LIV Golf heads to Spain this week for its Open Championship tune-up at Real Club Valderrama, a beautiful, tree-lined golf course in Sotogrande. We've already cashed a few outright bets on the rival golf league this season, so let's try for another with two outright picks for LIV Golf Andalucia.
Koepka isn't playing great golf right now, but we've learned over the years that recent form means very little with this guy. The more important factor is that next week is a major championship week, so Koepka will be locked in hoping to build some momentum entering The Open.
The American always seems to raise his game on LIV for a major rehearsal. Of his four career LIV Golf wins, two came a week before a major. His win in Singapore earlier this year came a few days before the PGA Championship.
Koepka finished solo third at Real Club Valderrama last year and shot the second-lowest round of the tournament with a 6-under 65 in Round 2. This course is clearly a great fit for his game. Most importantly, though, Koepka is 26-1 on DraftKings to win The Open next week, so of course we're taking him at nearly the same price to win a LIV event with only 54 players in the field.
Unlike most players on LIV Golf, Reed has been getting in as many competitive reps as he can to keep his game sharp. The former Masters champ finished T29 at the Italian Open and T13 at the BMW International Open on the DP World Tour since LIV's last stop in Nashville. The interesting part about those finishes? He lost more than 11 true strokes from putting over those two starts.
Now, Reed has one of the best short games on the planet. His putting will turn around, but it was encouraging to see him gain more than 7.7 true strokes on approach over those events. Reed has now gained strokes on approach in all four of his starts this season in which strokes gained stats were recorded.
Real Club Valderrama is a ball-striker's course. If Reed can continue to stripe his irons and have a bounce-back week with the putter, he'll have a great chance to win.
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