LIV Golf Adelaide 2024 Preview, Picks & Analysis

You will remember that many of those who joined LIV Golf said that one of the main reasons for doing so was because they wanted to reduce their playing schedules, reduce their travel all over the world and spend more time at home. 

This week they head to Adelaide and follow it the week after with a trip to Singapore. Hmmm...

If you watched Jon Rahm’s trials and tribulations at The Masters, like me you may have wondered if his move to the Saudi-backed golf league has backfired. 

I don’t care what anybody says - playing in a 54-hole event with no cut simply cannot replicate the pressures involved in competing in a full-field 72-hole tournament with a halfway cut. Does any LIV golfer feel any pressure when competing for a $4m payday? I might be wrong, but I would seriously doubt it.

Rahm wasn’t the only LIV golfer who looked out of touch. For all Bryson DeChambeau started The Masters with a 65, he tumbled down the leaderboard over the next three days as he continued to try to overpower the course. Remember that most of the courses these guys play boast wide fairways and little rough. They invite attacking, target golf. Major championship venues are not set up that way.

Tyrrell Hatton, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson et al looked like rabbits in the headlights at times. Rahm has called on his paymasters to consider changing their format to 72 holes, and I can’t help but think that has to be the way forward. You cannot replicate true conditions by playing in limited fields over 54 holes.

The PGA Tour visits courses such as Torrey Pines, Pebble Beach, Quail Hollow, Harbour Town, TPC Sawgrass, Muirfield Village and Bay Hill - they are proper courses that require a strategic approach and keep players on their toes. Can anybody honestly say the same of a layout like the Blue Monster at Doral? I don’t think so.

So who is most likely to succeed at Adelaide’s Grange Golf Club?

My money would be on former Open champion Cameron Smith, a world-class golfer who played consistently well over four days at Augusta National. He is a wonderful driver of the golf ball and retains a magical touch on and around the greens. 

And I also expect the wonderful Chilean golfer Joaquin Niemann to contend for yet another title. He won at Mayakoba and Jeddah and also claimed the Australian Open on the DP World Tour last year so is clearly happy playing Down Under. 

Like so many of his fellow LIV players, Niemann is now sliding down the world rankings. He is currently ranked 82nd on the world and, unsurprisingly, is not happy about it. He says that the breakaway tour needs to be recognised in the world rankings. 

Niemann said: "Right now the game is divided and it is not helping. It is hard to get a ranking system where everyone is happy.”

Many of the players who left the PGA Tour have slipped down the rankings, with Rahm, Hatton and Brooks Koepka now the only LIV players to feature in the top 50.

"I feel [a unified system] is something which has to happen and will happen over time," Niemann said. "It could be sooner or later, I don't know. Hopefully it will happen soon. I feel like the world ranking is a lie for a few players."

LIV players are only able to improve their world ranking, which is one of the factors used to determine eligibility for major championships, through DP World Tour events, the Asian Tour or other satellite tours.

Niemann played two ranking events in Australia before travelling to tournaments in Dubai and Oman, and his form prompted Masters organisers to reward him with an invitation.

The Course: 

The Grange Golf Club was created in 1926 on land that was once a swamp. It was redesigned by Mike Clayton. It is tree-lined but the fairways are generous. It measures just 6,800 yards so expect to see plenty of birdies and low scores.

Form Guide:

Bryson DeChambeau will be looking to continue the form he showed at The Masters - and this is a golf course that he will be able to overpower, unlike Augusta National. But returning to his homeland will definitely suit former Open champion Cameron Smith.

To Win:

Cameron Smith. Loves playing on home soil

Each Way:

Bryson DeChambeau. Can batter this course into submission

Each Way:

Joaquin Niemann. Has every shot in the book

Five to Follow:

Cameron Smith. World-class

Bryson DeChambeau. Never a dull moment

Joaquin Niemann. A proven winner

Talor Gooch. Still smarting from Masters snub

Patrick Reed. This course is made for him