RADIO
The LIV Golf League will hold this week’s event at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club, located in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia. Royal Greens Golf and Country Club has won several awards, including Best Golf Course in both Saudi Arabia and the Middle East at the 2021 World Golf Awards. This will be the second consecutive year that Royal Greens Golf and Country Club has hosted a LIV Golf League event. Royal Greens has also hosted the Saudi International since 2019 and the Aaramco Saudi Ladies International since 2020.
Last year Brooks Koepka (-14) defeated Talor Gooch in two playoff holes to bring home the LIV Jeddah title. Sergio Garcia, Harold Varner, and Scott Vincent finished two shots back to round out the top five. It marked the second straight year Koepka won LIV Jeddah, after defeating Peter Uihlein in a playoff in 2022. LIV Golfers Abraham Ancer, Harold Varner, Graeme McDowell, and Dustin Johnson have all won the Saudi International played at this course.
The event will be played Friday-Sunday and will air on the CW Network in 100% of U.S. markets, as well as the CW App and LIV Golf Plus. Globally, the event will be broadcast in over 160 international territories Live and On-Demand, free of charge, via LIV Golf Plus.
LIV Golf Jeddah Course Breakdown
Below is the official Round 1 scorecard provided by LIV Golf.
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 35 |
| Yardage | 361 | 439 | 208 | 569 | 427 | 470 | 381 | 173 | 498 | 3526 |
| Hole | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In |
| Par | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 35 |
| Yardage | 372 | 164 | 459 | 492 | 433 | 427 | 180 | 388 | 607 | 3522 |
Royal Greens Golf and Country Club was created by European Golf Design with David Sampson as the lead architect. The construction on the course began in 2008, but was delayed for quite some time during the process and was not completed until 2017. The course features Paspalum Dynasty grass throughout and is neighbored by the Red Sea, which will serve as a frequent backdrop throughout the round. The main defense of the course is the bunkers and water hazards, which create risk/reward scenarios for the players throughout the round.
This week, the course will play as a 7048-yard par-70. Course history has proven that there are a variety of ways to win at Royal Greens. Harold Varner won at -13 in 2022 by taking advantage of the two par 5s, shooting -10 on them for the week. Dustin Johnson won at -19 in 2019 by overpowering the course with his driver and hitting mostly wedges into greens. Abraham Ancer and Graeme McDowell are both shorter hitters and won by hitting a ton of fairways and having a great short game.
With the course being open and right along the Red Sea, wind is always an interesting factor in previewing this event. As of now, the wind is forecasted to be blowing steadily in the teens over all three days of the event. While we are still a few days out and forecasts could change, I believe the wind could be beneficial to more accurate hitters as players will have a more difficult time trying to overpower this course.
LIV Golf Betting Odds - Jeddah
Below are the current odds to win LIV Jeddah. Odds on different sportsbooks are subject to change, so I would recommend finding the best numbers available. Please note for my picks, I have used odds from FanDuel Sportsbook. However, for formatting purposes, the odds below were the easiest to insert into the article.
I would like to address the elephant in the room before I get into my selections. There is a certain name missing from the current odds list that is rumored to be in the field this week. Anthony Kim is reportedly making his return to professional golf after a 12-year hiatus. While I assume Kim will be somewhere in the triple digits, I could not go through this entire preview without mentioning the possibility of his return.
Sergio Garcia +2700
Sergio Garcia started his 2024 LIV season with a heartbreak in Mayakoba. Garcia lost in the dark on the fourth playoff hole to Joaquin Niemann. Niemann caught a break on the first playoff hole after his drive hit a tree and bounced directly left, back into the rough.
Had the ball bounced any other direction, Garcia would have won LIV’s first event of the season. Such has been the story for Sergio, who lost in a playoff last April to Talor Gooch in Singapore, where Gooch was a foot away from driving it into the water in the playoff. In an alternate universe of golf balls bouncing differently by mere inches, Sergio is a two-time winner in the past 10 months.
Sergio Garcia plans to go back to the DP World Tour in an effort to get back his place in Europe's Ryder Cup team for 2025 👀
But he will remain part of LIV Golf ⛳️https://t.co/fKV2saZiaG
— Mirror US Sports (@MirrorUSSports) February 20, 2024
Nonetheless, he heads to Jeddah, hungry for his first LIV win. Garcia has had a ton of success at this course in the past. The Spaniard has finished T3 at this event in each of the past two LIV seasons. He also had success in Jeddah in his career playing the Saudi International.
