LIV GOLF SINGAPORE: TEAM POWER RANKINGS
For the second straight year, the LIV Golf League heads to Sentosa Golf Club for LIV Golf Singapore, where last year Talor Gooch won the individual title while helping his then-team, RangeGoats GC, take home the team trophy in the process.
LIV Golf Singapore marks the start of the second half of the season, where teams look to get dialed in down the stretch. With that in mind, here are the team power rankings for the seventh event of the LIV Golf League season.
1. RIPPER GC. Fresh from a fairytale win in their home country after the first team playoff in league history, Ripper GC tops this week’s power rankings. Cameron Smith should welcome a return to Singapore, where he finished in a share for sixth last season. The group finished in the middle of the pack here last year but may get a boost from Lucas Herbert this time out, following his best result of the season in Adelaide. Prediction: Smith, Leishman, Herbert, Jones
2. TORQUE GC. Joaquin Niemann's squad held the lead after the first and second rounds in Adelaide but stumbled down the stretch to finish fourth. Niemann continues to lead the individual standings after posting his fourth top-5 result of the season in Australia. Mito Pereira finally broke out of his slump with his first finish in the top-half of the field, posting a solo eighth result down under, and he also finished fifth in Singapore last year. Prediction: Niemann, Pereira, Ortiz, Munoz
3. STINGER GC. Still looking for their first win of the season is Stinger GC after losing in a playoff last week for their second runner-up result. Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel were both in the hunt to win the individual event but ultimately finished in second and tied for third place, respectively. We’ll see if the momentum carries over to Singapore, where none of the four South Africans posted a top-15 result last year. Prediction: Oosthuizen, Burmester, Schwartzel, Grace
4. CRUSHERS GC. The Crushers hold the top spot in the season-long standings but are trending downward with finishes of sixth and T7 over their last two tournaments. Captain Bryson DeChambeau posted his worst finish of the season (T26) last week and was T19 here a year ago. The group posted a respectable third place result here in 2023, led by Charles Howell III’s T8 result. Prediction: DeChambeau, Howell, Casey, Lahiri
5. LEGION XIII. Sitting second in the overall team standings we find Legion XIII, who outside of a clunker in Hong Kong have finished no worse than T5 in the other five tournaments. Jon Rahm continues to impress and now has four top-5 showings. Caleb Surratt has finished in the top-half in back-to-back tournaments, while Tyrrell Hatton has been steady with five top-15 results. Prediction: Rahm, Hatton, Surratt, Vincent
6. HYFLYERS GC. The HyFlyers make a big jump up five spots in this week’s rankings after making the podium for the first time this year. That was led by Brendan Steele’s maiden LIV victory and first top-10 since last August. The team also got a big contribution from Andy Ogletree, whose T3 finish was his career-best on LIV. Cameron Tringale and Phil Mickelson both had top-15s in Singapore last year. Prediction: Tringale, Steele, Ogletree, Mickelson
7. SMASH GC. Brooks Koepka's team is still looking for their form as they’ve finished in bottom-half of the standings in three consecutive tournaments, including a season-worst 11th in Adelaide. Singapore is as good a place for them to bounce back as any, as Talor Gooch is the defending individual champion, while Koepka (solo third) and Jason Kokrak (T6) also had strong showings. One of the top teams from an upside standpoint. Prediction: Gooch, Koepka, Kokrak, McDowell
8. FIREBALLS GC. Last year’s runner-up in Singapore, the Fireballs are in need of a strong week as they’ve fallen all the way down to ninth in the team standings after posting their worst finish of the season last week. They’ll look for a spark from captain Sergio Garcia, who lost in a playoff to Gooch here a year ago. Abraham Ancer continues to play well with three straight top-10 finishes, but the team needs better performances from their two young guns. Prediction: Garcia, Ancer, Puig, Chacarra
9. RANGEGOATS GC. The RangeGoats serve as this week’s defending champions, although that was largely in part to Gooch and Harold Varner III, who are now with different teams. This year’s squad has been hit-or-miss with two podium finishes and four results of ninth or worse. Leading the team recently has been Thomas Pieters with two straight top-15 finishes. With Sensota playing over 7,400 yards, perhaps the quartet of long hitters can take advantage of their strength. Prediction: Uihlein, Pieters, Wolff, Watson
10. CLEEKS GC. One of only four teams without a podium finish this season, the Cleeks haven’t shown much upside with Adrian Meronk leading the way at 19th in the individual standings. They’ve also managed not to finish last or second-to-last, and it’s the little things at this point. Richard Bland (T36) and Martin Kaymer (T41) didn’t show much in Singapore last year, while Kalle Samooja is still looking for a top-25 result. Prediction: Meronk, Samooja, Bland, Kaymer
11. 4ACES GC. The Aces drop two spots in the rankings to 11th – the lowest we’ve had them this season. The addition of Harold Varner III hasn’t worked out as planned thus far, as he has a best finish of T15 and is 44th in the individual standings. His T8 result in Singapore last year is the best of the group, however. Dustin Johnson has the potential to carry the weight for the team but has failed to post a top-20 since his win in Vegas. Prediction: Reed, Johnson, Varner III, Perez
12. IRON HEADS GC. The Iron Heads may be in last in the season-long team standings but their solo sixth place finish in Australia was their best yet. Jinichiro Kozuma held the first-round lead before ultimately finishing T9, which should give the LIV rookie some confidence going forward. Scott Vincent also finished solo fourth in Singapore last year, and Danny Lee posted his first top-10 last week. Prediction: Vincent, Na, Kozuma, Lee
13. MAJESTICKS GC. Closing out this week’s power rankings and moving down one spot are the Majesticks following a dismal showing in Adelaide in which they finished dead last by a whopping 19 shots. It’s difficult to be optimistic about things getting much better in Singapore considering Ian Poulter’s T27 result here last year was the best of the group. Henrik Stenson leads the team in the individual standings, albeit in 35th place. Prediction: Stenson, Poulter, Horsfield, Westwood