PERMUTATIONS FOR LIV GOLF JEDDAH: INDIVIDUAL CHAMPION, TOP 3, TEAM SEEDS
The 2023 LIV Golf League regular-season finale begins with Friday's first round of LIV Golf Jeddah presented by ROSHN. That means the season-long Individual and Team races will come to a conclusion on Sunday.
The key elements at stake:
Individual Champion and Top 3 bonus-paying positions
Lock Zone (top 24), Open Zone (25-44) and Drop Zone (non-captains 45 and below) status
Team Seeds – including the top four bye positions – for season-ending Team Championship in Miami on Oct. 20-22
Here's a look at the various permutations for each race:
INDIVIDUAL CHAMPION
The Individual Champion title will be awarded to the top-ranked player after Jeddah. Three players – No. 1 Cameron Smith, No. 2 Talor Gooch and No. 3 Bryson DeChambeau – are the only players with a mathematical chance of winning the title. Here are the various permutations for each of those players to win the title:
CAMERON SMITH WILL WIN THE TITLE IF …
He wins Jeddah
He finishes either 2nd or 3rd and Gooch doesn’t win
He finishes 4th and Gooch finishes no better than 3rd
He finishes between 5th and 9th, Gooch finishes no better than 4th and DeChambeau doesn’t win
He finishes either 10th or 11th, Gooch finishes no better than 5th and DeChambeau doesn’t win
He finishes 12th, Gooch finishes no better than 6th and DeChambeau doesn’t win
He finishes 13th, Gooch finishes no better than 7th and DeChambeau finishes no better than 3rd
He finishes 14th, Gooch finishes no better than 8th and DeChambeau finishes no better than 3rd
He finishes 15th, Gooch finishes no better than 9th and DeChambeau finishes no better than 3rd
He finishes either 16th or 17th, Gooch finishes no better than 10th and DeChambeau finishes no better than 3rd
He finishes between 18th and 24th, Gooch finishes no better than 11th and DeChambeau finishes no better than 3rd
He finishes no better than 25th, Gooch finishes no better than 12th and DeChambeau finishes no better than 3rd
TALOR GOOCH WILL WIN THE TITLE IF …
He wins Jeddah
He finishes 2nd and Smith finishes no better than 4th
He finishes 3rd, Smith finishes no better than 5th and DeChambeau doesn’t win
He finishes 4th, Smith finishes no better than 10th and DeChambeau doesn’t win
He finishes 5th, Smith finishes no better than 12th and DeChambeau doesn’t win
He finishes 6th, Smith finishes no better than 13th and DeChambeau finishes no better than 3rd
He finishes 7th, Smith finishes no better than 14th and DeChambeau finishes no better than 3rd
He finishes 8th, Smith finishes no better than 15th and DeChambeau finishes no better than 3rd
He finishes 9th, Smith finishes no better than 16th and DeChambeau finishes no better than 3rd
He finishes 10th, Smith finishes no better than 18th and DeChambeau finishes no better than 3rd
He finishes 11th, Smith finishes no better than 25th and DeChambeau finishes no better than 4th
BRYSON DECHAMBEAU WILL WIN THE TITLE IF …
He wins Jeddah; Smith finishes no better than 5th; Gooch finishes no better than 3rd
He finishes 2nd; Smith finishes no better than 13th; Gooch finishes no better than 6th
He finishes 3rd; Smith finishes 25th or worse; Gooch finishes no better than 11th
Click here for more on the top three in the Individual Champion race
THIRD PLACE
The top three players in season-long points will earn bonuses. Besides the three players competing for the No. 1 crown, five other players enter LIV Golf Jeddah with a chance to finish in the bonus-paying third place.
