Now that the first LIV season has been completed, we’ve taken a look at which players had the greatest success heading into 2023. Players have been rated and ranked on the basis of events played, average finish, wins, runner up, top five and top ten’s–as well as performance at the 2022 major championships (LIV Player Rankings).
While sixty-eight players participated at various events throughout the year, we’ve included only the top forty-eight, using finishes in the individual portion of each tournament.
Not surprisingly, Dustin Johnson dominated pretty much from start to finish. Cameron Smith had an immediate impact following his jump to LIV after winning The Open Championship, and Joaquin Niemann played superb golf—at 24 years old, the young gun that LIV hopes will attract other talented PGA stars in their twenty’s.
Top 5
No. 1 Dustin Johnson: 80.9 Rating
After opening with an 8th place finish at the initial event in London, Dustin recorded a T3 at Pumkin Ridge in Portland, a T2 in Bedminster and then won the fourth event in Boston. In the seven stroke play tournaments on the schedule, Johnson recorded four top 5’s, a top 10 and a win—with his worst finish being a T15 in Bangkok. For the season, Dustin’s average finish was 5.1. When you add a T6 at the Open Championship, Johnson is at the top of the LIV power rankings by a wide margin.
No. 2 Cameron Smith: 62.2 Rating
Following his brilliant performance at St. Andrews, Cam came up a shot shy of joining the playoff in his first LIV event at The International Club in Boston, settling for a T4 at 14 under par. He kicked it up a notch by winning in his second event at Rich Harvest Farms in Chicago, so in the four events he played, Cameron recorded a win and top 5.
With his Open Championship victory and a T3 at The Masters, Smith is second on the LIV power rankings.
No. 3 Joaquin Niemann: 58.7 Rating
At 24 years old, Joaquin Niemann is one of the brightest young stars in golf. After joining the PGA Tour at 19, Niemann recorded 22 Top-10’s including 2 wins in 5 years–making the cut in just under 80% of the events he entered while reaching the Tour Championship in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Joaquin joined LIV prior to the fourth event in Boston, and immediately recorded a runner-up finish (losing to DJ in a playoff). With a T4 at Rich Harvest Farms in Chicago and a T3 at the final regular event in Jeddah, Nieman recorder three Top 5 finishes in the four events he played, with an average finish of 7.3–just behind Johnson.
No. 4 Patrick Reed: 57.2 Rating
Patrick recorded a T3 in his first LIV event in Portland, and finished among the top 5 in three of the five events he played (including a runner-up at Bangkok and a 5th at Trump National Bedminster).
Reed also ended the season with a 10.8 average finish (3rd behind DJ and Niemann).
No. 5 Charl Schwartzel: 54.3 Rating
After winning the first LIV event in London, Charl recorded two additional Top 10’s (Chicago and Jeddah.). When you add his Top 10 at The Masters in April, Schwartzel comes in at number 5.
Notables
Sergio Garcia (No. 6–54.1 Rating)
Garcia got off to a slow start in his first two LIV events, but recorded four Top 10’s in his last five tournaments (including Top-5’s in Chicago and Jeddah). Garcia’s average finish for the year was 12.9 (the 6th highest of the top 48 players who competed in the 2022 LIV events)
Talor Gooch (No. 8–52.4 Rating)
Gooch finished among the Top 10 in each of the first four LIV events in 2022, but dropped off significantly in the final 3 (although he recorded a T12 at the final regular event in Jeddah).
Only seven players were better than Talor’s average finish of 13.6.
Brooks Koepka (No. 9–52.2 Rating)
Brooks’ mediocre play in his first four LIV events is likely due to lingering pain from the knee injury he suffered in 2021, but he finished strong with a T8 at Bangkok and a win at the final regular LIV tournament in Jeddah.
Look for Koepka to make his presence felt in a big way when the 2023 season gets going—particularly at the major championships.
Phil (No. 38—27.6 Rating)
Mickelson’s LIV season was not memorable to say the least, but he showed signs of the old Phil with a T8 at Rich Harvest in Chicago and a T15 in Bangkok.
While the media swarm undoubtedly took a toll in 2022, look for Phil to shake it off and come out strong at the first LIV event in February (Mayakoba).
Should Phil win at Mayakoba, it will be difficult for the powers that be at Augusta National to keep him out again (although they did it last year when he was the reigning PGA champion).
Team Championship-Miami
Dustin Johnson, Pat Reed, Talor Gooch and Pat Perez (the Aces) took home the team championship at Trump National Doral with a composite score of -7, one shot clear of Punch GC (Cameron Smith, Marc Leishman, Matt Jones and Wade Ormsby).
Smash GC (Brooks Koepka, Jason Kokrak, Peter Uhlein and Chase Koepka) finished a distant third with a composite score of +4.
2023 Upcoming LIV Schedule
Mayakoba El Camaleon, Mexico (February 23-26)
Adelaide The Grange Golf Club, Australia (April 21-23)
Singapore Sentosa Golf Club (April 28-30)
Valderrama Real Club, Spain (June 30-July 2)