LIV Golf continues its 2022 road show, traveling across the country from Portland, Oregon, to Bedminster, New Jersey, this week for the third event of the season.
Earlier this month, it was Branden Grace finishing off the second three-day event with a final-round 65 as he earned the $4 million top prize when the tour stopped in Portland.
Add that to his third-place finish in the inaugural LIV event and Grace’s move to the new league is paying off in a big way. In the first two events, Grace has pocketed $6.4 million (including his quarter share of the $1.5 million his team earned for finishing second in Portland.)
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To put that in perspective, since turning pro 15 years ago, Grace earned a little more than $12 million on the PGA Tour. He’s made half that amount in two events at LIV. Not a bad pay increase.
It’s no wonder another three players last week–Henrik Stenson, Jason Kokrak and Charles Howell III–have now made the leap to the new league. Is that the end of the players jumping ship? Not a chance.
Who will be next? Well, let’s just say there are a number of top 100 in the world golf rankings leaning in that direction.
And on top of the players, broadcaster David Feherty is on his way to the new league and, for some reason, Charles Barkley is in talks for some unnamed position.
So for the time being, the new league is still small when it comes to stature but growing. And it is huge when it comes to payouts and guaranteed contracts.
Now it’s across the country to Bedminster, NJ., at Trump National Golf Club, for the third event. Who will step up and grab the huge check this week? Let’s take a look.
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Odds to Win the LIV Golf Invitational (Westgate SuperBook)
| Player | SuperBook Odds |
|---|---|
| Dustin Johnson | +700 |
| Bryson DeChambeau | +1000 |
| Abraham Ancer | +1200 |
| Louie Oosthuizen | +1400 |
| Talor Gooch | +1400 |
| Patrick Reed | +1600 |
| Brooks Koepka | +2000 |
| Branden Grace | +2500 |
| Jason Kokrak | +2500 |
| Paul Casey | +2500 |
| Sergio Garcia | +2500 |
| Kevin Na | +3000 |
| Matthew Wolff | +3000 |
| Sam Horsfield | +3000 |
| Charles Howell III | +3500 |
As always, shop around the sports betting industry for the best odds on your plays.
The PGA Tour Still Stands Out
No matter how they try to sell the LIV Tour, it’s still the PGA Tour-Lite…well, at least player-wise. Money-wise, not so much. After all, of the top 100 players in the world, 78 are still playing on the PGA Tour–at least for now.
Stay tuned in the coming weeks to see if that number dwindles and also to see what happens between the two tours.
It’s safe to say the impact LIV Golf is making on the world of golf is growing. Whether that’s good news or bad news depends on your point of view. Now, back to the golf talk.
It’s time for one of the LIV stars to step up and earn the mega millions in guaranteed money that is being doled out by picking up a victory.
Who will that be?
Well, the answer should be easy and it’s who everyone should have on their mind.
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One Headliner is on the Rise
Dustin Johnson, the favorite this week at +700, is the second biggest name in the LIV stable…right behind Phil Mickelson (who is at +150000 for those of you looking for a longshot).
And that’s only because of stature and not talent. We are discounting Mickelson having any impact on the golf course for the simple reason he’s been out for a Sunday stroll in the first two events.
Well, actually a Thursday through Saturday stroll as this league doesn’t play on Sundays. He hasn’t sniffed a spot on the first page of the leaderboard yet.
And let’s just say it’s a good thing there isn’t a cut in this league because Mickelson would have had two trunk-slamming events so far.
Johnson, on the other hand, stepped up in the last event and wound up T-3 in Portland with a not-so-DJ-like final round of one-under-par that left him short of the title. It’s time for him to take control and show this league why he’s being paid just to show up.
He won’t be getting world ranking points as he’s no longer eligible for them so the next best thing for Johnson is to become the top gun at LIV.
Will being No. 1 in the LIV ranks satisfy Johnson? Probably not. But you can bet his family, accountant and Johnson himself will love the end-of-the-month bank statements.
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Take One of the New Kids on the Block
Take a look at Jason Kokrak this week at +2500. He left the PGA Tour on less than amicable terms as he walked out of his final event, the Travelers Championship, on the 72nd hole and was disqualified.
He played in the Scottish Open and the Open Championship–not as a PGA Tour member–but hasn’t looked back at the PGA Tour. Instead, he’s looking ahead to bigger things…money-wise, anyway.
Granted, he was struggling in his last five starts (his best finish was T-42 at the Open Championship) so he had to be looking to change something up. Turns out it wasn’t his swing or his mental approach. It was his bank account.
Along with a new tour to call home, he’s likely getting a huge pile of money just to show up at each event. A win would put an exclamation point on his decision.
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