Fantasy Preview and Picks for LIV Golf Team Championship, Miami
Talor Gooch might have fallen to Brooks Koepka in a playoff at LIV Jeddah, but the runner-up was good enough to secure him the 2023 Individual Championship by 22 points over Cameron Smith. Koepka's second straight victory in Jeddah ensured him a spot on the season-long podium, as he narrowly beat out Bryson DeChambeau for third place.
With the LIV Golf regular season now in the books, the seeds have been determined for the Team Championship in Miami. All is still in play for the 12 teams, any of which could go on a run and take the team title Sunday night.
4Aces GC enters Miami in pole position as they hope to win the Team Championship for a second straight year. Crushers GC, Torque GC and RangeGoats GC rounded out the top four teams from the regular season, all which receive a first-round bye and advance straight to the semifinals.
Stinger GC, Fireballs GC, Ripper GC and Smash GC make up seeds five through eight and will choose which team they want to face in the quarterfinals. The same process will happen for the semifinals, where the top four teams from the regular season get to select the team they want to face among those to advance out of the quarterfinals.
As was the case a year ago in the Team Championship, each matchup in the quarterfinals and semifinals will feature three matches over 18 holes, two singles matches and a two-man alternate shot match. The first team to two points will advance to the next round. If there are any ties after 18 holes they will continue to play until a winner is determined.
New to the 2023 Team Championship, though, is the Sunday stroke play competition in which all 12 teams and 48 players will be on the course fighting for positions. The four winning teams from the semifinals will compete for 1st-4th place in the Team Championship, the four losing teams from the semifinals will compete for 5th-8th place and the four losing teams from the quarterfinals will compete for 9th-12th place. Last year only the top four teams -- 16 players in all -- were on the course in the final round.
All scores from Sunday will be used to calculate the final finishing position, so every shot truly does count.
Fantasy Tips for LIV Miami
LIV Golf Fantasy will look a little different for Miami. Instead of making a roster mostly made up of individuals, users will earn points in a bracket-style format by selecting how far they think each team will advance in the Team Championship. No adjustments will be permitted once the event begins, so picks for all rounds will need to be entered by the shotgun start on Friday at 1:00 PM EST.
There is some strategy to be used when making your selections. We know the quarterfinal matchups already and can just pick the team you think will win each matchup. However, we will not know who the top four seeds select to face off in the semifinals. It's unlikely chalk holds in the semifinals, but picking against one of the top four seeds to advance will be risky.
For example, say you are really high on the No. 7 seed, Ripper GC -- who finished second a year ago at the Team Championship -- and think they can advance out of the semifinals. You would want to match them up against one of the top four teams you believe is not going to advance from the semifinals, even though that team might not actually pick Ripper GC to take on in the semifinals.
Finally, when you make your picks for the final ranks of all 12 teams, make sure to fill 1-4 with only the teams you selected to win the semifinals matches, 5-8 with only the teams who you picked to lose in the semifinals and 9-12 with only the teams you picked to lose in the quarterfinals. This will give your entry the highest possible chance to achieve maximum points.
Not that we are covered on the format, let's make some picks for each round of the Team Championship at Trump National Doral.
Quarterfinal Matchup Picks
Stinger GC (5 seed) vs. Iron Heads GC (12)
Kevin Na is an excellent match play golfer who will be tough for Louis Oosthuizen to handle. However, the depth of Stinger GC should simply be too much for Iron Heads GC in the remaining two matches.
Winner: Stinger GC
Fireballs GC (6) vs. Majesticks GC (11)
Fireballs GC vs. Majesticks GC may be the most entertaining of the quarterfinal matches with a ton of Ryder Cup experience on the board. However, surging youngsters of Carlos Ortiz and Eugenio Chacarra who will make the difference in this one.
Winner: Fireballs GC
Ripper GC (7) vs. Cleeks GC (10)
Cleeks GC is coming off its first podium of the season in Jeddah, but Smith and Marc Leishman will be too much to handle in the two singles games. This Aussie team finished second in the Team Championship last year, so they know how to get it done when it counts.
Winner: Ripper GC
Smash GC (8) vs. HyFlyers GC (9)
You have to wonder what the dynamic will be like for the Team Championship with captain Koepka basically saying Smash GC has only three players -- a reference to Matthew Wolff. Take HyFlyers GC in this one with their trio of veteran players.
Winner: HyFlyers GC
Semifinal Matchup Picks
4Aces GC (1) vs. HyFlyers GC (9)
4Aces GC will get the first pick of the teams to advance out of the quarterfinals and they will take the lowest seed. While they won't have Gooch to lean on this time around, the defending champions added a bomber in Peter Uihlein, who is finding his early-season form. Ryder Cup veterans Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed will be too much to handle for HyFlyers GC.
Winner: 4Aces GC
Crushers GC (2) vs. Ripper GC (7)
Ripper GC figures to again hide it bottom two players -- Matt Jones and Jediah Morgan -- in alternate shot and hope Smith and Leishman can pick up the necessary two points in singles. Crushers GC, though, is just so deep with DeChambeau, Charles Howell III and Anirban Lahiri all performing well the last few events. They also have a Ryder Cup veteran in Paul Casey.
Winner: Crushers GC
Torque GC (3) vs. Stinger GC (5)
Torque GC passes on the lowest available seed this time, which allows them to avoid a hot Fireballs GC team and take their chances against Stinger GC, a squad with zero finishes better than 20th over the last two events. The ball striking of Mito Pereira, Sebastian Munoz and Joaquin Niemann will be a lot for any team to deal with.
Winner: Torque GC
RangeGoats GC (4) vs. Fireballs GC (6)
RangeGoats have the 2023 LIV Individual Champion and Harold Varner III coming off a third-place finish in Jeddah, but Thomas Pieters has not been the player the team was expecting this season and captain Bubba Watson has just two top-20 finishes. On the other hand, every Fireballs GC player finished top-18 in the last two events and will be very tough to knock off in a match play format.
Winner: Fireballs GC
Final Team Rankings
- 4Aces GC
- Fireballs GC
- Crushers GC
- Torque GC
- RangeGoats GC
- Stinger GC
- HyFlyers GC
- Ripper GC
- Smash GC
- Cleeks GC
- Iron Heads GC
- Majesticks GC
Picks and Predictions
4Aces GC goes back-to-back in the Team Championship after holding off a Fireballs GC group that made a strong effort but runs out of steam after starting the week in the quarterfinals. The experience of Johnson and Reed -- along with the fact that both have wins at Doral -- will simply be too much for the rest of the teams that advanced out of the semifinals. A difference of 18 strokes separated the first- and fourth-place teams in the final round of the Team Championship last year, but expect a much tighter battle between these stout four teams.
RangeGoats GC wins the 5th-8th battle with Gooch and Varner firing a pair of rounds in the mid-60s. Stinger GC has six podium finishes this season, which is tied for the second most in the league. I expect them to end the season strong after a rough last two events.
A return to stroke play will be welcome for Smash GC, where Koepka and Jason Kokrak will lead the way in besting the other three teams that went out in the quarterfinals. Cleeks GC will be hot on their heels along with the scrappy Iron Heads, while Majesticks GC will ends the season in last place, a position they have finished in two of the last three events.
