Preview
2023 LIV Golf Tucson Tips
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Event Info
Starts: 17th March 2023
Course: The Gallery GC, Tucson
Par: 71
Length: 7,469 yards
2022 Champion: New Event
Course Info
Designer: John Fought
Course used since: 2023
Course type: Desert
Fairways: Wide
Greens: Large
Par 5's: 1st, 5th and 17th
Premium on: Approach play
Significant Info To Be Aware Of
This may be the first time LIV Golf has hosted an event at The Gallery GC but it was host course for the WGC Match Play in 2007 and 2008.
The Gallery GC was the course where Martin Kaymer made his first start as a professional in the USA (2008 WGC Match Play).
Trends
Winning Score
With no previous stroke play events at The Gallery, predicting a winning score is difficult.
Course Experience
A number of LIV golfers played in at least one of the WGC Matchplay events over 15 years ago. Henrik Stenson's record at The Gallery is particularly notable, winning the 2007 WGC Match Play and reaching the quarter finals in 2008. Other golfers with at least one appearance in those WGC Match Play events include Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson, Paul Casey, Ian Poulter and Charles Howell III.
Course Form
We haven't had any recent stroke play events at this event so little to go on in terms of course form.
Weather
Friday: Sunny intervals. Wind 5-10mph.
Saturday: Partly cloudy. Wind 10-15mph.
Sunday: Mostly Cloudy. Wind 10-15mph.
Previous Player Quotes
"For the most part, I think this golf course is pretty generous. There's a lot of room off the tees. It is pure desert golf, but at the same time there's a bit of room to drive the ball. I just played the front, but even driving in, seeing some of the holes on the back. There's some great holes. I think there's two drivable par 4s out there - 7 and 12 maybe. There's a lot of drama out there. I think it's set up neat to see a lot of fun shots for a match-play-type atmosphere, for sure. It's funny, seemed like the first eight holes went basically in a straight line right out away from the golf course. The wind was into us pretty good, blowing from the left. I think looking at the weather, I think it's supposed to improve. I don't think the wind is supposed to blow quite as much. I think it will play a little different. I think 7, kind of a funnelled green, real tight and narrow. If you get it kind of on the wrong side, depending where the pin is, you could leave yourself a little delicate second shot. You'll probably see 90% of the guys I would say probably trying to hit driver or 3-wood, to drive it up that front right side again. There were two tees as well, I would think from a setup standpoint, depending on the conditions or the wind, I would think they would probably move the tee up to that front tee where it would still be drivable. You'll see a lot of interesting -- you can leave there with a two or three, you can probably make five pretty easily if you hit kind of a squirrelly drive. Very similar, not quite as treacherous, but to 10 at Riviera. Not quite, but very narrow greens and kind of undulating." JJ Henry, 2007.
"The greens are -- the fairways are pretty wide, but the greens are probably going to be the trickiest part just because they're new to us." Tiger Woods, 2007.
"I think it's a good drivers' course. If you're driving it long and straight, it's going to be -- the greens are receptive, so coming in with short clubs is going to be helpful. Yeah, and it's pretty generous, like you said. So I think the guys who are long hitters, if they're playing well, it's going to suit them for sure." Adam Scott, 2007.
"I feel like a local, sort of. Didn't have to deal with the time differences. But this is University of Arizona territory and I am an Arizona State boy." Paul Casey, 2007
"The golf course is pretty -- it's a big golf course; it's vast. There's not a lot of rough out there. Really I think you're not really -- a lot of guys aren't going to be worried about keeping the ball in the fairway as they are about keeping it between the desert lines, if that makes sense. There's not much rough out there. There's real big greens, and I would say that it's probably -- if the greens were firmer than they are right now -- the greens right now aren't very firm. They're very receptive, so I think it kind of neutralizes length a little bit. But if the greens got really firm and fast, I would say it would be a little bit more of a bombers' golf course. But as it's playing right now I don't think it really favours too much of a style. It's tight in a couple of spots, but for the most part it's a pretty big golf course. There's plenty of room to hit it out there. It looks probably a little longer on the card than it is just because we're up here in a little bit of elevation." Jim Furyk, 2007
"The greens are the biggest area. They're huge, and there's a lot of roll to them, a lot of speed to them." Phil Mickelson, 2007.
"Yeah, it suits me. It's a lot of drives and I've been hitting my driver good, so that's definitely one thing." Henrik Stenson, 2007
"I've been in the Valley -- well, I've been in the Valley up the road near Phoenix for 11 years. So I know desert golf very well. And this fits my eye. I know how to play it. I know how far the golf ball goes. I know how the golf ball reacts coming out of the rough. Maybe that's a small advantage, but it's still an advantage." Paul Casey, 2008
"The course is very nice. The greens, unfortunately, are a little soft. The course is in very good shape. The greens are running very nicely. The fairways are beautiful. It's a nice golf course. It's not playing too difficult at the moment, so you know that if you're playing fairly well you can make a good amount of birdies." Sergio Garcia, 2008
Our LIV Golf Tucson Picks
Our LIV Golf Tucson picks will be available the week of the event.
2023 LIV Golf Tucson Tips
You can sign up for all our golf betting tips and LIV Golf picks for 2023 by clicking the button below.
In-play
2023 LIV Golf Tucson In-Play Blog
19th March 2023, 10:25am (UK time)
| Player | Total |
|---|
| Leishman |
-11 |
| Garcia |
-9 |
| Oosthuizen |
-8 |
| Howell III |
-8 |
| Tringale |
-8 |
| Steele |
-8 |
2023 LIV Tucson Round 2 Summary
Marc Leishman held a three shot lead at one stage but Sergio Garcia birdied his final hole to cut the lead to two shots going into the final round.
