The LIV Golf Invitational Boston: Expert Likes the Chances of Two New Boys to Shine in Boston

• The fourth event of the inaugural season for the rebel Greg Norman-headed set-up
• More controversy expected as the Saudi Arabian-backed project remains in the USA
• Reigning Open champion Cameron Smith heads the betting

The LIV Golf Invitational Boston Odds

The odds are provided by BetMGM Sportsbook. Click on the odds below to head to BetMGM Sportsbook and place a bet.

Note that not all bookmakers are offering odds on LIV Golf and some states are limiting options too. BetMGM and BetRivers have priced it up and these states are permitting wagers at DraftKings: Arizona, Connecticut, Wyoming, Oregon and Illinois.

The LIV Golf Invitational Boston Picks and Predictions

Joaquin Niemann is the outright pick at +700 with BetMGM

Carlos Oritz to land a top 10 at +175 with BetMGM

Marc Leishman each way in the first round at +2800 with BetRivers

Pick made on 08/31/2022 at 06:25 PM EST

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Golf has seen nothing like LIV Golf, the Saudi-backed and Greg Norman-fronted circuit that has debuted this year and which this week will host the fourth of its eight 2022 tournaments in Boston, Massachusetts.

Tiger Woods doesn’t like it and has reputedly turned down an enormous fee to get involved (rumours have the figure at anything between a remarkable $500 million and a hard-to-believe  $1 billion).

Rory McIlroy also refuses to sign up and said after winning last week’s PGA Tour Championship:

I hate what it’s doing to the game of golf. I hate it. I really do.

At next week’s DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship many of the LIV rebels will play and McIlroy is wary.

It’s going to be hard for me to stomach seeing 18 of them there at Wentworth, he said. That just doesn’t sit right with me.

To add to the general sense of doom for the sport, the Open champion Cameron Smith, who pipped McIlroy to the title, has this week joined LIV, one of six new players who immediately make the field in Boston.

As always with LIV Golf, expect controversy and its unusual format: just three rounds of golf, each of them with a shotgun start. It begins Friday.

The Favorites

Cameron Smith leads the way and there is no arguing that he has played the best golf of the field in 2022. In fact, he’s won three times and each of them was in elite company: the Tournament of Champions, THE PLAYERS Championship and the Open.

A concern would be the chaos he will have had to deal with since he turned to LIV, both coping with the criticism of traditionalists and the many pats on the back from his new friends.

He also missed the BMW Championship two weeks ago with a lingering injury and was ranked 23rd in a 30-man field last week.

Second in the betting is Dustin Johnson, the American who won the Saudi International in 2021, his fifth victory in 13 starts, but hasn’t triumphed since.

He’s played in all three LIV events so far, finishing eighth, fourth and second. There’s no arguing that he’s trending in the right direction and he also finished sixth in the Open behind Smith.

A concern would be that new-found inability to win and a lack of competitive golf – just five starts in three months.

Talor Gooch is one of the most unexpected signings for LIV Golf. The young American started the 2021/22 PGA Tour season without a win at that level, but claimed the RSM Classic in November.

It was one of 15 top 30 finishes he made in 20 starts before he moved circuit when most of his fellow rebels were veterans looking to make money before retirement.

He’s fared well in new company, however, collecting three top 10s but he’s yet to make the top five.

Niemann the Favorite to Back

As mentioned above, it is something of a concern that the original LIV golfers have played very little golf.

We don’t really know what state their game is in right now.

The same cannot be said of Chile’s Joaquin Niemann.

He kicked off 2022 with a trio of top 10s, a run that ended with a superb wire-to-wire victory in LA at the Genesis Invitational.

He missed the cut a week later, perhaps understandably, but since then has missed just one weekend of golf and he was superb in the FedExCup Playoffs finishing 13th and eighth before ranking ninth in the scoring at the Tour Championship.

In that time only two of his 12 laps wasn’t sub-70 and scoring like that will give him a superb chance of emulating Henrik Stenson in winning on his LIV debut.

Take him to win in the outright at +700 with BetMGM.

Ortiz Enjoys LIVing it Up

Mexico’s Carlos Oritz has thrived on the new circuit.

He finished second on home turf in his final start of 2021 but then went 15 starts without a top 30 finish on the PGA Tour.

Since joining LIV, however, he has not only finished second and fourth, he’s also never ended any of his six rounds outside the top four.

Take him to maintain that record and make the top 10 with BetMGM offering +175.

Off the Leish

It was, of course, inevitable that the first LIV event would see a debutant lead after 18 holes.

But in the second event, first-timer Ortiz led after the first round.

And in the third event, Henrik Stenson made his bow and tied Patrick Reed at the top of the scoring after the first lap.

The thrill of a first start seems to prompt good golf and that makes both Smith and Niemann interesting prospects but don’t overlook Marc Leishman.

He, too, is beginning his life at LIV and the fact that the course is a Tom Fazio design is intriguing.

Back in 2017 he thrashed a round one 62 at Fazio’s Conway Farms to grab the lead and eventually won by five.

Take him each way in the first round at +2800 with BetRivers.

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