Stage set for LIV Golf Jeddah, Anthony Kim returns as wild card

By Rahul Banerji

Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC will look to extend their winning streak at the $25 million LIV Golf Jeddah, 2024’s third tournament that tees off on Friday.

Runaway winners at LIV Golf Las Vegas earlier this month Smash face stiff challenges from 2023 team champions the Crushers who have been consistent in the first two events this year, while Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces always seem to find themselves in the victory hunt.

Adding spice will be the recent form of key Torque GC members Carlos Ortiz, International Series Oman winner last week and team captain Joaquin Neimann, who will want to celebrate his invitation to the 88^th Masters Tournament in April.

Meanwhile, feverish speculation over the reported return of injured US golfer Anthony Kim as a wild card at Jeddah has ended.

The 38-year-old has been out of competitive golf for the last 12 years and a near-mythic status has sprung up around him. So much so that LIV Golf commissioner and CEO was reported to have told Kim, “The golf world has missed you.”

Incredible talent

“He oozes incredible talent. The world has seen it in the past and now it is an honour as commissioner of LIV Golf to give the opportunity for this star to be reborn.

“Welcome back and to the LIV Golf family, mate,” the BBC reported Norman as having said.

California native Kim won thrice on the PGA Tour and was a star of America’s 2008 Ryder Cup victory at Valhalla. Four years later, he was gone with a series of debilitating injuries that peaked with his 2012 withdrawal from the Wells Fargo Championship.

And now, he’s back for LIV Golf Jeddah and hard at work on the driving range, according to photos and video on social media.

The Jeddah leg will be played at the par-70 Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, King Abdullah Economic City, which has been the host venue since the league began two years ago.

Up for grabs is a $4 million individual winner’s cheque from a prize purse if $20 million, and $5 million for the team competition.

Stellar record

Smash skipper Koepka has won both the Jeddah events so far and needed to survive playoffs on both occasions, which makes him one of the hot favourites in the individual competition.

In 2022 he edged out then team-mate Peter Uihlein in the third playoff hole and the following year, it was Talor Gooch who fell victim on the second shootout hole.

With a revamped lineup that includes 2023 LIV Golf individual topper Gooch and 2010 US Open winner Graeme McDowell, Smash will be the team to watch especially after their seven-stroke sweep at Las Vegas.

For his part, Johnson too will be in the bookmakers’ short odds list, his win at Las Vegas making him the first player to win in each of LIV Golf’s first three seasons

‘DJ’ is also a two-time winner of the PIF Saudi International played at Royal Greens while other LIV Golf members who have won the Saudi International include McDowell, Harold Varner III and Abraham Ancer.

New challenge

Jon Rahm and his new Legion XIII team will make their Jeddah debut as the current leaders in the team championship standings, livgolf.com said.

Finishing behind Ortiz at the International Series Oman were with seven other LIV Golf League regulars all inside the top 10.

Said Koepka about his approach to the 7,048-yard venue where he will be going for a title treble, “Just stay out of the desert, stay out of the bunkers. … I like this place. What can I say?”

Added team-mate McDowell, “It’s a really good golf course. The way the wind blows here, you have to hit a lot of different shots. It asks all the questions.

“You have to put it in the fairway to hit key shots. But to me it’s a big iron-play golf course.”

Seeking consistency

Anirban Lahiri will want to bring some consistency to his 2024 campaign after a stellar run for the Crushers in 2023, where he played a key part in the team championship victory.

So far, India’s only LIV Golf star has taken a 21^st placing at Mayakoba in the opening event and a disappointing 44^th at Las Vegas. Overall he is 31^st on the 2024 standings and will be keen to move upwards from there.

A missed cut at Oman last week may well help Lahiri refocus on his goals for the season as part of the unchanged Crushers lineup of which he was a critical component last year.

Also read: LIV Golf’s David Puig wins Malaysian Open, Ahlawat finishes T13