This article is part of our DFS Golf series.
LIV GOLF JEDDAH
Purse: $20M individual, $5 million team
Winner's share: $4M individual, $3M team
Location: King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia
Course: Royal Greens Golf & Country Club
Yardage: 7,048
Par: 70
For more information, check out RotoWire's LIV Golf Optimizer.
Tournament Preview
Following a three-week break, the LIV Golf Circuit returns to action Thursday, March 1, and departs from North America to Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia. Not only is Royal Greens the first course to host three LIV Golf tournaments, it is also host to the PIF Saudi International, as part of the Asian Tour, with each winner coming from members of the 2024 LIV Golf League. Former winners include 4Aces captain Dustin Johnson, Smash GC Graeme McDowell, 4Aces Harold Varner III and Fireballs GC Abraham Ancer.
Fans may remember that Jeddah has served as the penultimate event of the LIV Golf season the past two years, and it often serves as the tournament that ultimately decides the winners of the individual and team season awards. That will not be the case this year, however, as the Jeddah event has moved into the third stop of the 2024 season. The Royal Greens course itself is of similar length to Las Vegas Country club, with the former's signature hole located at the 180-yard, par-three 16th which sits just off of the Red Sea. Temperatures are expected to hit the high 80s-to-low 90s for the three-day event, have little precipitation and wind gusts of 10-15 miles per hour.
The first two tournaments of 2024 have brought plenty of action. Following a fifth-place finish in Mayakoba, Dustin Johnson captured the Las Vegas Event for his third individual win on the LIV Golf Circuit, and he became the first player to win an individual event in each of the league's first three seasons. Thanks to his victory in Las Vegas, Johnson sits at the top of the individual standings with 54.33 points, followed by Torque GC captain and Maykoba winner Joaquin Niemann (40 points), Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm (33 points), Smash GC's Talor Gooch (30.50 points) and Fireballs GC captain Sergio Garcia (30 points). As far as the team standings, Legion XIII sits at the top with 40 points thanks to their victory in Mayakoba and fifth-place finish in Las Vegas, followed by Crushers GC (36 points after finishing second and fourth) and Las Vegas winners Smash GC (34 points).
Speaking of Smash GC, team captain Brooks Koepka won both the 2022 and 2023 LIV Golf Jeddah events in playoffs, and he will look to make it three in a row in Saudi Arabia while attempting to prop his team to a second-straight victory. He'll have plenty of competition in the field, so let's dive into the field and make our DFS picks for this weekend.
DraftKings Value Picks
Based on a Standard $50K Salary Cap
Tier 1 Values
Dustin Johnson - $10,400 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +800)
Johnson enters the Jeddah event with the second-shortest odds to win the tournament behind Jon Rahm. Johnson managed to close out the Las Vegas event thanks to some timely birdies down the stretch and will look to go back-to-back on the LIV Circuit this weekend. Over the first two LIV Golf events, Johnson is tied with Ripper GC captain Cameron Smith with the most average birdies per round (5.17) and is T3 in average putts per hole (1.48)
Brooks Koepka - $9,700 (+1100)
Koepka has finished in the top-15 in both LIV Golf events this season and helped Smash GC to a victory in the team event in Las Vegas. Koepka is T4 in GIR (71.3 percent) and seventh in scrambling (70.97 percent) over the first two events, which should translate well at Royal Gardens as he looks to win the Jeddah event for the third consecutive year.
Talor Gooch - $9,600 (+1400)
Gooch currently sits in fourth in the individual standings after sharing second place with Peter Uihlein in Las Vegas. Gooch was the winner of the individual season award last season, in large part due to his consistency as he placed 15th or better -- including three victories -- in 2023. He placed near the top of the field in most statistical categories in Las Vegas including T1 in average birdies per round (5.33), second in average putts (1.44) and fifth in scrambling (75.00 percent).
