Masters 2024: Top 5 LIV Golfers Who Can Beat OWGR Leaders in the ANGC Field

Three days after LIV Golf Miami ends at the Trump National Doral GC, 42 players will be heading home. While the 13 from the rest of the LIV roster will join the field with world’s best such as Scottie Scheffler, and Rory McIlroy, and others at Augusta National for the 88th Masters. The men’s first major will be the first place for the LIV pros to experience the 72-hole traditional gameplay after a while.

Among the top fields at Augusta National, only one will be crowned the 2024 Masters winner. And if that happens to be from a player from the PIF-backed league, these are the five players who may go on to win the green jacket with the $3.24 million prize money.

Top five LIV Golf contenders at the 2024 Masters 

1. Jon Rahm: Although the Spaniard has not won any individual title yet at the breakaway league, his performances have been nothing but remarkable. So far in the 2024 season, he has scored four back-to-back top-10 finishes at LIV Golf. The best of it came at his season debut in Mayakoba, he was T3 on the leaderboard and only two strokes from winning his maiden title at LIV Golf.

Moreover, statistically speaking, Rahm has taken the lead for the average birdies made per round and is the second-best in Greens in Regulation (75%), after four events on LIV Golf. Looking at his recent plays, Rahm might become the first golfer after Tiger Woods to successfully defend his title at the Masters and may improve his OWGR rank from three to one.

2. Brooks Koepka: The five-time major champion was another LIV Golf pro tied for a second spot at the 2023 Masters. Brooks Koepka has not opened his winning spell yet in the 2024 season. However, he has finished in the top 15 thrice by now. However, his last game in Hong Kong was not as extraordinary, as he would’ve wanted.

Nonetheless, Koepka is the rising star on the breakaway circuit and has a great record of winning majors (he has won the PGA Championship three times and the U.S. Open twice). This time, the Palm Beach native will try to not finish runner-up and instead, take the green jacket home.

3. Joaquin Niemann: What more can be said about the Chilean than that he has been playing incredible golf? And it is not only at the LIV Golf but also at the DP World Tour. He proved himself as a worthy golfer and received the special invitation to be a part of the 2024 Masters. The golfer emerged victorious at the ISPS HANDA Australian Open, and when he teed up at LIV Golf Mayakoba, he shot the second-lowest round in LIV Golf of 12 under 59.

He went on to win LIV Golf Mayakoba in a playoff against Sergio Garcia. Later in February, the 2-time LIV Golf winner came solo third in the Asian Tour’s International Series Oman. Followed by a victory at LIV Golf Jeddah and T4 in Hong Kong. As evident, he will give a tough competition to all present at Augusta National this year.

4. Tyrrell Hatton: The Irish golfer has not had an out-of-the-charts game at LIV Golf since he joined with Rahm in Mayakoba. However, many odds are leading up to saying that Tyrrell Hatton might be donning the green jacket on April 14th. The Golf Digest‘s Jamie Kennedy posted a surprising stat about Hatton.

It says that in the last two decades, the average Masters winner has been a 32-year-old player who made his 8th appearance at Augusta and was 17th ranked on the Official World Golf Rankings. Coincidentally, Hatton is all of those things and more. Couple this with his last two top-15 performances T15 at Jeddah and T4 in Hong Kong and you may have your 2024 Masters champion.

5. Dustin Johnson: He may be getting old, does he have the prowess to win the Masters again in 2024? Johnson is a former champion (2020) and has recently won from a relatively young field. The 2-time major champion won LIV Golf Las Vegas over Talor Gooch, showing that he has still got the fire to put up a win.

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Coming into the 88th Masters, the 39-year-old has had two top-5 finishes and two top 25s. He is the third-ranked golfer in LIV Golf’s 2024 standing so far and fourth in average birdies with 4.75 birdies made in every round he played so far.

Honorary mention – Phil Mickelson

Probably the most successful left-handed golfer in the history of Masters, Phil Mickelson has played the Masters for decades now. Moreover, from his 30 appearances at Augusta National, Lefty has been in the top five 12 times. In 2023, after he shockingly hammered his name at T2 in Masters, Mickelson became the oldest player (50 years or more) to score the highest finish and lowest final round of 7 under 65.

He has already been named the oldest major winner after he won the 2021 PGA Championship at the age of 50 years 11 months. He may break his own record of the oldest player to win a major at the age of 53.

Will it be the former Masters champion or a new one from LIV Golf that will steal away the green glory? Stay tuned to find out.

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