NO. 4 PATRICK REED WILL FINISH THIRD IF …
He wins Jeddah and DeChambeau finishes no better than 6th
He finishes 2nd, DeChambeau finishes no better than 15th, and Johnson, Grace or Koepka do not win
NO. 5 BROOKS KOEPKA WILL FINISH THIRD IF …
He wins Jeddah and DeChambeau finishes no better than 14th
NO. 6 BRANDEN GRACE WILL FINISH THIRD IF …
He wins Jeddah and DeChambeau finishes no better than 14th
NO. 7 DUSTIN JOHNSON WILL FINISH THIRD IF …
He wins Jeddah and DeChambeau finishes no better than 15th
NO. 8 MITO PEREIRA WILL FINISH THIRD IF …
He wins Jeddah; DeChambeau finishes no better than 25th; Reed finishes no better than 3rd
Click here for more on Patrick Reed's chase for the third-place position
LOCK ZONE
The top 24 players in season-long points following the conclusion of LIV Golf Jeddah will lock in spots for the 2024 LIV Golf League. Entering LIV Golf Jeddah, the top 17 players in points have secured spots inside the top 24 Lock Zone, regardless of their individual results in Jeddah (Team captains also have guaranteed spots).
Those players are Cameron Smith, Talor Gooch, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka, Branden Grace, Dustin Johnson, Mito Pereira, Sebastian Munoz, Anirban Lahiri, Harold Varner III, Peter Uihlein, Charles Howell III, Dean Burmester, Carlos Ortiz, Marc Leishman and Cameron Tringale.
These non-captain players have a high probability of finishing inside the top 24:
No. 18 Brendan Steele should be safe with a finish of 20th or higher
No. 20 Richard Bland should be safe with a finish of 11th or higher
Non-captains outside the top 24 with a mathematically chance of moving inside the Lock Zone are Matthew Wolff, Abraham Ancer, Pat Perez, Danny Lee, David Puig, Scott Vincent, Eugenio Chacarra, Thomas Pieters, Paul Casey, Matt Jones, Sam Horsfield, Charl Schwartzel and Graeme McDowell.
DROP ZONE
Non-captain players who finish 45th or lower in points at the end of the regular season will be relegated out of the league but will have a chance to regain a spot at the Promotion tournament in December.
The four non-captains currently at 45 or below are Jediah Morgan, James Piot, Chase Koepka and Sihway Kim. There are numerous permutations involved depending on how others currently above them in the standings perform. Suffice to say that each of the four will need a high finish in Jeddah to move out of the Drop Zone.
TOP FOUR TEAMS
The top four teams in points after LIV Golf Jeddah will secure first-round byes for the Team Championship in Miami. In addition, the seeds for each team will be determined, with higher seeds receiving the opportunity to choose their opponent for the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds.
Defending champion 4Aces GC is the current points leader and the only team going into Jeddah that has already secured a first-round bye. The next four teams in the standings – No. 2 Crushers GC, No. 3 Torque GC, No. 4 Stinger GC and No. 5 RangeGoats GC – are vying for the final three byes. The permutations for each team (reminder: Only the top eight teams in the final Jeddah team leaderboard receive points):
CRUSHER GC is guaranteed a top 4 spot UNLESS …
RangeGoats and Stinger finish in the Top 2 in Jeddah; Torque finishes in the Top 5; and Crushers finish with no points (9th or worse)
TORQUE GC is guaranteed a top 4 spot UNLESS …
RangeGoats win; Stinger finishes 2nd; Torque finishes 5th
RangeGoats and Stinger finish in Top 2; Torque finishes 6th or 7th
RangeGoats finish Top 2; Stingers finish Top 3; Torque finishes 8th or worse
STINGER GC is guaranteed a top 4 spot UNLESS …
RangeGoats finish between 1st and 6th and Stingers have a lower result
RangeGoats finish 7th and Stingers finish with no points (9th or worse)
RANGEGOATS GC is guaranteed a top 4 spot UNLESS …
Stingers have a higher finish
Stingers finish 8th and RangeGoats finish 7th
RangeGoats finish 8th or worse