LIV Chicago marks the conclusion of the regular season as well as LIV Fantasy for 2024!
While all eyes will be on two players vying for the season-long individual title, we have several elite golfers either looking for their first win of the season or putting an exclamation point on an already successful season.
Bryson DeChambeau, Cam Smith, and Louis Oosthuizen will look to claim their first victory of the year while previous victors such as Sergio Garcia, Brooks Koepka, and Tyrrell Hatton seek one last victory to finish the season in third place and collect huge earnings as a result.
We are proud to bring you the last LIV Fantasy rankings of the 2024 season! Let’s examine our top two picks for captain, five for non-captain, and three for team finishes!
Picks for Captain
- Jon Rahm – After barely missing out on a second consecutive win at LIV Greenbrier, the fact remains that there is no better option for our number-one spot than the red-hot Rahm. A champion two events ago at LIV UK, Rahm put himself in a position to win at Greenbrier before overshooting a tee shot on the first playoff hole, eventually losing to Brooks Koepka. Rahm is in a unique position heading into the season’s final individual event as the league’s points leader, he controls his own destiny. For Rahm, it’s win and you’re in.
- Louis Oosthuizen – Surprise, it’s not Joaquin Niemann! There are two winless captains who I think have a real shot to win an individual championship and Louis Oosthuizen barely edges out Cam Smith. The Stinger GC captain has recorded four consecutive top ten finishes after returning from an injury suffered in Houston. Oosthuizen has finished runner-up twice and has kept himself in the running for every tournament this year. The fact that Louis’ worst showing was T22 finish in Singapore means he’s never out of the conversation for a win. Cam Smith has found his groove with his driver, but I’m taking Oosthuizen who finished LIV Greenbrier with a 60 on Sunday.
Picks for Non-Captain
- Talor Gooch – Gooch returns to the fantasy roster after a short hiatus. His T6 finish at LIV UK paired with his T11 finish at LIV Greenbrier proves he is finally back in elite form. Last season’s individual champion won’t have a shot to defend his title, but a win or top-three finish would lock him into the top ten in the individual standings.
- Tyrrell Hatton – Hatton took part in the British Masters, part of the DP World Tour during the last weekend of August. Hatton had a commanding lead going into Saturday but faltered, and ultimately ended the tournament T18. Despite this, Hatton remains a top fantasy option despite his recent drop off in form.
- Richard Bland – Bland has recorded four straight top-fifteen finishes including a T4 finish at Greenbrier, a tournament he had a legitimate shot at winning. Bland, like Gooch or Hatton, seems like a no-brainer when you need to bank on a reliable player who can get you points.
- Marc Leishman – I like Leishman to be Ripper’s workhorse down the stretch of LIV Chicago to put the Aussie Team back on the championship podium. If Cam Smith can’t win in Chicago, then maybe it is Leishman’s turn to show everyone just how much potential star power this team has outside their captain.
- Abraham Ancer – Ancer’s worst finish in the 2024 season was a T28 spot in Mayakoba, LIV’s first event of the year. Despite winning LIV Hong Kong, Ancer has flown under the radar for most of the season, going about his business and racking up individual points. He has finished T16 and T13 in his last two starts, trust in Ancer to deliver one last time.
Picks for Team
- Ripper GC – Back-to-back second-place finishes mean Ripper is firing on all cylinders. Cam Smith’s all-Australian squad has already won twice this year in Adelaide and Singapore, and could have potentially won their third tournament at Greenbrier had the scoring not dried up on the back nine during Championship Sunday. Ripper has no weak links and may be the most complete team outside of Bryson’s Crushers who had a rough go of it at Greenbrier.
- Legion XIII – Kieran Vincent must have his best game of the season. If he does not, he will be relegated, as he currently sits squarely in the Drop Zone. Currently in dead last place in the standings (minus subs and wild cards), Vincent must replicate what his brother Scott did last season and save his best game for the last individual event to avoid being kicked out of the league.
- Smash GC – The reigning champions, Smash will likely be without the services of super-sub-John Catlin, but the rest of the team showed us at LIV Greenbrier why they are one roster move away from being the super-team that 4 Aces GC was in 2022-23.
Remember to set your fantasy roster before Friday morning when LIV returns to action at The Chicago!
