LIV GOLF JEDDAH: TEAM POWER RANKINGS

The 2024 LIV Golf season continues at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club at King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia. Each tournament week, we’ll provide team power rankings, a brief breakdown of each team and predicted order of finish for the individuals in each team.

1. SMASH GC: Smash GC takes a big leap in this week’s rankings after a dominating performance in Las Vegas in which they won by seven shots. All four members finished tied for 12th or better, including a career-best LIV performance (T-5) from Graeme McDowell. Brooks Koepka defeated his new teammate Talor Gooch in a playoff here last year. Predicted order of finish: Koepka, Gooch, Kokrak, McDowell

2. CRUSHERS GC: The Crushers have had a consistent start to the year as they’re the only team to finish fourth or better in both events. The group finished a respectable fifth here last year but were only three shots behind second place. Charles Howell III led the squad with a T-6 result in that event, while Paul Casey and Bryson DeChambeau both posted top-10s in Vegas. Predicted order of finish: DeChambeau, Howell III, Casey, Lahiri

3. TORQUE GC: Torque GC may seem a bit high at first glance following a sixth place showing in Vegas, but they opened the season by finishing third in Mayakoba and return three players from a team that finished fourth here last year. The new man to the group, Carlos Ortiz, just won on the Asian Tour last week, while Mito Pereira and Joaquin Niemann both have top-10s at Jeddah. Predicted order of finish: Pereira, Niemann, Ortiz, Munoz

4. 4ACES GC: It was a tale of two tournaments for the 4Aces to begin the year. After finishing 12th in Mayakoba, they rebounded with a runner-up result in Las Vegas. Dustin Johnson is coming off his third LIV victory, but he’s the only player on his team to record a top-10 in either event thus far. Harold Varner held a share for the first-round lead in Vegas but struggled thereafter to finish T-27. Predicted order of finish: Johnson, Varner, Reed, Perez

5. LEGION XIII: After winning in their first start, Legion XIII came back to life with a respectable fifth place result in Vegas. Jon Rahm sits third in the overall individual standings, while teammate Tyrrell Hatton has posted finishes of T-8 and T-12. A lack of course history will always make this group a little tougher to handicap, leaving us likely to err on the side of caution. Predicted order of finish: Rahm, Hatton, Surratt, K. Vincent

6. RANGEGOATS GC: Much like the 4Aces, the RangeGoats improved dramatically in their second event to finish third, although they have to be a little disappointed after entering the final round tied for the lead. After only beating one golfer in Mayakoba, Peter Uihlein only failed to shoot better than Johnson in Vegas. This team very well may be the most hit-or-miss throughout the season. Predicted order of finish: Uihlein, Wolff, Watson, Pieters

7. RIPPER GC: It’s been a respectable start to the year for Cam Smith as the leader of Ripper GC, but he’s yet to get help he needs from his teammates. The rest of the group has failed to record a top-20 finish in either tournament, leading to finishes of fourth and 10th. A breakout week may have to wait, as the team finished 11th at Jeddah last year. Predicted order of finish: Smith, Herbert, Leishman, Jones

8. FIREBALLS GC: The Fireballs serve as the defending champions, but something will have to give between their history here and their current form as they’ve finished sixth and eighth through two events in 2024. David Puig won in Malaysia two weeks ago and the 22-year-old looks like a budding star. The group needs more out of Eugenio Chacarra, who has finished T-30 and T-32 thus far. Predicted order of finish: Garcia, Puig, Ancer, Chacarra

9. MAJESTICKS GC: The Majesticks have failed to show much to begin the year with seventh and ninth place showings and the same group of four finished dead last at Jeddah last year, leaving much to be desired heading into the week. Henrik Stenson leads the team in the individual standings in a share of 24th place, showing how average of a start it has been. Predicted order of finish: Stenson, Poulter, Westwood, Horsfield

10. CLEEKS GC: The Cleeks have been a case of mediocrity thus far with results of eighth and ninth. On the plus side, Adrian Meronk was much improved in his second LIV start with a top-10 result. Richard Bland also posted three rounds in the 60s here last year, so the potential for a better showing is there if Kalle Samooja and Martin Kaymer pick up their play. Predicted order of finish: Meronk, Bland, Samooja, Kaymer

11. STINGER GC: Taking the biggest drop in this week’s rankings is Stinger GC after finishing second-to-last in Las Vegas. None of the four team members finished inside the top-20 in the individual portion, and Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel finished in the bottom five. It’s difficult to expect a big improvement considering this group took ninth here in October. Predicted order of finish: Oosthuizen, Burmester, Schwartzel, Grace

12. IRON HEADS GC: The Iron Heads improved on their last place performance to start the year by finishing 11th in Las Vegas and three out of four players remain from this squad that finished eighth in Jeddah last year. While this team generally lacks much upside, Scott Vincent was just two shots out of the playoff here in October. That’s enough to keep them out of the cellar, for now. Predicted order of finish: S. Vincent, Na, Kozuma, Lee

13. HYFLYERS GC: Coming in last in the power rankings for the first time are the HyFlyers after finishing dead last in Vegas. Through two events, Cameron Tringale’s T-17 result in Mayakoba is the group’s best individual result, and newcomer to the team Andy Ogletree has struggled to carry his Asian Tour momentum over to LIV with results of T-50 and T-45. Predicted order of finish: Tringale, Steele, Ogletree, Mickelson