LIV Golf Mayakoba Odds, Field & Picks

After successfully running eight events last year, LIV Golf returns in 2023 with a 14-event schedule that tees off this weekend in Mexico. Here our LIV Golf Mayakoba betting preview!

The Mayakoba resort will play host to the first event on the calendar. LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman said around eight golfers would be added to the circuit for 2023. Names like Brendan Steele and Danny Lee were added, and the biggest name to jump was Thomas Pieters, a winner on the DP World Tour and a golfer who was likely to have a spot on the European Ryder Cup team prior to his move to LIV Golf.

If you recall, LIV tournaments consist of three rounds with no cut and a field of 48 golfers. Along with each individual competing for a $4 million check to win the event, four-man teams are also competing at the same time and can earn additional money for winning the team component of the tournament.

For wagering purposes, we’ll just be considering the individual nature of the event.

The Course

El Camaleon Golf Club opened in 2006 and is a part of the Mayakoba resort in Mexico. The course is a par-71, 7,017-yard track, so it is not long, but there are many perils within. There are oceanfront holes to deal with along with ones that feature jungles and even a cenote—a naturally formed pit with limestone walls. This is a feature of the seventh hole and is mostly covered in water, but there are areas where you can hit out of the sand.

Those who are more adept at accuracy off the tee tend to fare best here, which can favor veteran golfers. The PGA Tour played here from 2007-22. Two golfers now with LIV have won on this course: Graeme McDowell in 2015 and Pat Perez in 2016.

Viktor Hovland and Russell Henley hold the course record with a 23-under 261 that was set by Hovland in 2021 and tied by Henley last year.

Dustin Johnson and Joaquin Niemann Favored

Dustin Johnson (+800)

Turned LIV into his own personal playground last year, winning one event along with both the individual and team championships, earning around $35 million in eight tournaments. Dustin Johnson has not played at Mayakoba when he was on the PGA Tour, but there’s no reason to think that he can’t win any time out on the LIV tour given his talent and how he played last year. We haven’t seen him on the course since at Doral in late October, but we would expect Johnson to contend for the win here.

Joaquin Niemann (+800)

Who won the 2022 Genesis Invitational on the PGA Tour and joined LIV halfway through its season last summer, is a co-favorite with Johnson. After jumping to LIV, he finished in the top five in three out of the four tournaments he played.

Other LIV Golf Mayakoba Contenders

Cameron Smith (+1000)

Won a LIV event last fall after joining the league following the 2022 PGA Tour season, where he won The Players Championship and Open Championship. Smith won the Australian PGA Championship since we last saw him at LIV Golf, but he’s struggled in a couple of events since—including missing the cut at the Saudi International—and also was in the bottom half of the field in the final two LIV events. We’ll see where his motivation stands this week in Mexico.

Abraham Ancer (+1000)

Is one of the home-country favorites this week. When we last saw Ancer, he was winning the Saudi International against a strong field. In five tries at Mayakoba while part of the PGA Tour, Ancer finished in the top 10 three times and didn’t finish worse than 21^st.

Sergio Garcia (+1700)

Has yet to make his presence felt in a LIV event since being one of the first and most renowned golfers to join the breakaway circuit last year. Mayakoba, however, should suit the Spaniard’s game well. Accuracy in the driving game has always been one of Garcia’s strong suits, and that trait will serve him well here in Mexico.

Patrick Reed (+1700)

Appears to be motivated as one of the faces of LIV in its public feud with the PGA Tour. After tussling with Rory McIlroy on the driving range and course last month in Dubai, where he finished runner-up to the defending FedEx Cup champion, expect Reed to want to make a statement and perform well in as many LIV events as possible.

Thomas Pieters (+1700)

Makes his LIV debut here among the mid-tier favorites on the odds board. The 31-year-old has six wins on the DP World Tour and was sixth the last time out at the Dubai Desert Classic.

Longshots

Carlos Ortiz (+3000)

Nearly became the first Mexican player to win on his home soil on the PGA Tour when he was runner-up to Hovland here at Mayakoba in 2021 and finished in the same spot in 2019. In between in 2020, Ortiz placed eighth, so he probably has the best history of anyone in the field on this course.

Charl Schwartzel (+6000)

Won the inaugural LIV Golf event in London last June, and he played the weekend in his only try here at Mayakoba two years ago. His solid iron play and greens-in-regulation stats should serve him well this week.

Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra (+6000)

Was the No. 2 ranked amateur in the world last year when he made what many felt was a surprising decision to join LIV. That decision, however, paid off nearly immediately when the 22-year-old won the LIV event in Bangkok, Thailand. Expect his game to be even better this year along with having added confidence of already winning on the tour.

Johnson not playing in the Saudi International due to health reasons is a bit of a concern, so we’re going to fade him this week in exchange for Niemann and Ancer. Our mid-range picks are Reed and Ortiz, and we’ll take a value pick on Lopez-Chacarra at 60-1 odds.

Here are the latest odds from JazzSports for the 2023 LIV Golf event at Mayakoba.

GOLFERS	ODDS TO WIN 2023 LIV GOLF MAYAKOBA
Dustin Johnson	+800
Joaquin Niemann	+800
Cameron Smith	+1000
Abraham Ancer	+1000
Paul Casey	+1650
Sergio Garcia	+1700
Thomas Pieters	+1700
Patrick Reed	+1700
Talor Gooch	+1700
Matthew Wolff / Mito Pereira / Brooks Koepka	+2000