Sergio finished T6 at the 2020 Saudi International, T12 in 2021, and posted top-30 finishes in both 2022 and 2023. While it has become a bit cliché to say in the golf betting community, with a couple of heartbreaking LIV playoff losses and a couple of near misses at this course, Sergio feels due to finally get one across the finish line.
Sergio recently revealed on the "Rick Shiels Golf Show" that he plans to become a member of the DP World Tour again, hoping to make one final run at a Ryder Cup in 2025. Whether the Ryder Cup is a possibility for the veteran remains to be seen, but I love him making one final run at it.
In speaking with a source close to Garcia last summer, I know that he was heartbroken to not be a part of the 2023 Ryder Cup and wants nothing more than to be a member of Team Europe again. The Ryder Cup motivation is extra fuel for Sergio, who continues to prove that while he’s not quite in his prime anymore, there’s still something left in the tank.
Patrick Reed +4100
Quite frankly, I think this number is crazy. While Reed may not be Brooks, Rahm, or DJ, he’s certainly one of the most talented players in the LIV Golf League. He had five top-five LIV finishes last season, as well as a T4 finish at the Masters, and it seems a bit crazy to think that he hasn’t won yet since joining.
Reed is a major champion and nine-time PGA Tour winner, so it’s not like we’re talking about a guy who has a problem closing out events. In fact, between 2013-2021, Reed had at least one win in eight of the nine seasons. His drought since then has been the longest of his professional career.
Secured a team podium finish in LV📈#4AcesGC pic.twitter.com/V1tdLxQCIr
— 4 Aces GC (@4AcesGC_) February 11, 2024
While Reed displayed pretty uninspiring efforts on the surface in Mayakoba and Las Vegas, there were some signs of life to take away when you dig deeper. He shot 72-66-72 in Vegas and 64-73-73 in Mayakoba.
Sure, he was inconsistent, but going low in two of his six rounds shows me that he may be closer than his finishing results indicate. If the 33-year-old can just string two of those low rounds together this week, he’s going to have a shot to win come Sunday. That’s really all you can ask for when betting on Reed because when he has a shot to win, he’s as tough a closer as there is.
Abraham Ancer +4100
I’ve been riding the Abraham Ancer train to start 2024 and I’ll be honest, the train is close to derailment. That said, we aren’t hopping off this week. When you look deeper at Ancer’s results, he’s been let down big time by the putter.
The Mexican is third in the league in fairways hit to start the 2024 season and T9 in Greens in Regulation. The negative: he is T48 in putting through two events. With only 54 players in the league, there’s actually only been four guys who have putted worse than him so far this year.
Wishing our amigo @abrahamancer a Happy Birthday!
🎂 #drinkflechaazul pic.twitter.com/EPt7QWmska
— Flecha Azul Tequila (@FlechaAzulTeq) February 27, 2023
Nonetheless, we’re headed to an Abe Ancer track. Ancer won the Saudi International here a year ago, shooting -19 and defeating Cameron Young down the stretch. The 32-year-old was in control all week and looked very confident working his way around the course.
He also boasts a couple of good results in his LIV career in Jeddah, finishing T10 and T11 in the past two years. With encouraging off-the-tee and approach numbers, the hope is that Ancer can flip the putter on greens that he’s had success putting on in the past. Sometimes all it takes is coming back to the course that you have extreme confidence playing at.
Graeme McDowell +15000
Graeme McDowell joined team Smash in the offseason, a move that seemed to rejuvenate his career a bit. McDowell had a tough year last year both individually and team-wise. He was stuck on one of the worst teams in the league and seemingly had no momentum all season, which left him in a difficult spot of not having a home in the offseason. The veteran free agent was scooped up by a close friend, Brooks Koepka, which he said brought him “excitement and a little bit of relief” during an interview with BBC Sport.
The fresh start has given G-Mac a bit of momentum. He played three times in the offseason, finishing inside the top 14 in China, Hong Kong, and Indonesia. After a disappointing opening event in Mayakoba, McDowell finished T5 in Las Vegas.
The 44-year-old fired a 65 on Sunday, and was arguably the MVP of Team Smash, leading them to the podium while taking home the team victory. G-Mac is riding that momentum and confidence to a course that he has won at in the past. McDowell won the 2020 Saudi International at -12, defeating Dustin Johnson on Sunday. I don’t know if McDowell has a win left in the tank, but at 150-1, I’m willing to take a chance.
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