IT’S DO-OR-RELEGATION TIME FOR THESE FOUR IN JEDDAH

“Sometimes, you’ve just got to embrace the suck,” the Smash GC member said.

For Koepka, Ripper GC’s Jed Morgan, HyFlyers GC’s James Piot and Iron Heads GC’s Sihwan Kim, it’s do-or-relegation time at LIV Golf Jeddah presented by ROSHN.

Those four enter this week in the dreaded Drop Zone, the bottom portion of the season-long Individual Champion standings. Non-captains who finish the regular season ranked 45th or lower will be relegated out of the league, although they’ll have the chance to play their way back in at the Promotions tournament later this year.

Since Jeddah is the final event of the regular season, this is the last opportunity for any of the four to move from the Drop Zone into the Open Zone, which will give them free agency and the possibility of re-signing with their own teams (or perhaps a different one).

Although the Open Zone does not immediately guarantee a spot in next year’s LIV Golf League, at least it’s not automatic expulsion after the season concludes with next week’s Team Championship in Miami.

“You can look at it like it’s a big week or you can look at it like it’s just another week, which it is,” Morgan said. “One thing I’ve tried to work on this year is treating every week the same. There’s no reason to treat it any different – even though I know I need to play well.”

Morgan has three points this season, leaving him 46th in the standings and trailing No. 44 Open Zone bubble boy Bernd Wiesberger by five points. (No. 45 is Majesticks GC Co-Captain Lee Westwood, exempt from relegation.)

Piot is 47th with one point, thanks to his 22nd place in Greenbrier.

Koepka, 48th, also has one point. It came in Adelaide in mid-April when he tied Danny Lee for 24th on the traditional leaderboard. Koepka claimed the tiebreaker thanks to a better final-round score – a 6-under 66 highlighted by this season’s most memorable shot, his ace at the Watering Hole.

Kim, 50th, has yet to finish in the points this season. His best result is 33rd in Bedminster.

While there are too many variables to predict the minimum result needed for the four players to move out of the Drop Zone, assume that it’ll need to be somewhere in the top 10 to have any shot.

But calculations and permutations at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club are not a priority. The four just want to play up to their expectations.

“It’s my own fault for putting myself in this position,” the 29-year-old Koepka said. “All I can is try to play well. It hasn’t gone very well for me at all this year. Hopefully I’m just saving it until the end, even though I didn’t really want to.”

“My goal is just to play the best I can,” said the 24-year-old Piot, the 2021 U.S. Amateur champ. “Phil [Mickelson, HyFlyers captain] and the guys have done a great job talking to me about it and saying, hey, don’t worry about the outcome. Just play the best you can. That’s going to be focus for me.”

Said Kim: “I’ve been actually hitting it pretty good. Changed my driver. I’ve been hitting my driver a lot more. But obviously, when you lose confidence, it takes a while to get that back up. So, I’ve been playing a lot better, but I’ve been scoring poorly.”

Added Morgan: “There’s a lot of things under the surface that are improving at the moment that aren’t quite coming through in the game just yet. You don’t really get full control over when that happens in golf, unfortunately. But I’m happy, I’m having fun and I’m enjoying myself with the boys. Just hope the good golf comes.”

Perhaps they can draw upon some good vibes at Royal Greens.

Koepka and Morgan each finished T-12th on the traditional leaderboard in LIV Golf Invitational Jeddah last year. “Great golf course,” Morgan said. “It’s fun,” Koepka added.

Piot played well the first two days last year and was tied for seventh going into Sunday (he eventually finished 24th). Returning to Royal Greens in February for the PIF Saudi International powered by Softbank Investment Advisers, he shot a 63 that tied for the low score of the final round. It’s the last time he had seen the course until this week.

“A lot of good stuff on this course for me,” Piot said. “It fits my game.”

As for Kim? A year ago, he came to Jeddah clinging to the 24th and final points position that would guarantee a spot for the 2023 season. He played well the first two rounds, but a late double bogey in the final round threatened his position. He bounced back with a birdie on the par-5 18th, eventually finishing the tournament 20th on the points leaderboard. He claimed two points for the effort and remained 24th in the standings. It’s why he’s on the Iron Heads roster this week.

Now the circumstances are more dire. But hope remains.

“I just want to get out there and just play my heart out,” Kim said. “Hopefully, the results will come by itself.”