How Did LIV Players Do At The Open Championship 2022?

How Did LIV Players Do At The Open Championship 2022?

Twenty-four members of the upstart LIV golf league played in the 2022 Open Championship.

As at the US Open, Dustin Johnson had the best performance for a LIV player at the Old Course, finishing in a tie for 6th at -13.

Johnson clearly is the star of LIV and to the Saudis, is likely worth a couple of hundred million, or whatever they’re paying him.

Bryson Dechambeau finished in a T8 at -12. That’s a significant improvement over his US Open result where he was T56 at +13.

And that was it for the LIV players in the Top 10. A billion dollars buys 20% of the Top 10 at the Open Championship. Does two billion buy 40%?

One of LIV’s younger stars, Abraham Ancer finished in a T11 with a LIV unknown, Sadom Kawekanjana.

LIV supporters are spinning it as 16% of LIV players made the top 11. Nobody talks about the Top 11. There is no “Top 11” stat in any golf book anywhere. It’s always Top 10.

And since there were only 24 LIV players in a 156 player field, just one LIV player would make their percentage in the Top 10 close to the percentage of non-LIV players (1/24 = 4%, while 9/132 = 6%).

As Mark Twain is reputed to have said: There are three kinds of lies — lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Once again, $200 million dollar man Phil Mickelson missed the cut, this time at +7. I hope that there were performance clauses in his contract.

Of 34 LIV players, 21 made the cut. That’s 61% and significantly better than the 26% who made the cut in the US Open. They’ve got a roster of employees who can “show,” if not actually “win.”

Two LIV employees finished in the Top 10. Four finished in the Top 20. Seven finished in the Top 50.

LIV currently has nine of the Top 50 players in the Official World Golf Rankings. Rumor is that Henrick Stenson is joining. He’s ranked 165. Another name in the mix is Jason Kokrak, who is ranked 34.

We shall see.

The 2022 Open Championship finishes of each of the LIV players follows:

Player	Finish	Total	OWGR
Dustin Johnson	T6	-13	18
Bryson Dechambeau	T8	-12	33
Abraham Ancer	T11	-11	21
Sadom Kaewkanjana	T11	-11	124
Talor Gooch	T34	-7	40
Lee Westwood	T34	-7	94
Patrick Reed	T47	-5	41
Paul Casey	T53	-4	28
Ian Poulter	T62	-3	104
Sergio Garcia	T68	-2	68
Laurie Canter	T79	+2	134
Justin Harding	Cut	+1	118
Louis Oosthuizen	Cut	+1	24
Scott Vincent	Cut	+1	95
Richard Bland	Cut	+2	79
Shaun Norris	Cut	+3	85
Brooks Koepka	Cut	+4	20
Kevin Na	Cut	+4	31
Bernd Wiesberger	Cut	+4	108
Sihwan Kim	Cut	+5	150
Phil Mickelson	Cut	+7	92
Sam Horsfield	Cut	+8	87
Jediah Morgan	Cut	+11	269
Pablo Larrazabal	Cut	+12	73