LIV Golf Betting Picks- 2025 Riyadh

The 2025 LIV Golf League season kicks off under the lights in Riyadh! New course, new broadcast network and nighttime golf. There is a lot to look forward to this week! The tournament will take place in Riyadh, the capital and largest city in Saudi Arabia. With a population of 7.0 million people, Riyadh is Saudi Arabia’s most populated city, as well as the largest city on the Arabian Peninsula.

There were several significant offseason moves in the LIV Golf League. Most notably, the young star, Tom Mckibbin, signed with Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII. Many eyes will be on the 22-year-old after he turned down a PGA Tour card to sign with LIV. Thomas Pieters was also on the move in the offseason, signing with the 4Aces. He has replaced Pat Perez, who will now be in the broadcast booth for LIV.

The event will be played Thursday-Saturday and will air on the new broadcast network Fox Sports. Thursday and Friday's broadcast will air on FS2 while Saturday's final round will air on FS1. The tournament can also be viewed through LIV Golf plus and the LIV Golf App.

LIV Golf Riyadh Course Breakdown

Below is the official round one scorecard provided by LIV Golf.

Riyadh Golf Club opened in 2005. The course features fairly wide fairways and Paspalum grass on its greens. The course was designed by Scottish architect Duncan Thomson and has been referred to as “The Pearl of the Desert.” Most notable of course, is the ability to play Riyadh Golf Club under the lights, which we will see this week.

To gain further insight into the course and what it will take to win this week, I spoke to Travis Smyth, who played here at the event in December. He said the following, “The course isn’t overly difficult unfortunately. Literally anyone can win there. If the greens are firm and the rough is up, it can play tricky, and the players will be tested and an all-around player will do well. If the greens aren’t firm anyone can win because it’s short enough.”

The event in December was won at -21 by LIV’s own, Joaquin Niemann. He defeated fellow LIV Golf League members Cam Smith and Caleb Surratt in a playoff. Tyrell Hatton and Ben Campbell rounded out the top five. 28 players in the field shot -14 or better in comparison to just 21 players shooting over par.

I am leaning heavily on the words of Travis Smyth this week and going into this event with the mindset that it is going to be a birdie fest and that any type of player can win. This obviously eliminates the ability to narrow down our field based on course fit. As a result, I’ll be relying mostly on form.

The first event of the season always creates an advantage for the players who didn’t treat the offseason as a true offseason. Some players are teeing it up for just the first of second time since the close of the 2024 LIV season, while others have been playing more often. I believe this week some players are coming in ready to win as opposed to shaking off rust. I’ll attempt to break a few down while making my selections.

LIV Golf Betting Odds - Riyadh

Below are the current odds of winning, as presented by BetUS. Odds on different sportsbooks are subject to change.

LIV Golf Betting Strategy & Selections - Riyadh

Abraham Ancer +2200 

Abraham Ancer had a very nice 2024 LIV season. He finished with seven T13 or better finishes, four of them top ten, and of course the playoff win in Hong Kong. I expect more of the same from Ancer in 2025. While not the longest hitter, Ancer can be somewhat overmatched by others at bomber’s tracks. However, at any other style of course, I find him live to win. He’s one of, if not the most, accurate hitters in the LIV Golf League and has proven he’s capable of winning across the world.

@Abraham_Ancer stripe show on 14th #InternationalSeriesIndia pic.twitter.com/q9yX67V3Cb

— Dead Solid Perfect🎙️ (@Deadsolidp) February 1, 2025

The 33-year-old has played twice since the close of the 2024 LIV season. His first start was at this course, in December, when he finished T22. He also played last week in India, finishing T3. The tune-up went well, and I expect Ancer to come out the gates hot to start the season.

When the putter gets going, Ancer can make birdies in bunches. I expect him to play out of the fairway frequently this week and set himself up for makable birdie looks. Players are going to need to go low this week if they want to win and the Fireballs star is certainly capable of doing that. He won the Saudi International at -19 back in 2023, firing rounds of 63 and 64. I will be looking for him to match that performance this weekend under the lights in the Kingdom.

Patrick Reed +2600 

Nobody has teed it up more since the close of the 2024 LIV season than Patrick Reed. Reed has played eight times since the team final in Dallas and should be heading to LIV’s first event of 2025, in Riyadh, in near midseason form. In those eight starts, the 34-year-old recorded two top ten finishes, including a win in Hong Kong.

Patrick Reed shot rounds of 65, 68, 59 and 66 to win the LINK Hong Kong Open by 3 shots from defending champion, Ben Campbell at 22 under. It’s his first win since the 2021 Farmers, first worldwide since joining LIV Golf and first time ever shooting 59 in a tour event. What a… pic.twitter.com/scQ3tJMheT

— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) November 24, 2024

Reed’s win in Hong Kong was bigger than it may seem on the surface. In the eight seasons between 2013-2021 on the PGA Tour, Reed racked up eight wins, one in every season except 2017. However, since joining LIV, Reed has remained winless. His last victory came at the Farmers Insurance Open back in January of 2021. It felt really important for him to get the monkey off his back and get back into the winner’s circle.

I believe that we’re looking at a big year for Reed in 2025. His first LIV win is coming sooner rather than later, and I think his heavy offseason schedule was geared toward making another run at Augusta in April. If he plays to his potential, Captain America may just find himself back into the Ryder Cup conversation.

David Puig +2600

David Puig has been a tough one to gauge in LIV events. Despite a few great results, he’s been wildly inconsistent overall. Normally this wouldn’t be a huge shock for a 23-year-old, except Puig has been fantastic nearly every time he tees it up outside of LIV. Puig had just one top ten finish on the 2024 LIV season but in twelve starts outside of LIV, he registered six top ten finishes, including a win.

23 year old, David Puig just finished with 5 birdies in the last 6, for a final round 7 under 65, to jump to T3 at the Ras Al Khaimah Championship. In 4 DPWT starts over the last few months, he has finished top 5 in 3 of them, with a worst finish of T12. Flusher 🔥🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/OJgUZmnGGg

— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) January 26, 2025

I think 2025 is the year we see the consistency translate over to LIV. In seven worldwide starts since the close of the 2024 LIV season, Puig has finished T4 or better in four of them. Is he ready to close out a tournament with some big names in the hunt? That remains to be seen. But I do believe Puig will consistently be in the mix in the final round this year.

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