Tier 2 Values
Bryson DeChambeau - $9,400 (+1400)
DeChambeau will be looking to get back on track in Jeddah after failing to capture the Las Vegas event despite going into the final round as co-leader with Dustin Johnson. In the last event, DeChambeau shot a four-over 74 in the final round which dropped him down to a share of 12th place. While his average putts (1.70 - T48) and scrambling (44.44 percent - 49th) in Vegas were poor, he finished second in GIR (83.33 percent), so he's giving himself plenty of chances to score low.
Paul Casey - $9,100 (+3500)
After finishing the 2023 season 35th in the individual standings, Casey finds himself in seventh place after finishes of T11 and T5 over the first two events. Casey ranks second in GIR (73.15 percent), T6 in fairway accuracy (55.95 percent) and 10th in scrambling (68.97 percent), and if he can get his putting game in check (T37 with 1.6 putts per hole), he should be in contention for another top-12 finish.
Adrian Meronk - $8,900 (+3500)
Abraham Ancer was a strong consideration here, given his 2023 PIF Saudi International victory, but he has failed to finish in the top-20 over the first two events. Meronk, on the other hand, bounced back from a disappointing 47th place in Mayakoba to finish for a share of ninth in Las Vegas when he showed why he climbed to 39th in the world rankings. He finished T4 in fairway accuracy (69.05 percent) and fifth in GIR (79.63 percent) in Las Vegas.
Tier 3 Values
Anthony Kim - $7,700 (+15000)
Kim was one of the rising stars in professional golf, winning multiple tournaments and climbing as high as sixth in the world rankings before injuries forced him to step away from the game at just 26 years of age. Since 2012, Kim has appeared sparingly at charity golf events, but has otherwise kept himself out of the spotlight. It's been a long layoff since his last professional event, but Kim will bring his talent and loud belt buckles to Jeddah, and he could very well make noise as a Wild Card player.
Caleb Surratt - $7,600 (+6500)
Surratt has back-to-back top-15 finishes in his two first LIV events. While he didn't display much accuracy in Las Vegas (T42 with 62.96 percent GIR and T46 with 45.24 percent fairway accuracy), he finished T6 in the field in average putts per hole (1.54) which kept him afloat throughout the tournament.
Carlos Ortiz - $7,300 (+5000)
Ortiz has finishes of T43 and T39 over the first two LIV Golf tournaments and doesn't stick out in any of the major statistical categories. However, the 32-year-old beat out several LIV players to capture the International Series Oman on Sunday and could ride that momentum to climb up from the bottom of the individual standings.
Richard Bland - $7,100 (+5000)
Bland sits in 19th place in the individual standings after T11 and T15 finishes in Mayakoba and Las Vegas respectively. He's had some disappointing rounds weaved into outstanding ones over the first two events, and if Bland can minimize his mistakes, could very well finish in the top 15 once again. He ranks T4 in GIR (71.3 percent) and sits in the top 20 in fairway accuracy (T16), birdies per hole (T18) and scrambling (T18) so far in 2024.
Tier 4 Values
Branden Grace - $6,900 (+13000)
Grace bounced back from a horrendous T49 finish in Mayakoba to finish for a share of 21st place in Las Vegas, largely thanks to his five-under 65 in the second round. He placed T6 in scrambling 73.33 percent) and T14 in GIR (72.22 percent) in that event, and could've placed higher had his fairway accuracy been better (50.00 percent, 43rd in the field).
Graeme McDowell - $6,700 (+15000)
McDowell captured the 2020 PIF Saudi International event, and while he finished 29th in the Jeddah event in 2023, he stroked a seven-under final round and totaled eight birdies to just one bogey. He captured his first points of the individual standings thanks to a T5 finish in Las Vegas when he shot four-under and five-under in the first and third rounds respectively.
Pat Perez - $6,500 (+20000)
After a T51 finish in Mayakoba, Perez rebounded with a T15 finish in Las Vegas as he stroked scores of 67-69-69. His second round performance was a roller coaster, as he started the day at four-over after six holes but managed to recover with six birdies from there on out. Perez finished near the bottom of the field in driving distance (48th) and GIR (T46), but his 1.50 putts per hole and 64.29 percent fairway accuracy ranked T3 and T14 respectively.
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