Power Rankings: Team Championship on the Line at LIV Dallas

This week, LIV Golf concludes the 2024 season with the Team Championship at Maridoe Golf Club in Dallas, Texas!

Last week’s final regular season event saw Jon Rahm win not only Chicago but the season-long individual championship as well!

Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers won their third event and secured the number one seed for Dallas where they enter as defending champions. 

The action starts Friday September 20^th at 12:15 ET. For more information on the Dallas Championship, see information on the rules, format, and live announcements of the initial matchups here. 

With a first-round bye, the Crushers will look to defend their title against those teams that survive the Friday knockout round.

Can expansion team Legion XIII challenge the Crushers for their title, or will a winless underdog like Stinger pull of a miracle? 

These are the power rankings for the Team Championship at LIV Dallas!

Don’t Count on It

13. Iron Heads

Last Three Results (Chicago, Greenbrier, UK): 9^th, 7^th, 12^th 

• Team Wins: N/A
• Team Podium Finishes: N/A
• Season MVP: Kevin Na; 33^rd Overall

Kevin Na’s Iron Heads finished the regular season in last place for a second consecutive year.

Never finishing better than sixth place, the Iron Heads, along with Majesticks, are the only teams to have not recorded a podium finish in 2024.

12. HyFlyers

Last Three Results: 11^th, T10, T7

• Team Wins: N/A
• Team Podium Finishes: Adelaide (3^rd)
• Season MVP: Brendan Steele; 1 Win; 24^th Overall 

The HyFlyers’ high point was Brendan Steele’s win way back in Adelaide. Since that moment, it has been a downhill slope for the team.

Tringale and Ogletree have had their moments, but their form just doesn’t seem to stick.

Phil Mickelson still can’t seem to record three solid days in a row, which is a depressing sight from one of LIV’s most beloved golfers. 

11. Majesticks 

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Last Three Results: 4^th, 13^th, 13^th 

• Team Wins: N/A
• Team Podium Finishes: N/A
• Season MVP: Sam Horsfield; 31^st Overall  

LIV Chicago was Majesticks’ third heartbreak of the season, coming so close to securing that first elusive podium finish, but ultimately falling short.

Ian Poulter had a fantastic tournament, but Sergio’s Fireballs denied the Majesticks’ last chance for the season.

The Odds are Not in Their Favour

10. 4Aces

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Last Three Results: 10^th, T10, 10^th 

• Team Wins: N/A
• Team Podium Finishes: Las Vegas (2^nd) 
• Season MVP: Dustin Johnson; 1 Win; 14^th Overall

The 2024 season’s biggest fall from grace looks like a team that is happy the regular season is over.

Like the RangeGoats, the 4 Aces’ talent is apparent, but the willpower to win is in question.

Harold Varner III and Pat Perez will not be relegated, but one wonders if captain Dustin Johnson is going to conduct a complete rebuild of his once proud team in the offseason.

9. RangeGoats

Last Three Results: T5, T5, T7

• Team Wins: N/A
• Team Podium Finishes: Las Vegas (3^rd), Miami (2^nd)
• Season MVP: Matt Wolff; 18^th Overall

Bubba Watson’s radical changes to last season’s Team Championship runner-up did not pay off. With Watson’s future in doubt, the team may be demoralised.

The talent is there, but all four team members can never seem to get on the same page at the same time.

The RangeGoats are rudderless and primed for a makeover entering next season.

The fact that the RangeGoats have finished in the middle of the pack the past three tournaments adds some intrigue into their chances to compete. 

An Outside Chance

8. Cleeks

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Last Three Results: 7^th, 12^th, 11^th 

• Team Wins: Houston
• Team Podium Finishes: Singapore (2^nd) 
• Season MVP: Adrian Meronk; 17^th Overall 

One of the biggest turnarounds this season in terms of a team’s performance were Martin Kaymer’s Cleeks.

Comprised of golfers from various European countries: Bland (England), Kaymer (Germany), Meronk (Poland), Samooja (Finland), the new-look Cleeks banded together for their first-ever win at LIV Houston, but faltered down the stretch, finishing 11^th in the UK and 12^th at Greenbrier. 

For the Cleeks to win, Adrian Meronk and Richard Bland need to have their best showings of the year, nothing less will do. 

7. Stinger

Last Three Results: 13^th, 9^th, T5

• Team Wins: N/A
• Team Podium Finishes: Jeddah (2^nd), Miami (3^rd), Adelaide (2^nd), Andalucia (3^rd) 
• Season MVP: Louis Oosthuizen; 6^th Overall

Stinger’s last-place finish at Chicago does not inspire confidence in their ability to pull off what would be a massive upset in Dallas.

Branden Grace will be relegated out of the league in 2025 after finishing 2022 and 2023 in the top ten in the individual standings.

Stinger’s trio of Oosthuizen, Schwartzel, and Burmester are amazing, but one cannot overlook the Grace factor and how poor the entire team looked in Chicago.

Despite this, they have been better than Cleeks in cumulative fashion over the past five weeks. 

