New season, new venue, new atmosphere!
The 2025 LIV Golf Season kicks off Thursday morning at The Riyadh Golf Club, KSA.
LIV has made the move from Jeddah to Riyadh, the site of the recent PIF Saudi International.
We now return to Riyadh which hosted the culmination of the season-long International Series race in which Torque’s Joaquin Niemann took home championship honours.
American viewers will be delighted to know that the local start time has been pushed back into the evening, so East Coast audiences will be able to watch starting at 10:15 AM rather than being subjected to tape delays.
This means that the entire field will be playing at night, a first for the league. Greens will be harder to read and targets more difficult to lock in.
Will the unique conditions weed out most of the field, or will nighttime play provide us with a surprise winner?
If you have not played LIV Fantasy before the rules are simple, but have changed for the 2025 season.
Players can select one team captain, three non-captains, one alternate (must be a non-captain), and one team.
There are four different “groupings” now that are chosen in what we believe to be for competitive balance.
For instance, Tyrrell Hatton is in Group 1 along with Joaquin Niemann and Bryson DeChambeau. Group 4 consists mostly of new players and underperformers, but includes several captains.
We provide you a look into who we think the top fantasy players are for LIV Riyadh!
Picks by Group
- Joaquin Niemann – The number one spot overall goes to the man whose win at Riyadh Golf Club in December not only netted him the trophy for the PIF Saudi International, but the season-long International Series trophy as well! Niemann’s final score of 21-under and besting both Ripper captain Cam Smith and Legion XIII’s Caleb Surratt in a three-way playoff earned the Chilean his first win of The International Series
In 2024, Joaco started the season with a bang, winning the season’s first and third tournaments in Mayakoba and Jeddah.
While past performance may not necessarily translate to future success, we are banking on Niemann for the first win of the 2025 LIV season.
While I fully believe both Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm are more than capable of winning this tournament, I’m sticking with the golfer who actually did win here not that long ago.
- Patrick Reed – Reed’s 15-under par at the 2024 PIF Saudi International was good for a T17 finish. I’m taking Reed over Gooch this tournament as the latter finished worst among LIV golfers in that same tournament with a score of 7-under par, good for a T62 finish. I also like Reed to win an individual trophy this season as he’s one of the few LIV golfers who have announced they will take part in several additional tournaments around the world.
- Caleb Surratt – LIV’s youngest player, Surratt will continue to get better as he develops as a professional golfer entering his sophomore season. While he was wildly inconsistent in 2024, coming in 41st place overall, the reason Surratt is ranked so high this week is for the simple fact that not only did he have a chance to win The PIF Saudi International back in December, but he currently owns the course record after shooting a 61, carding eight birdies and an eagle.
- Harold Varner III – HV3 tends to perform well playing in KSA and I’ve previously chosen him to be one of the bounce-back players for 2025. Group 4 is the most difficult pick by far because I also like John Catlin playing as a wildcard and Tom McKibbin making a name for himself immediately.
- Peter Uihlein – In the flex position in our standings is Peter Uihlein who had a fantastic go of it on The International Series, coming in second overall just a few points behind Joaquin Niemann. Uihlein’s form this past winter was superb, and the RangeGoat will have much less rust on him than the majority of the field.
Picks for Team
- Legion XIII – After the addition of Tom McKibbin, there’s nothing not to like about the new and improved Legion XIII. Jon Rahm finished the 2024 season in top form, Hatton and Surratt are my numbers one and two non-captain fantasy options for Riyadh, and McKibbin appeared in a favourable spot in my earlier power rankings covering all LIV golfers. This should be the first of several team victories for Legion XIII this year.
- Ripper – The reigning team champions are back with a repeat on their minds. Headlined by captain Cam Smith and the ever-reliable Marc Leishman, Ripper plan to give Legion XIII a run for their money and will likely threaten for the team trophy at quite a few events this season. Last season’s addition of Lucas Herbert, who finished in 25th place overall in 2024, seemed to only get better in the Dallas Team Championship and tournaments outside LIV. If Herbert is able to maintain form, it signals that Ripper will be a constant threat to win in 2025. Like the then-reigning champions of 2024 in Crushers, Ripper opted to make no roster changes after winning the team championship in Dallas. Smith has banked on past results and a close-knit group of friends to repeat as champions. It’s a move that’s likely to pay off sooner rather than later.
Remember to set your fantasy roster before Thursday morning when LIV kicks off the season in style at the Riyadh Golf Course!
LIV 2025 starts Thursday, February 6th and will be hosted on FOX, FS1, or FS2 for the entire three-day tournament.
