LIV Golf Miami Betting Tips
The LIV Golf circuit moves to Florida this week for LIV Golf Miami, where 13 players will be looking to warm up for the Masters in style.
Next week the spotlight falls on Augusta National, Georgia, for the first Major of the season - and LIV will be heavily represented in the Masters.
Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia, Tyrrell Hatton, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Adrian Meronk, Phil Mickelson, Joaquin Niemann, Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed, Charl Schwartzel, Cameron Smith and Bubba Watson are competing in both LIV Miami and the Masters.
LIV Miami is at a famous venue - Trump National Doral. The course hosted a PGA Tour event from 1962 to 2006, before the WGC-Cadillac Championship was staged there from 2007 through 2016.
The 7,701-yard, par-72, features four par-fives. Mickelson, Reed and Johnson have all won on the PGA Tour at Trump National. The course was used for the LIV Golf Miami Team Championship in 2022 and last year, but this week becomes part of the regular season for the first time.
RAHM SEEKING TO SHED LIV MAIDEN TAG
Jon Rahm will be the defending champion at Augusta next week, having won his first Masters title 12 months ago, and the Spaniard will tee off as a LIV Golf maiden unless he wins in Miami on Sunday.
Rahm, the most high-profile signing in LIV history, joined the breakaway tour for the start of this season. All four of his LIV appearances have gone the same way - he has got himself into contention before faltering over the closing holes.
Rahm would have expected to have got off the mark as a LIV player already, but no trophies have been secured. This week he can be backed at 13/2 to make LIV Miami his breakthrough success.
Rahm has never competed at Trump National, so he will need to quickly adjust to new terrain. Over a 54-hole sprint, a sluggish start can be fatal to a player's chances, so there has probably been some intensity about the 29-year-old in practice.
Joaquin Niemann, who has won two of the four LIV events in 2024, is available at 8/1 to complete a quickfire hat-trick.
TIP 1 - DUSTIN JOHNSON @ 11/1
LIV Miami is a home game for Dustin Johnson, who lives in Florida and has bundles of experience playing at Trump National Doral.
Johnson enjoyed competing in the WGC-Cadillac Championship there in his PGA Tour days. Gil Hanse redesigned the track in the build-up to the 2014 edition of that event, then Johnson compiled WGC form figures of 4-1-14 on the revised layout.
Not only has Johnson won a WGC at Trump National, he captained his 4 Aces side to victory in the 2022 LIV Golf Team Championship there.
Johnson won the last LIV tournament which was staged in America - LIV Las Vegas - and he will be relishing the opportunity to tee up in his adopted home state this week. The former world number one appears to have as good a chance as anyone of winning LIV Miami.
TIP 2 - BRYSON DECHAMBEAU @ 10/1
A LIV Miami duel between Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau could be in the offing. DeChambeau is also well equipped to handle this long, daunting track, and both men will have eyes on completing a Trump National and Augusta double.
DeChambeau, who won the US Open in 2020, will feel he can make a serious impact at the Cathedral of Pines next week. First, though, expect full focus in Miami as he bids for a third LIV victory.
DeChambeau's last PGA Tour success came in Florida in the 2021 Arnold Palmer Invitational. He has returned to the Sunshine State with a similar level of confidence to that which he had back then. The Californian slugger has finished fourth and seventh in his last two starts.
TIP 3 - SAM HORSFIELD @ 100/1
Those in the betting community who fancy a big-price outsider this week should consider Sam Horsfield, who has grown up in Florida and relishes any time he gets to compete in the state he calls home.
Horsfield has suffered with injury during his time on the LIV circuit, but he is fully fit, fresh and hungry for the 2024 campaign, and has no Masters distractions. The Manchester-born powerhouse is eager for LIV glory and can put himself on the leaderboard in Miami.
Each-way terms of a fifth the odds, the first five places, are available, so an each-way investment in Horsfield could yield a healthy return.