LIV Golf UK Preview: RangeGoats GC needs fast start in United Kingdom
Team: RangeGoats Golf Club
Previous event team finish: 12th at LIV Golf Andalucía
Season-long team standings: 9th
Top finisher from previous event: Matthew Wolff, T17
Fun stat: Another week, another time RangeGoats GC leads the League in Driving Distance. The team tops LIV Golf in combined Driving Distance Average (313.6 yards), more than two yards over second-place Legion XIII.
Preview
The time is now for RangeGoats Golf Club. The fork in the road offers two options: battle hard to the end and make up as much ground as possible, or finish with a thud and spend the offseason wondering what could have been.
If history is any indicator, expect the team members to give it their all, beginning this week at LIV Golf UK. They know only four events remain before a team champion is crowned, and that it’s time to make a move.
The RangeGoats currently stand No. 9 in the season-long team standings and should approach each event by attempting to make upward moves, no matter how big or small. There’s time to chip away, but that will soon come to an end. It’s just one of the reasons that makes this week especially important.
The last three events have been ones to forgot for the RangeGoats, who have finished 12th, 11th and 12th on the leaderboards. They can look back to the three-event stretch just before that to gain some confidence. The team finished 2nd (Miami), 9th (Adelaide) and T6 (Singapore), and it will need another similar run starting this week to save the season.
Matthew Wolff continues to lead the way and has made Captain Bubba Watson’s offseason move look like the transaction of the year. Wolff stands 19th in the season-long individual standings and finished an impressive T17 at Valderrama, which played historically difficult. His 1-under 70 on Saturday was one of only two under-par rounds for the team all week.
Peter Uihlein found some magic on Sunday in Spain with a remarkable 6-under 65, but he was well out of the mix having opened a combined 14-over during the first two days.
Watson and Thomas Pieters also had weeks to mostly forget, but there were some bright spots that could prompt a late-season resurgence.
The challenge this week at LIV Golf UK will be finding a comfort level at JCB Golf & Country Club. The course is new to the LIV Golf League, but it has a spectacular reputation throughout the golf world, from top professionals to amateurs alike.
JCB Golf & Country Club is in Rocester, United Kingdom, and stretches more than 7,200 yards. It’s considered a modern masterpiece and is sculpted from the picturesque English countryside. The layout is illuminated by island greens, rolling meadows and a rambling stately home, where aristocrats once ruled.
Seemingly every hole is laden with trouble, but the long and snaking 18th might prove to be the toughest test. It’s heavily guarded like a Medieval citadel, and like every other hole on this course, strategy and scrambling will be keys to success.