that event as well. It’ll be a lovely evening.

ABOUT THE COURSE

Rich Harvest Farms
Sugar Grove, Illinois
Par: 71
Yardage: 7,401

Located less than an hour outside of Chicago, Rich Harvest Farms is consistently ranked in Golf Digest’s America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses
Owned and built by Jerry Rich, the course consists of 18 perfectly manicured holes and is an 1,820-acre showcase of nature and agriculture
When it officially opened in 1999, Rich Harvest Farms was rated the 5th Best New Private Golf Course by Golf Digest
In addition to successfully hosting the 2022 LIV Golf Chicago tournament, Rich Harvest Farms also hosted the 2009 Solheim Cup as well as numerous collegiate events, including the 2017 NCAA Division 1 Golf Championships
The popular “Watering Hole” concept prominently featured at LIV Golf Adelaide will be back for the par-3 17th hole in Chicago, with amphitheatre-style seating from tee to green, a live DJ, player-selected walk-up music, and introductions by legendary Chicago sports public address announcer Ray Clay

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Field revealed for LIV Golf Invitational Chicago as Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka headline

Matt Smith — Mon, 12 Sep 2022 13:53:28 +0000

By Matt Smith
The field has been announced for the fifth LIV Golf Invitational Series event, which tees off on Thursday at Rich Harvest Farms outside Chicago.

The global field showcases seven No. 1-ranked players within their respective countries, 13 Olympians, 14 different nations and represents 22 combined major wins. Twenty of the field’s 48 players have 10 or more professional wins in their careers, including current and future stars of the game who have earned NCAA National Championships and US Amateur Championships among their accomplishments.

Former world No. 1 and two-time major winner Dustin Johnson will aim for back-to-back individual victories following a thrilling win at the LIV Golf Invitational Boston, where he sank a lengthy eagle putt on the first playoff hole to defeat LIV Golf newcomers Joaquin Niemann and Anirban Lahiri at The International.

The field is set #LIVGolf #LIVGolfChicago pic.twitter.com/j8zq0y33Gw

— LIV Golf (@LIVGolfInv) September 12, 2022

The Chicago field includes 2022 Open Champion Cameron Smith, who shot 14-under par and finished just off the podium in his LIV Golf debut in Boston. Also making his second LIV Golf appearance is two-time Masters champion and former world No. 2 player Bubba Watson, who will make on-air contributions to live event coverage and serve as a non-playing captain. Four-time major winner and former world No. 1 Brooks Koepka, 2020 US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed and six-time major winner and World Golf Hall of Famer Phil Mickelson are among the 12 major champions who will compete at Rich Harvest Farms.

Johnson (94 points) leading the LIV Golf individual point standings followed by South African Branden Grace (77), Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz (48), and Americans Talor Gooch (48) and Matthew Wolff (47). Players finishing in the top 24 at each 48-player Invitational Series tournament receive points ranging from 40 (1st place) to 1 (21st-24th), and the player with the most points after the seven regular season events will be named Individual Champion.

“Our tournament in Boston showcased a series of firsts in LIV Golf history: a hole-in-one by Matthew Wolff, an electrifying playoff win by Dustin Johnson, and an impressive three-peat by the 4 Aces. After only 12 rounds of golf, LIV Golf has shown that innovations to the sport can breed incredible competition amongst the world’s top golfers,” said Greg Norman, CEO and Commissioner of LIV Golf. “Players are ready for another great test at Rich Harvest Farms, a fantastic course within the legendary sports market of Chicago.”

The field for the LIV Golf Invitational Chicago:
MEX Abraham Ancer
AUS Jediah Morgan
ENG Richard Bland
USA Kevin Na
ENG Laurie Canter
CHL Joaquin Niemann
ENG Paul Casey
RSA Shaun Norris
ESP Eugenio Chacarra
RSA Louis Oosthuizen
USA Bryson DeChambeau
AUS Wade Ormsby
ESP Sergio Garcia
MEX Carlos Ortiz
USA Talor Gooch
USA Pat Perez
RSA Branden Grace
USA Turk Pettit
ENG Sam Horsfield
USA James Piot
USA Charles Howell III
ENG Ian Poulter
USA Dustin Johnson
ESP David Puig
AUS Matt Jones
USA Patrick Reed
THA Sadom Kaewkanjana
RSA Charl Schwartzel
GER Martin Kaymer
AUS Cameron Smith
THA Phachara Khongwatmai
SWE Henrik Stenson
USA Sihwan Kim
USA Hudson Swafford
USA Brooks Koepka
USA Cameron Tringale
USA Chase Koepka
USA Peter Uihlein
USA Jason Kokrak
USA Harold Varner III
IND Anirban Lahiri
ZIM Scott Vincent
AUS Marc Leishman
ENG Lee Westwood
NIR Graeme McDowell
AUT Bernd Wiesberger
USA Phil Mickelson
USA Matthew Wolff

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