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The LIV Golf League will hold this week’s event at JCB Golf and Country Club in Uttoxeter, England. The course hosted the 2022 and 2023 JBC Championship on the European Senior Tour and is ranked as a top-100 course in Britain and Ireland. It has also been voted the number one course in Staffordshire. JCB opened a mere five years ago and has received some serious praise in its short existence.
This will mark the third consecutive season that LIV has held an event in the UK, but the first time that one will be held outside of London. The Centurion Club hosted the inaugural LIV event in 2022 and also hosted the 2023 LIV London event. Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Tyrell Hatton, Paul Casey, Sam Horsfield and Laurie Canter will be the English players in the field this week for the event.
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 broadcasted in over 160 international territories Live and On-Demand, free of charge, via LIV Golf Plus.
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LIV Golf United Kingdom 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 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 35 |
| Yardage | 403 | 337 | 610 | 409 | 199 | 506 | 470 | 421 | 170 | 3525 |
| Hole | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In |
| Par | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 36 |
| Yardage | 632 | 399 | 303 | 627 | 155 | 470 | 426 | 244 | 426 | 3718 |
JCB was designed by Robin Hiseman and constructed on a 240-acre site in Staffordshire. The course can play just over 7,300 yards from the tips but is listed at 7,243 yards on the round one scorecard. The course will be played as a par-71. The breakdown of yardage is quite interesting as all three par-fives on the scorecard play over 600 yards, two longer than 625 yards. With potential trouble lurking, these will be played as three shot holes for a majority of the field. However, there are also two drivable par-fours on the course, holes two and twelve, playing 337 and 303 yards respectively.
LIV Golf reporter Mike McAllister spoke to Ian Poulter about JCB and asked what type of scores we could expect for the week. Poulter told McAllister, “You’ll see a few eagles, birdies, bogeys, doubles.” Sam Horsfield, Poulter’s teammate and a member at JCB chimed in that there will be “others”, suggesting that huge numbers could be in play on some holes this week.
I also spoke with Alex Cejka who won the JCB Championship here in 2022. He told me the keys to success were “hit it long and straight and make every putt. Haha that place is amazing but you gotta have grit to win there.” The tournament that week was won at -11 over three days, the 2023 JCB Championship was won at just -6.
My takeaway from listening to some players talk and viewing the hole-by-hole flyover on the course website is that it’s going to be a challenging but fair test of golf this week. I think players who are out of position will struggle to have success and can make some big numbers this week. This is not a course that you can bomb-and-gouge your way around. I believe distance will help a ton on the three par-fives as well as the two drivable par-fours, should players elect to go at the green.
That said, I also believe there is a pathway for plotters to succeed here. If players elect to lay-up on the two drivable par-fours as well as the three par-fives, they will simply have wedges into a third holes on the course and can score well with a good wedge game and putter. In fact, there is potential for this strategy to be more effective as it takes potential big numbers out of play.
LIV Golf Betting Odds - United Kingdom
Below are the current odds to win LIV United Kingdom as posted by BetUs. Odds on different sportsbooks are subject to change, so I would recommend finding the best numbers available.
This week, I'm going with guys that I believe can grind it out in a challenging event. I trust the words of someone who has won at this course before when he says "you gotta have grit." I also am going with guys who have experience hanging around the top of leaderboards. I look at Sergio and Hatton breaking through and I think about other players who have been close and are looking for an opportunity to do the same.
Patrick Reed +1800
I read the message from Alex Cejka that said “you gotta have grit to win here” and I knew immediately where one of my selections was going. Patrick Reed is the ultimate grinder and he’s due for a win. Now that Sergio Garcia has gotten the monkey off his back, I’d argue nobody has had more close calls without a win on LIV than Patrick Reed. Since the start of the league, he’s been near the top of leaderboards and just hasn’t been able to close one out.
This one had @matthew_wolff5 shook 🤣 #4AcesGC #GOLF pic.twitter.com/zCEn3JcTET
— 4 Aces GC (@4AcesGC_) July 23, 2024
Reed has finished inside the top-five in two of his last three LIV starts and his secret weapon is starting to heat up, the putter. He finished second in the field in putting in Spain and first in Houston. When Reed gets going on the greens, he’s one of the best putters in the world. I expect to see him fully locked in this week after being left out of the Open Championship last weekend.
I also like that Reed has been staying sharp. Despite not qualifying for last week’s Open Championship, he has been playing all over Europe outside of the scheduled LIV events. He played the BMW International in Germany at the beginning of July and the Italian Open at the end of June. That’s three starts in Europe in his last four weeks heading to England.
Paul Casey +3300
Paul Casey has had one of the stronger seasons on LIV. He ranks 13th in the overall standings but it doesn’t quite do justice to just how well he’s hitting the ball. He ranks seventh on the year in fairway percentage, second in Green in Regulation percentage and tenth in total birdies. He has finished T14 or better six times already on the season. We saw Sergio finally break through after many close calls last event in his home country and I wouldn’t be shocked to see Casey due the same this week.
Working the phones to get fresh material on the leaders. Bryson’s LIV teammate Paul Casey declined an interview, saying he’s had too many pesky requests. Then this happened… pic.twitter.com/Yg3zOVAw1A
— Alan Shipnuck (@AlanShipnuck) June 16, 2024
If Casey wasn’t near one of the worst putters in the league, he’d most likely already have a win on the season. In fact, only ten of 56 registered players have putted worse than Casey this year. It’s actually impressive to see how much he’s been lurking around leaderboards despite putting that poorly. The good news for Casey is that he’s ranked inside the top-20 in his last two starts in putting. If he can keep it just average with the field on the greens, he’s capable of winning.
Dustin Johnson +3300
It’s been a disappointing year for DJ, but he can still salvage it in the closing stretch of the LIV season. After a near last place showing in Nashville, he showed some signs of life at Valderrama. While a T17 finish doesn’t jump off the page, I like some of the things that he did. The 4 Aces captain finished inside the top ten for the week in fairway percentage, a big improvement in an area that has been plaguing him all season. If the driver can get going in the right direction for him instead of holding him back, DJ has the potential to win every time he tees it up.
Dustin Johnson sinks it for birdie from 51 FEET out on 14. 😳
📺: NBC & @peacock | #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/oxtQ27iGSS
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) July 20, 2024
He followed that up the event in Spain with a T31 showing at the Open Championship in brutal conditions. Again, while he wasn’t exactly close to winning the event, it’s a solid showing in a strong field. Consistent steps in the right direction are a good sign for Johnson, a guy who has shown over the course of his career that he can flip from average form to winning in a short period of time.
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