LIV Golf’s fifth event of its inaugural series heads to Chicago this week to Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois, a par 72 measuring 7,408 yards. Cameron Smith headlines the field in his second event after leaving the PGA Tour, while Dustin Johnson is coming off a win in his last LIV start.
Like the previous four events, the purse is $25 million – $4 million for the individual winner and $3 million for the teams winner- and the event will be broadcast at LIVGolf.com and YouTube.
Australians in the field
Smith: world No.3 and reigning Open Champion is the captain of the all-Australian team, ‘Punch GC’.He fFinished at 14 under and one shot out of the playoff on his LIV debut in Boston two weeks ago. “The competition here is fantastic,” Smith said. “It’s loud. It feels like the course has got a heartbeat, and I love that. I can’t wait to keep going.”
Leishman: Leish is also on Punch GC and he finished at 4 under in Boston, which was also his debut. “I’m really looking forward to watching this tour grow into something really special, which I think it will … It’s going to be good for the game. Good to bring people to watch golf that may not otherwise watch it.”
Rounding out the Australian contingent are Matt Jones and Wade Ormsby, Punch GC members, as well as 2022 Australian PGA Champion Jed Morgan.
PUNCH GC: The all-Australian team led by world Smith entered Sunday’s final round in Boston
in fourth place before drifting back to seventh on the final leaderboard. Even so, there were plenty of positives. Captain Smith finished just one stroke out of the playoffs, Leishman chipped in with a 65, and
Jones contributed three counting rounds for the third consecutive start.
LIV Golf Invitational Chicago, by the numbers
2 – Players who have posted top 10 finishes in all four LIV Golf events
(Johnson, Gooch)
4 – Former world No. 1s (Johnson, Kaymer, B. Koepka, Westwood)
5 – NCAA Division I individual champions (DeChambeau, Howell III, Mickelson, Pettit, Wolff)
7 – Players currently ranked No. 1 among their countrymen
11 – Players with 500 or more professional starts (Bland, Casey, Garcia, Howell, Mickelson, Na, Perez,
Poulter, Schwartzel, Stenson, Westwood)
12 – Major champions (DeChambeau, Garcia, Johnson, Kaymer, B. Koepka, McDowell, Mickelson,
Oosthuizen, Reed, Schwartzel, Smith, Stenson)
13 – Players who have participated in the Olympics
14 – Countries represented (USA 19, England 6, Australia 5, South Africa 4, Spain 3, Mexico 2, Thailand 2, Austria 1, Chile 1, Germany 1, India 1, Northern Ireland 1, Sweden 1, Zimbabwe 1)
20 – Players with 10 or more professional wins (Casey 21, DeChambeau 10, Garcia 36, Grace 15, Harding
11, Johnson 29, Kaymer 23, B. Koepka 15, Kokrak 11, Lahiri 18, Leishman 13, McDowell 16, Mickelson 57,
Norris 12, Oosthuizen 20, Poulter 19, Schwartzel 16, Stenson 22, Westwood 44, Wiesberger 13)
22 – Combined majors won (7 Masters, 6 U.S. Opens, 5 PGA Championships, 4 Open Championships)
28 – Players who have started each of the first four events in the LIV Golf Invitational Series
505 – Cumulative professional wins for the 48-man field
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Players in their 20s: 13
Players in their 30s: 22
Players in their 40s: 12
Players in their 50s: 1
Youngest player: David Puig, 20 (born Dec. 7, 2001)
Oldest player: Phil Mickelson, 52 (born June 16, 1970)
