The LIV is back in action this weekend, heading to the International at Boston for the fourth tournament of the season. A whole lot more eyeballs are on this event after it was just announced that Open Championship winner Cameron Smith is among a possibly growing group of golfers leaving the PGA for LIV.
Henrik Stenson was able to win the third LIV tournament at Bedminster in his debut with the tour, so it wouldn’t be a shocker if Smith gets the victory in his first event either. Here is a look at some of the best bets for LIV Boston.
Cameron Smith +650
Smith isn’t the favorite in his inaugural event; that belongs to Dustin Johnson at +550, but the Aussie has some value here. Not only has Smith been in top form lately, winning the Open Championship and rising to #2 in the OWGR, but he has also played more recently than many other golfers in this field.
The last LIV event was in Bedminster on the last weekend in July, so it’s been a solid month since many in the field have been in a tournament. Smith on the other hand, played in the FedEx Cup playoffs in the PGA, getting 13th at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, sitting out the BMW Championship (hip), and then finishing 20th last weekend at the Tour Championship in what could be his final TOUR event.
Smith earned $2.5 million for his Open Championship win, but would take home $4 million if he won LIV Boston and another $3 million if he was part of the winning team.
Dustin Johnson +550
Johnson has been a stalwart at the top of the leaderboard in all three LIV events so far. He couldn’t chase down Stenson in finishing second at Bedminster, finished third in Portland, and came in 8th in London in his tour debut. Johnson was the top LIV player with a sixth place finish at the Open Championship so this reduced schedule looks to be paying off.
Joaquin Niemann +750
Smith is the big name from the latest group of players to leave the PGA for LIV, but Niemann is going to be a big loss for the TOUR as well. The Chilean is a top 20 player in the OWGR, but what might be hurting him is he’s playing his fourth tournament in a row this weekend after finishing in the top 15 in all three legs of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Bryson DeChambeau +2000
Nice ROI for DeChambeau, who looked good on the links course with a T8 at the Open. That didn’t help him much heading to Bedminster, where he finished 31st, but the International is a long course that can play close to 8000 yards which gives a bomber like DeChambeau an edge.
Some other newcomers to watch include Cameron Tringale (+4000), who made the FedEx Cup playoffs but has also had a week of rest after being eliminated after the BMW Championship, and Marc Leishman, who is in the same situation having last week off but will feel very comfortable welcomed to the new tour by countryman and LIV CEO Greg Norman.
