The Serapong course at Sentosa, venue of LIV Golf Singapore, was named world’s best course in 2023. Image courtesy livgolf.com.
By Rahul Banerji
LIV Golf League’s 2024 season transitions into its second phase with the seventh tournament at the Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore from Friday with stakes mounting with each event.
With LIV Golf Chicago announced as the finale of the individual competition that also decides the fate of those in the lower half of the overall standings, the remaining tournaments will start to shake out the pecking order.
Both the individual and team standings have gotten closer with the six completed tournaments three of which provided first-time winners – Brendan Steele at Adelaide, Dean Burmester (Miami) and Abraham Ancer (Hong Kong).
Adelaide was also the stage for LIV Golf’s first team playoff which resulted in an emotional ‘home’ success for the Rippers team, the all-Aussie outfit led by 2021 Open champion Cameron Smith.
Powered by Matt Jones, Marc Leishman and Lucas Herbert, Smith scrambled the winning put in the playoff against Louis Oosthuizen and Burmester of the Stingers at The Grange to spark off wild celebrations around the course.
“This is unreal,” said Smith later. “It’s a dream come true for us.
“I always felt like this was the place where it was going to make it big, and how it’s been the last couple of years has been just insane.”
League leaders Crushers GC would finish well down the order in Australia and while they still are in the van, the advantage over second-placed Legion XIII led by Jon Rahm has shrunk to less than 20 points.
For Bryson DeChambeau’s 2023 overall champions, Anirban Lahiri too will want to pick up the pace at Singapore which is hosting its second LIV Golf event.
Need for speed
The India star is 28th in the individual standings, four spots outside the block who will hold guaranteed seats for the 2025 season.
Adelaide’s tied 14th place finish alongside Smith, Leishman and four others was a positive move upwards and Lahiri will want to build on that momentum.
Behind the Crushers and the Legionnaires, things have tightened up with just six points separating Torque GC in third and the Stingers in fourth place.
In the individual standings, Torque captain Joaquin Neimann stays in the lead but the consistent Rahm is looking ever more dangerous in second, ahead of Burmester, Oosthuizen and Ancer.
The Spaniard has not finished outside the top 10 in the six events held so far and has two third places (Mayakoba and Adelaide) and a fourth (Miami) under his belt so far. He will surely be one to watch out for at Sentona’s Serapong course.
Singapore will also be the final LIV Golf tournament before the year’s second major, the PGA Championship at Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucky, from May 16 to 19 where Brooks Koepka is the defending champion.
Singapore fun facts
Venue: The Serapong, Sentosa Golf Club, 7,406 yards par-71. Named world’s best course in 2023 by World Golf Award. Opened in 1982 and renovated twice, in 2006 and 2020.
Prize purse: $25 million ($20 million individual event including $4 million for winner; $5 million team event including $3 million for winners).
Defending champions: Talor Gooch and RangeGoats GC.
Also read: Chicago to host LIV Golf League individual championship finale
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