When we last left our friends at LIV Golf, the tour was crowning a champion (Talor Gooch), trying to get along with the PGA Tour moving forward (still very much a work in progress) and preparing for the 2024 season (which will feature 12 regular-season tournament stops).
Well, they start that season this week with LIV’s first event in Mayakoba, Mexico.
Just a quick reminder that the LIV Tour format includes 54-hole events (Friday through Sunday) and a shotgun start for each round.
So while the LIV Tour kicks off this week, we’ve still got more questions than answers about the league going forward.
But one question we have has been answered, and in spades.
Will LIV Golf sit back and rest on its laurels and just plod along?
The answer is a resounding "no" as they went out and made the biggest splash in golf in 2023 when they inked superstar Jon Rahm to be the latest face of LIV Golf.
Rahm (along with this week’s newest LIV member, Tyrrell Hatton) joins the likes of Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson and others in trying to make bigger inroads into the PGA Tour’s hold on fans and viewers, and gamblers.
This week’s event, being played at El Camaleon Golf Course, will see a field of 48 golfers battle it out for the $4 million top prize. Also on the line is the team event which also pays out big money as those 48 golfers make up 12 four-man teams.
So while the PGA Tour and LIV Golf keep trying to work things out on and off the golf course, let’s just sit back, relax, enjoy the golf and try to come up with a couple of winners.
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LIV Golf odds to win Mayakoba event
Here are LIV Tour golf betting odds to win at Mayakoba, available at bet365 as of Thursday morning.
- Jon Rahm +475
- Joaquin Niemann +1400
- Tyrrell Hatton +1400
- Bryson DeChambeau +1400
- Cameron Smith +1600
- Dustin Johnson +1800
- Talor Gooch +1800
- Brooks Koepka +2000
- Abraham Ancer +2000
- Mito Pereira +2200
- Adrian Meronk +2200
- Patrick Reed +2800
- Dean Burmester +2800
- Sebastian Munoz +2800
- Harold Varner III +3000
- Louis Oosthuizen +3000
- Sergio Garcia +3000
- Carolos Ortiz +3000
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Is defending LIV Mayakoba champion Howell worth betting on?
No matter the tournament we’re looking into, we usually start by looking at the defending champion to see if he’s playing well enough for us to back him.
Well, the defending champion is Charles Howell III at +3300 and, unfortunately, we’re going to stay away.
Howell has never shown the consistency when it comes to playing week-in and week-out.
Sure, he’s had flashes of brilliance as he won three times on the PGA Tour over 609 starts but he only finished with 98 top 10s.
He pocketed more than $42 million from his play on the PGA Tour but most of that came from his longevity as he turned pro in 2000.
He added last year’s title here to his resume but he ended the season with just four top-10 finishes in 14 starts and wound up 10th in the points race.
Jon Rahm odds to win LIV debut
It should come as a shock to no one that Jon Rahm is clear-cut favorite at +475.
While this will be Rahm’s first venture into this type of format (54 holes, shotgun start, blaring music, etc.) there’s no doubt he’s going to be in the picture come Sunday.
He left the PGA Tour and overnight became one of the highest paid athletes in sports when he signed a deal worth anywhere between $400 million to $600 million depending on who you talk with.
Not a bad gig if you can get it.
He comes into his rookie LIV season off a solid PGA Tour season where he played well enough to battle Scottie Scheffler for PGA Tour Player of the Year honors in a race that came down to the wire.
He had four wins during his final PGA Tour season (giving him 11 overall) and in his PGA Tour run he had 73 top-10 finishes in 151 Tour starts.
There’s no reason he shouldn’t be able to pick up right where he left off and be in contention come Sunday.
We wouldn’t be surprised if he came out and won his first start, and maybe a couple more as the season goes on.
His odds of +475 are not great money by any stretch of the imagination but he’s going to have an impact from Day 1.
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LIV odds: Reigning tour champ Gooch still not getting respect
Sure, he wasn’t a household name on the PGA Tour but Talor Gooch has found his niche in LIV Golf.
He won three times in 2023 and at +1800 this week we see no reason he won’t come out firing to prove last season was no fluke.
For the 2023 season, he was in the top-10 in eight of his 13 starts.
While his PGA Tour was less-than-stellar with just one win in 123 starts, his new home seems to fit him just fine.
He was 14th in last year’s event here but a five-over-par final round took him out of contention as he went into that last round on the first page of the leaderboard.
Where can I bet on LIV Golf odds?
Golf bettors in the United States looking to wager on the LIV Tour can find live odds at bet365.
Those in Ontario, Canada, can find LIV odds at Caesars Sportsbook.
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