The 2024 LIV Golf season continues at Hong Kong Golf Club for LIV Golf Hong Kong. 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. CRUSHERS GC: Move up one spot to sit atop this week’s Power Rankings following their four-shot victory in Jeddah. The group has already amassed an 18-point advantage over second place in the season-long team standings, having finished no worse than fourth through three events. Bryson DeChambeau led the group last week with a fourth-place finish. Prediction: DeChambeau, Howell, Lahiri, Casey
2. TORQUE GC: Joaquin Niemann led Torque GC once again last week, capturing his second LIV victory of the season and his third worldwide win over his last six starts. He was the only player on his team to finish in the top 15, however, leading to a fourth-place team finish. Mito Pereira has yet to get it going with a best result of T-31, but one would think his struggles can’t last much longer. Prediction: Niemann, Pereira, Ortiz, Munoz
3. STINGER GC: Making the biggest climb in this week’s Power Rankings is Stinger GC, who are fresh off a runner-up result in Jeddah. Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel both finished tied for second, while Dean Burmester and Branden Grace were no slouches themselves with equal T-15 finishes. They’ll look to prove their 12th-place finish in Las Vegas was simply a fluke. Prediction: Oosthuizen, Burmester, Schwartzel, Grace.
4. SMASH GC: No signs of a hangover after a win in Las Vegas, finishing third in Jeddah and now sit second in the overall team standings. Talor Gooch and Jason Kokrak both posted top-10s while defending champion Brooks Koepka was just one shot behind them. Although Graeme McDowell has managed a top-5 this year, he’s failed to post a top-30 in the other two events. Prediction: Gooch, Kokrak, Kopeka, McDowell.
Jon Rahm of Legion XIII – LIV Golf
5. Legion XIII: Followed up their debut victory with a pair of fifth-place finishes since, and Jon Rahm’s fifth-place individual result last week led the way for the team for a third straight tournament. Tyrrell Hatton continues to provide consistency with three top-15 results, while Kieran Vincent has held the team back some with a best finish of T-31. Prediction: Rahm, Hatton, Vincent, Surratt.
6. FIREBALLS GC: Have established a pretty safe floor with an eighth-place result and a pair of sixth-place finishes but have yet to show their ceiling. We know it exists as Eugenio Chacarra has a LIV win on his resume, while youngster David Puig continues to get better. We’ve also seen a resurgence from veteran Sergio Garcia, who sits sixth in the individual standings. Prediction: Garcia, Puig, Ancer, Chacarra.
7. RIPPER GC: Sitting right in the middle of our standings we find Ripper GC, which makes sense as they’ve yet to finish inside the top-3 or the bottom-3 in any of the three events. Cameron Smith is coming off a T-41 finish in Jeddah, which matches his worst LIV performance and is likely more of an anomaly than anything else. Matt Jones had a good showing last week finishing 14th, his best result since Valderrama last July. Prediction: Smith, Herbert, Leishman, Jones.
8. HYFLYERS GC: The HyFlyers may sit last in the overall team standings currently, but they’re coming off a season-best eighth-place finish. The team got a much-needed contribution from captain Phil Mickelson, who finished tied for sixth. Andy Ogletree has yet to kick it into gear with a best finish of T-41, while Cameron Tringale and Brendan Steele have each posted a pair of top-25s. Prediction: Tringale, Steele, Mickelson, Ogletree.
Dustin Johnson of 4Aces GC – LIV Golf
9. 4ACES GC: It has been an interesting start to the season for the 4Aces, who have a runner-up result sandwiched in between 12th and 10th place finishes. Surprisingly, Patrick Reed hasn’t been his usual self as he sits tied for 36th in the individual standings. A bounce-back week could easily be in store as it would seem far-fetched for nobody to finish inside the top-20 for a second straight week. Prediction: Johnson, Reed, Varner, Perez.
10. IRON HEADS GC: The Iron Heads may lack star power, but to their credit, they’ve improved in each of the last two weeks and are coming off a seventh-place result in Jeddah. That’s likely about the ceiling for this squad considering Kevin Na is the only player that’s recorded a top-25 finish. Nevertheless, if each player can continue to avoid those disaster weeks, they’ll stay out of the bottom of the rankings. Prediction: Na, Vincent, Kozuma, Lee.
11. CLEEKS GC: There hasn’t been much to write home about for the Cleeks with finishes of eighth, ninth and 11th to start the year. Kalle Samooja and Martin Kaymer haven’t contributed much, as neither has provided a top-25 finish. On a positive note, newcomer Adrian Meronk has recorded back-to-back top-10s to keep the group out of the cellar. Prediction: Meronk, Bland, Samooja, Kaymer.
12. RANGEGOATS GC: Making the largest drop in this week’s Power Rankings are the RangeGoats following their second-to-last performance in Jeddah. Peter Uihlein and Thomas Pieters’ T-37 finishes led the group, while Matthew Wolff withdrew during the second round with an illness. The RangeGoats now have finishes of 11th, third and 12th through three events. Prediction: Uihlein, Watson, Pieters, Wolff.
13. MAJESTICKS GC: It has been a rough go of it in 2024 for Majesticks GC with a best finish of seventh thus far, and the group finished dead last in Jeddah. It’s difficult to paint a rosy picture for this group considering Henrik Stenson is leading the team in the individual standings in 34th place. Nobody amongst this foursome has yet to post a top-10 finish across three events. Prediction: Stenson, Horsfield, Poulter, Westwood.
Images: LIV Golf
