The curtain comes down on the third LIV Golf season in Dallas this week with the climax of the Team Championship.
A total of 13 quartets will assemble at Maridoe Golf Club to battle it out for the big prize with defending champions Crushers, captained by Bryson DeChambeau and Legion XIII, led by individual winner Jon Rahm, among the favourites.
Those two, along with the all-Australian group Ripper, will go straight through to Saturday’s semi-finals and will be joined by five teams from the rest of the field, who will battle it out over singles and foursomes to make the weekend.
But there is value to be had in backing a couple of teams further down the list who could triumph in Sunday’s stroke play event involving the final four teams.
- SMASH TO WIN LIV GOLF DALLAS
- FIRE BALLS TO WIN LIVE GOLF DALLAS
Smash Can Emerge From The Pack
Crushers have finished in the top three in seven of the 13 LIV events this year, but Maridoe is a test of accuracy which may not suit gung-ho skipper Bryson DeChambeau due to the amount of water that comes into play.
And with Rahm and team mate Tyrrell Hatton needing the help of strugglers Caleb Surrett and Kieran Vincent, it could pay to go with number four seeds Smash, who will get first pick in who they will take on in the quarter-finals.
They will be led by Brooks Koepka, who has the perfect temperament for this test and also have Talor Gooch, who won the individual prize last year and finished tenth this year, among their number.
Smash won at the Greenbrier event last month when Koepka came out on top of the individual standings, and they would have gone a lot closer to earning a top-three seeding had they not been disqualified in Nashville when they had finished third.
Graeme McDowell received a ban after failing a doping test when he took a banned nasal decongestant, but he is back in the fold after a better season than his previous two campaigns and he was always a great battler when he played in the Ryder Cup, so the early match play rounds could suit.
Jason Kokrak, who was 22nd in the outright standings, makes up the group and they look to have a good dynamic going into this week’s battle.
SMASH TO WIN LIV GOLF DALLAS
Fire Balls Set To Make Their Presence Felt
The Fire Balls will get third choice in picking their quarter-final opponents and the quartet led by Sergio Garcia looks a strong one.
The former Masters champion has enjoyed a strong campaign, finishing third behind fellow Spaniard Rahm and Joaquin Niemann, and triumphed at the get-together in Andalucia.
He and Mexican team-mate Abraham Ancer are the sort of quality ball-strikers who should flourish at Maridoe and they will be accompanied by David Puig and Eugenio Chacarra, both of whom have experience of the Texas track from their amateur days.
There looks a strong chance that they can force their way into the picture.
FIRE BALLS TO WIN LIVE GOLF DALLAS
