LIV Las Vegas
Joaquin Niemann shot a 59 at Mayakoba on Friday but had to fight back from an overnight two-stroke penalty on Saturday night to triumph in a four-hole playoff over mentor Sergio Garcia to win his first LIV event in Mexico last weekend, cashing a 14-1 for this column last week.
This week, LIV runs its 54-hole event on Thursday-Saturday in Las Vegas to not oppose the Super Bowl on Sunday.
Jon Rahm (4-1) finished T-3 last week and was in the hunt for the win before a late bogey. His Legion XIII team did win the team competition.
Niemann (11-1) is the second choice on the board and led the field for Greens In Regulation last week.
Rahm’s Legion teammate Tyrrell Hatton (13-1) finished T-8 in his LIV debut.
At 14-1, Brooks Koepka led the field in Mayakoba for fairways hit en route to a T-5, and Cameron Smith finished T-8.
The Course
The Las Vegas Country Club, located just five minutes east of the Las Vegas Strip, will host this week. The track will play as a par-70 of 7,089 yards.
The course was established in 1967 with a layout designed by Edmund B. Ault, which was renovated by Ron Garl in 1981 and then modernized by Mark Rathert in 2009.
The club served as the host for the Las Vegas Invitational golf tournament between 1983 and 1991 and also hosted events on a rotational basis from 1992 to 1995. The club also hosted the LPGA Takefuji Classic on the LPGA Tour from 2003 to 2006.
The layout consists of Bermuda fairways and Bentgrass greens.
Las Vegas received some rain this week and the course could play soft.
Selections
Brooks Koepka (14-1, Superbook Sports)
Koepka led the field last week at Mayakoba for fairways hit and was fifth for Driving Distance.
Louis Oosthuizen (20-1, Superbook Sports)
Oosthuizen was second in Putting last week en route a T-8.
