JEDDAH PREVIEW: RANGEGOATS GC LOOKS TO STAY HOT
Team: RangeGoats Golf Club
Previous event team finish: 3rd at LIV Golf Las Vegas
Season-long team standings: 6th
Top finisher from previous event: Peter Uihlein, T-2
Fun stat: No one is putting better than Peter Uihlein through two events this season. Uihlein’s putting average is an astounding 1.45.
Preview
There are plenty of positives for RangeGoats Golf Club entering LIV Golf Jeddah, and that includes look back and ahead.
Captain Bubba Watson’s team is coming off a solid third-place finish at LIV Golf Las Vegas, where the course fit was more to the team’s liking than that of the season opener at Mayakoba. Expect more of the same superb play this week at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, where the layout is more in line with Las Vegas Country Club and where big hitters can thrive.
Peter Uihlein continues to lead the way for RangeGoats GC and is coming off a T-2 finish in Las Vegas, where he finished one shot behind winner Dustin Johnson of 4Aces Golf Club. While most players at the top of the leaderboard had roller coaster rounds, Uihlein was a model of consistency with rounds of 66-66-67.
Uihlein lost in a playoff to Brooks Koepka of Smash Golf Club at the 2022 LIV Golf Jeddah event and finished a solid 12th last season. He will be looking for his first LIV Golf League individual win this week after finishing second multiple times.
Teammate Matthew Wolff was only one shot behind Uihlein and finished in fourth place as he continues his remarkable transformation following a down season in 2023. The 24-year-old star is thriving with his new team and is tied for third this season in driving distance (305.6 yards).
Uihlein and Wolff, close friends who are reaping the benefits on the course, also have something going for them entering Jeddah. They both played in the International Series Oman last week, which will help with the time adjustment. The duo nabbed top-10 finishes in Oman with Uihlein finishing solo sixth and Wolff finishing T-7. Wolff also finished fifth at LIV Golf Jeddah 2022.
Watson is trending nicely in 2024 and has opened the season with finishes of T-21 and T-15. He was 7-under par through two rounds in Las Vegas and was just four shots off the lead entering Sunday. Watson has seen success at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club and has a second-place finish at the PIF Saudi International in 2022. That event was played this time of year, giving Watson some good mojo entering this week.
Belgium’s Thomas Pieters will have a shorter trip to Jeddah than most and is looking to bounce back after opening the season with finishes of T-43 and T-40 in the first two events. There isn’t much concern from the team, however, given that Pieters is one of the more reliable and consistent players in the League, and once his scores rise, there won’t be much dip. Pieters didn’t fare well last year at LIV Golf Jeddah, but he does have positive vibes on Royal Greens Golf & Country Club where he finished in the top 10 at the PIF Saudi International in 2021 and 24th in 2022.