This article is part of our DFS Golf series.
LIV Golf Miami
Purse: $20M individual, $5 million team
Winner's share: $4M individual, $3M team
Location: Miami, Florida
Course: Trump National Doral
Yardage: 7,701
Par: 72
For more information, check out RotoWire's LIV Golf Optimizer.
Tournament Preview
Following a four-week break, LIV Golf returns with its first event of the spring in Miami, Florida. This weekend's tournament at Doral marks an important one, as we now enter the second third of the 2024 season. While some will use the Miami sunshine to climb up the individual and team standings, others will take the opportunity to tune up for the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club starting April 11.
Of the 54 players on the LIV Golf tour, 13 will participate in the Masters next week, headlined by 2023 defending champion and Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm. When Rahm hosts his Champions Dinner on April 9 -- where guests will enjoy items like a Spanish omelet, Basque ribeye and "Mama Rahm's Classic Lentil Stew'' -- he will have plenty of LIV Golf company. He'll be joined by three-time Masters winner Phil Mickelson, two-time champion Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed and Charl Schwartzel. Six other LIV Golf players will also be teeing it off at Augusta, as they each hope to host their own Masters Champions dinner for 2025. That list includes Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Joaquin Niemann, Cameron Smith, Tyrrell Hatton and Adrian Meronk.
Before those 13 players tee it up at Augusta National, they'll first contend with the Blue Monster course at Trump National Doral, which has been ranked as one of the toughest courses in professional golf. The par-72, 7,701 yard course is the longest so far of the season, but the layout presents challenges for long-ball hitters with narrow fairways, water hazards and bunker-protected greens. Precision will be key for the field this week, and additional challenges will present themselves with lingering showers forecasted for the first two days of the tournament.
Before we get into this week's picks, here's a snapshot of the individual and team standings heading into Miami.
Individual Standings
- Joaquin Niemann (Torque GC)- 97 points
- Jon Rahm (Legion XIII) - 57.42 points
- Dustin Johnson (4Aces) - 54.90 points
- Paul Casey (Crushers GC) - 48.83 points
- Abraham Ancer (Fireballs GC) - 47.30 points
- Talor Gooch (Smash GC) - 42.40 points
- Bryson DeChambeau (Crushers GC) - 41.16 points
- Cameron Smith (Ripper GC) - 40.66 points
- Louis Oosthuizen (Stinger GC) - 40 points
- Charles Howell III (Crushers GC) - 34.08 points
Team Standings
- Crushers GC - 100 points
- Torque GC - 58 points
- Smash GC - 51.50 points
- Legion XIII - 46 points
- Stinger GC - 34 points
DraftKings Value Picks
Based on a Standard $50k Salary Cap
Tier 1 Values
Jon Rahm - $11,900 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +550)
Rahm is the only player this season to finish in the top 10 in each of the first four LIV Golf events. He'll be looking at this week's event in Miami as a tune up before he defends his Masters title. Rahm ranks T2 in GIR (75.0 percent), sixth in scrambling (70.37 percent), ninth in driving distance (307.7 yards) and T15 in driving accuracy (56.55 percent).
Brooks Koepka - $10,200 (+1600)
Koepka had a chance at capturing his first Masters title in 2023, but a three-over final round derailed his opportunity at donning the green jacket for the first time. He ranks T20 in driving accuracy (55.36 percent), but makes up for that with his rank of T6 GIR (74.07 percent), seventh in scrambling (69.64 percent) and 11th in driving distance (305.8 yards).
Dustin Johnson - $10,100 (+1400)
The 2020 Masters champion wasn't able to crack the top-20 in Jeddah and Hong Kong, but Johnson won at Doral in 2015 and helped 4Aces win the inaugural LIV Golf Team Championship in 2022. He's in the middle of the pack in driving accuracy, but he ranks eighth in GIR (72.69 percent) and 10th in driving distance (306.1 yards).
Tier 2 Values
Talor Gooch - $9,300 (+1400)
Gooch sits in sixth place in the individual seasons standings as he looks to defend his 2023 LIV Golf championship. He ranks second in scrambling (75.0 percent), T7 in driving accuracy (61.31 percent) and 17th in GIR (70.37 percent).
Paul Casey - $8,900 (+2800)
Casey sits in fourth place in the individual standings, and he came close to capturing his first LIV Golf title when he fell short at Hong Kong in a three-way playoff against Smith and eventual winner Abraham Ancer. Still, Casey has been a large reason why Crushers GC has won back-to-back team events. He's the top player in the field in GIR (77.31 percent), third in scrambling (73.47 percent) and fourth in driving accuracy (64.29 percent).
Abraham Ancer - $8,800 (+2800)
Ancer dominated in the first two rounds in Hong Kong, and while he struggled on the third day, he managed to birdie the playoff hole to capture his first LIV Golf trophy of his career. Ancer is in a three-way tie with Kevin Na and Ian Poulter for the best driving accuracy in the field (64.88 percent), and is T10 in GIR (71.66 percent).
Tier 3 Values
Richard Bland - $7,800 (+4000)
Although Bland sits in 21st in the individual season standings, he's finished in the top-15 in three of the four LIV Golf events this season, including his best performance of T8 in Hong Kong. He ranks T6 in GIR (74.07 percent) and 14th in both driving accuracy (57.14 percent) and scrambling (66.07 percent).
Sebastian Munoz - $7,300 (+6500)
After starting the LIV Golf season with two consecutive top-15 finishes, he's placed T22 and T21 over the last two events. Still, he ranks ninth in GIR (72.22 percent) and 12th in driving accuracy (58.33 percent), which should help him stay out of trouble on the Blue Monster course.
Bubba Watson - $7,100 (+10000)
Watson's best outing this season was in Las Vegas, when he finished T15 for his only individual standing points of the season. Still, with this week's course being the longest of the LIV Golf circuit so far, it should give bombers like Watson a fair shot at a strong finish. His 303.8 driving distance average ranks 12th in the field, and he also ranks T10 in GIR (71.76 percent).
Tier 4 Values
Sam Horsfield - $6,800 (+13000)
Horsfield managed to climb to a T19 finish in Hong Kong after stroking rounds of 66 and 65 over the last two days of the tournament. He ranks 15th in driving distance (303.0 yards) and T18 in GIR (69.91 percent).
Eugenio Chacarra - $6,600 (+15000)
Chacarra was part of the feature group in the final round in Hong Kong with Ancer and Harold Varner III, but he carded a one-over 71 to finish T15, his best finish of the season. Chacarra ranks eighth in driving distance (308.7 yards) and 20th in GIR (69.44 percent).
Thomas Pieters - $6,300 (+15000)
Pieters is the only member of RangeGoats GC to not score a point in the individual season standings. However, the 7,701 yard course in Miami could be the right spot for Pieters, as he ranks fifth in driving distance (309.3 yards) and is tied with Niemann in driving accuracy (53.57 percent).
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