Notable Round 1 LIV Tucson Round 2 Quotes
"Obviously you play early in the tournament to try to put yourself into a good position, and I've played well enough to do my first part of the job, but there's probably more than half the work to do tomorrow. There's a lot of great players that are just behind me. It's a golf course where you can make a lot of birdies, and if you're a little bit off, you can make a lot of others. So you can lose a lead quickly, or you can extend it. So I just need to do my job, hopefully do as good as I can, and see where we end up at the end of the day. But I do, I enjoy the feeling of sleeping on a lead. Like I said, that's why we play to get ourself into that position." Marc Leishman
"Obviously these last couple of weeks, I was practicing at home. I was trying the conventional grip, obviously trying to get the best feel possible. With some of the things that I worked with my putting the last year, year and a half or so, it feels much better. So I was able to hit a lot of good putts. Obviously a couple bad ones here and there, but no one is going to go through a tournament without hitting one or two bad putts. So I'm very happy with the way I rolled the ball, even some of the putts that missed. We've got to do more of the same tomorrow." Sergio Garcia
2023 LIV Tucson Round 3 Weather
Cloudy. Wind 10-20mph.
How do we expect the market favourites to perform?
Marc Leishman is 2/1 favourite. The Aussie raced out of the blocks yesterday before appearing to become slightly tentative over the back nine. Leishman, in his post round interview, made reference to the fact he hasn't been in contention in a while and he'll need to overcome any lingering contention rust if he is to go on and win his first LIV event.
Leishman has converted two of his last four leads with 18 holes to go but it should be noted that he put in solid efforts on the two occasions where he didn't win. We have given Leishman a ⭐⭐⭐⭐ GBC Pressure Performance Rating and we expect him to put up a good fist of things today. A strong wind player, the forecasted breezy conditions should certainly work in his favour.
Sergio Garcia is available to back at 5/1. Aside from a short missed putt on the 16th hole, the Spaniard looked far more assured with the putter and he too will enjoy the windier conditions in the final round.
Where is the value?
Those of you who have access to the 11/1 at Skybet for Louis Oosthuizen to triumph could do far worse than take that price. He shouldn't be four points bigger in the betting than Charles Howell in our opinion, even if Howell was mightily impressive when winning in Mayakoba a few weeks ago. However, that price is an outlier and the general 9/1 interests us less. For that reason we won't put up Oosthuizen as an official bet.
Round 3 Bet
- 2.5pts Kevin Na to beat Matthew Wolff and Danny Lee 2/1 @ Unibet/Bet Rivers
Na is a canny operator and should stick to his task today in breezy conditions. In contrast, Wolff and Lee are prone to errors and we're happy to side with the veteran of this three ball. Na has only dropped two shots all week and with conditions becoming noticeably firmer and faster yesterday, he should be well suited to today's test.
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18th March 2023, 11:55am (UK time)
| Player | Total |
|---|
| Leishman |
-6 |
| Ancer |
-5 |
| Oosthuizen |
-5 |
| Wolff |
-5 |
| Three players tied |
-3 |
2023 LIV Tucson Round 1 Summary
Marc Leishman holds a one shot lead after the opening round. Thomas Pieters and Joaquin Niemann made early moves but neither player was able to sustain their charge and it is Leishman who tops the leaderboard.
Notable Round 1 LIV Tucson Round 1 Quotes
"I really enjoyed having an off-season, to be honest. It was nice to be away from the game for a little bit, but then also get back out and want to play golf socially and I was really enjoying that. I actually played quite a lot of golf during the off-season. Doing that I think helped me at Mayakoba. I didn't finish the final round the way I really wanted to, but yeah, I'm enjoying my golf a lot at the moment, and it's hard not to when you're playing in conditions like this on a great golf course. I wouldn't say I found anything in particular with my swing. I'm just, I guess, playing with no consequences over the off-season kind of gave me a little bit of confidence with some of the shots that I hit and how they turned out." Marc Leishman
"I was grinding there at the beginning. I started hitting it pretty short and crooked off the tee, which is a terrible combo, and grinded it out to make some good pars and keep the going round, and then I hit some nice iron shots, kept the ball in play off the tee and made some good putts. I left some out there. I hit some really good shots there on some of the par-3s and missed a short one on 16 that really hurt, and couldn't convert on 17, the par-5. But other than that, I played really well. So very happy with the round." Abraham Ancer
2023 LIV Tucson Round 2 Weather
Mostly sunny. Wind 6-10mph.
How do we expect the market favourites to perform?
Joaquin Niemann and Abraham Ancer are joint 8/1 favourites after the opening round. Both players have started the calendar year with impressive results but this event is still wide open and there's no need to take single figure prices on either man just yet.
Marc Leishman and Matthew Wolff are only slightly bigger at 9/1. Leishman acknowledged in his post round interview that desert golf hasn't been his forte in the past but potentially windier conditions in round two should suit him. Matt Wolff can't be discounted either given his love of desert golf.
Where is the value?
The 6/5 available on Matt Jones to record a top 20 finish makes appeal but instead we are looking to the outright market. Conditions are forecast to be slightly breezier today and we could well see some movement from those players further down the leaderboard.
Round 2 Bet
- 1.5pts Win Only Paul Casey 20/1 @ Coral/Bet Victor
Casey was very much on our radar for this pre-event but odds of 14/1 felt slightly on the short side and we were happy to see how he started. A costly double bogey set him back somewhat in his opening round but he was still able to post a score of 69 and he's only four adrift of Leishman. A 4th place finish at LIV Mayakoba indicated he's playing well and given he has plenty of course experience, he's a solid proposition this week. Casey feels very much at home this week and we like him to make a move over the weekend.
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