Outside Shot to Win

6. Torque

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Last Three Results: T5, T5, 9^th 

• Team Wins: N/A
• Team Podium Finishes: Mayakoba (3^rd), Hong Kong (2^nd), Nashville (2^nd) 
• Season MVP: Joaquin Niemann; 2 Wins; 2^nd Overall

Joaquin Niemann did all he could to come away with the 2024 Individual Championship but fell short. 

Torque has not recorded a win this season, but there’s something intangible that separates this Torque team from the teams ranked 7 – 10 above. 

Niemann will need both Carlos Ortiz and Sebastian Munoz to have their ‘A’ game in Dallas.

Niemann can cover up a lot of deficiencies this team has, but cannot win multiple head-to-head matches with at least three-fourths of the team going all-out. 

5. Fireballs

Last Three Results: 3^rd, 4^th, T5 

• Team Wins: Andalucia 
• Team Podium Finishes: Singapore (2^nd), Houston (2^nd), Chicago (3^rd) 
• Season MVP: Sergio Garcia; 1 Win; 3^rd Overall

The Fireballs lone win this season came on LIV’s most difficult course, Andalucia, in a team playoff.

Sergio Garcia and Abraham Ancer have both recorded individual wins this season and Sergio seems to get better as time goes on, securing third place overall in the 2024 individual standings.

The Fireballs’ third-place finish in Chicago gives them enough momentum to be the first team ranked in the top five.

Excellent Betting Odds

4. Ripper 

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Last Three Results: 12^th, 2^nd, 2^nd 

• Team Wins: Adelaide, Singapore
• Team Podium Finishes: Hong Kong (3^rd), UK (2^nd), Greenbrier (2^nd) 
• Season MVP: Cam Smith; 7^th Overall

Now we enter the realm of teams with two team wins or more across the 2024 season. 

Ripper is comprised of one of LIV’s most complete squads led by superstar Cam Smith.

Ripper is, in my opinion, one of only two teams that does not suffer from a weak link. The quartet of Smith, Leishman, Herbert, and Smith can be unstoppable. 

Herbert’s T6 finish in Chicago shows he can turn it on when and if needed. 

It is important to note that Smith has suffered two meltdowns this season. First at Houston and last week at Chicago. However, the last time Smith finished outside the top twenty-five he responded with a T2 finish in Hong Kong.

Expect a huge bounce back from the Ripper captain at Dallas!

3. Smash 

Last Three Results: 8^th, 1^st, T3

• Team Wins: Las Vegas, Greenbrier
• Team Podium Finishes: Jeddah (3^rd), Houston (2^nd), UK (3^rd) 
• Season MVP: Brooks Koepka; 2 Wins; 5^th Overall

While not as successful as Ripper, Smash is currently in better form, led by captain Brooks Koepka who has a win and a T6 finish in his last two tournaments.

Gooch and Koepka are one of the league’s deadliest 1-2 punches and can dominate tournaments.

The duo will be joined by the erratic, but sometimes surprising Jason Kokrak, as well as Graeme McDowell who will be playing for a contract renewal.

The Favourites

2. Legion XIII

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Last Three Results: 2^nd, 3^rd, 1^st 

• Team Wins: Mayakoba, Miami, Nashville, UK
• Team Podium Finishes: Greenbrier (3^rd), Chicago (2^nd)
• Season MVP: Jon Rahm; 2 Wins; 2024 LIV Golf Individual Champion

Legion XIII’s inaugural season was a smashing success, carried on the backs of Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton. 

To LIV, Rahm was everything promised and more, winning the individual championship in his first year and securing wins in the UK and Chicago.

He has never finished outside the top ten in his short LIV career and is the most reliable and consistent player in the league. 

Meanwhile, Hatton has been Robin to Jon Rahm’s Batman, leading by example and usually right behind Rahm in the standings, contending every tournament with his own individual win coming at Nashville.

The big question mark for Legion XIII will be if Surrat and Vincent can get into form immediately, rather than having the team rely on the usual rules of not counting a team’s worst-performing player until Sunday.

Legion XIII has won more team championships than anyone else this year and has recent podium finishes at Greenbrier and Chicago to round out an incredible season. 

1. Crushers

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Last Three Results: 1^st, 8^th, T3 

• Team Wins: Jeddah, Hong Kong, Chicago 
• Team Podium Finishes: Mayakoba (2^nd), Nashville (2^nd), Andalucia (2^nd) UK (3^rd)
• Season MVP: Bryson Dechambeau; 8^th Overall

Without a doubt, the most complete team in LIV remains Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers.

Winners of the 2023 Team Championship, the Crushers will once again be the favourites to win it all after securing the number one seed in the regular season. 

They have the wins, they have the podium finishes, and they have the momentum to cap off another stellar season, winning LIV Chicago.

If that isn’t enough to convince you, consider that as an SMU alum, Dallas will be considered DeChambeau’s home course. 

As the number one seed the Crushers will receive a first-round bye and match up with a perceived “lesser” team in the second round.

Don’t think that any amount of rust or the possibility of playing down to an opponent will take shape, the Crushers are focused and in it to win it.