LIV Golf Greenbrier Preview: Smash GC set to climb standings mountain in West Virginia

Team: Smash Golf Club 
Previous event team finish: T3 
Season-long team standings: 7th 
Top finisher from previous events: Talor Gooch, T6  
Fun stat: No team has recorded more eagles in 2024 than Smash GC, which has collected 18, two more than its nearest competitor. 

Preview

If you’re a fan of Smash GC, make sure to take a long, deep breath. You’ve seen the standings. You researched this week’s venue. And you crunched the numbers. So, push your chair back from the table (take that deep breath here), look at the data and let it all settle in. 

Yes, this very well could be the week it all comes together, the week when the planets align. And it couldn’t come at a better time. 

It’s not wishful thinking as Smash GC enters LIV Golf Greenbrier. The team sits No. 7 in the season-long standings, but is a mere 18 points out of fourth place. With only three events remaining before a champion is crowned at the Team Championship in Dallas, the time to charge is now. 

Smash GC is one of eight teams that still has a chance to earn a top-3 seed entering LIV Golf Greenbrier so a slow start is out of the question. The move must be made here in the mountains and the climb won’t be easy. 

Let’s reset before grabbing our hiking gear. Smash GC is coming off a T3 finish at LIV Golf UK where the team finished just six shots off the lead. Talor Gooch led the way with a T6 finish, followed by Captain Brooks Koepka’s T16. There weren’t any egregious outlying high scores from any player, so it was the kind of all-around effort the team needed. 

Now it’s time to duplicate that effort. And considering the team’s history at The Old White course, it’s there for the taking. Smash GC shot a remarkable 19 under in Round 1 in 2023 at Greenbrier to take a four-shot lead before a step back was taken during the weekend. In short, the team has shown the ability to dominate the course, and that includes new 2024 team member Talor Gooch, the reigning season-long Individual Champion, who finished 11th at Greenbrier last year. 

LIV Golf reserve player John Catlin, who has played extremely well when needed in 2024, will fill in for Graeme McDowell this week. Catlin is coming off a T43 at the Asian Tour’s International Series England. Catlin leads the International Series Rankings. 

Now the team’s sites are set on The Old White course. The layout’s characteristics and weather conditions typically have more of a say during tournament week than other event’s host venues. It is a short-ish course at 7,299 yards with only two par 5s, and players must rely on driving accuracy and a sharp short game. 

The par-70 track ends on a par 3, which provides plenty of drama. And keep an eye on the weather as rainy conditions can (and seemingly always does) pop up during competition, forcing players to lock in and refocus on answering questions the famed course asks. 

For Smash GC, there is no option other than to answer those questions. If that can be accomplished, the mountaintop will be within view.