HOW MUCH WILL RIPPER GC BENEFIT FROM HOME COURSE ADVANTAGE?

That was three weeks ago – and half a world away.

Now the Rippers are on home turf for the first time, with the LIV Golf League making its initial visit Down Under. Captain Cameron Smith and his mates will be playing on course conditions familiar to them more than any other team. They’ll have huge support from the sold-out Adelaide galleries. The entire city has basically become one giant cheering section; every bus and tram seems to have Smith’s mullet image on it.

In LIV Golf’s brief history, no team has ever started a tournament with all these home-course advantages.

Based purely on standings and recent form, the Rippers shouldn’t be the favorites this week. Yet when the first round begins Friday at 11:45 a.m. local time (10:15 p.m. ET Thursday night), it’s the Aussies who’ll wear the biggest targets on their backs.

“The Rippers are going to be tough to beat,” said Bryson DeChambeau, whose Crushers GC won the first team title of the season in Mayakoba. “They’ve played here their whole lives, so they’re going to have a huge crowd behind them of support. But we’ll see as the week goes on.”

“I’d say pretty much everyone is going to be rooting for them, which is a good thing, right?” added Smash GC Captain Brooks Koepka, the individual winner in Orlando. “They should. They should have the hometown advantage, the support. Everybody should be out there cheering for them, which will be good to see, just as far as like on a league level. I think that would be fantastic.”

Such one-sided support could give the other 11 teams the ability to fly under the radar, focus strictly on the golf and leave the pressure of meeting expectations strictly to the Rippers.

But 4Aces GC Captain Dustin Johnson is not willing to concede all the support. His team not only won the Team Championship last season, it leads the current standings through three events this year despite not having won a tournament title. Three consecutive podium results – second-place finishes in Mayakoba and Tucson, followed by a third in Orlando – have the 4Aces feeling like there’s room to improve, even as they stand at the top.

“Obviously Cam, their Australia team, they're going to have a ton of support,” Johnson said. “I feel like we'll have a lot of support, too. I don't know, I just have that feeling.

“It doesn't matter. Either way, if you want to win, you're going to need all four guys playing well, so obviously whichever team does that is going to win. For us, we're just trying to get that first win of the season. I think it's looking pretty good for this week.”

The 4Aces won five times during the inaugural 2022 Invitational Series. The Rippers – known last year as Punch GC before Smith instituted a re-branding that focused on Aussie elements such as the Southern Cross-inspired logo and local slang nickname – have not come close to winning a regular-season event.

They did nearly upset the 4Aces last year in the championship round in Miami, thanks to Smith’s sizzling performance at Trump National Doral. But they’ve made little noise this year.

They’d love for that to change this week, especially knowing the fans will be supplying their own high-decibel efforts. Yet despite all those advantages, the Rippers don’t seem eager to embrace the favorite roles.

“We can’t really worry about whether we’re favorites or whether we’re not favorites,” said Marc Leishman. “I don’t know, to be honest. But Cam has been playing great. I think if we can play good, we’ve just got to let things unfold and see how it turns out.”

“I don’t think we’re favorites this week,” added Matt Jones. “I think we know the capabilities we have as a team and as players individually. If we play to our capabilities and abilities, I think you’ll see Rippers up there close to the lead come Sunday.”

The decisive advantage may not be the crowd so much as the course. The Rippers grew up on sand belt golf and hope to tap into that experience at The Grange Golf Club, even though the players have little familiarity with the course itself

“It’s nice to be back in Australian turf conditions,” Leishman said. “It’s great turf conditions all around the world, but you can just tell when you’re in Australia. It’s firmer, it’s fast around the greens, and it’s just different. I think just our years of playing on these turf conditions might be a little advantage rather than knowing the course well, if that makes sense.”

“Growing up as an Aussie, you learn so many different shots around the green,” added Jediah Morgan, the youngest Ripper at age 23. “It’s nice to come back and … have the opportunity to play three different shots from the same spot.”

Of course, it’s still a matter of executing whatever option is selected.

Thus far, the final team results in 2023 have not been particularly kind to the Rippers. Perhaps a trip home will change that. The last time Smith returned home to compete, he won the Australian PGA Championship in his hometown of Brisbane last November.

“Internally, we’re probably quietly confident,” Smith said. “We’ve spent a lot of time out on the course. There’s a lot of good memories, I think, for everyone on Australian golf courses. So yeah, we’re quietly confident.”

That might be the last time anybody in Adelaide is quiet this week – especially if the Rippers are hoisting the team trophy Sunday night.