When it comes to the season-long race for the team championship trophy, 4Aces Golf Club is exactly where it wants to be. And because of that, the teammates can afford to be aggressive as individuals and as a group.
The regular season ends this week at LIV Golf Jeddah presented by ROSHN and the race for the season’s individual champion will be completed. But that’s not the end of things. It’s also a nerve-racking week for teams trying to improve positions for the Team Championship, which takes place next week in Miami.
Fortunately for 4Aces GC, there’s not too much to worry about. The team wrapped up a quarterfinal bye for Miami, but captain Dustin Johnson and teammates Patrick Reed, Peter Uihlein and Pat Perez can secure the No. 1 seed for the second consecutive year with a high finish at Jeddah.
So how did they get here? 4Aces GC has been the most impressive team in 2023, as evidenced by leading the season-long team standings with 188 points, 10 more than second-place Crushers Golf Club. And there hasn’t been any let up as the season winds down. Most recently, 4Aces GC finished third at LIV Golf Chicago two weeks ago and added to its LIV Golf-leading seventh podium finish of the season.
The team has two wins this year, but what has separated it from the others is consistently performing well. In 12 events, 4Aces GC has finished worse than sixth twice. By contrast, Torque Golf Club has four team wins this season, but has finished worse than sixth a total of five times.
This isn’t to say the team members are solely focused on securing the top team seed. Reed and Johnson enter LIV Golf Jeddah with a mathematical chance to claim the bonus-paying third place spot in the individual standings. Reed currently sits in fourth place in the standings while Dustin Johnson is in seventh place.
Johnson has been sizzling as of late and has four top-10 finishes in his last seven events, including a win at LIV Golf Tulsa. He’s coming off a 10th-place finish in Chicago where he was 9 under for the week, including a team-best, 5-under 66 on Saturday. He can grab the third-place bonus individual spot with a win at Jeddah or if Bryson DeChambeau finishes no better than 15th.
The steely-nerved Reed will also be one to watch and has shown the ability to go low when needed most. Reed has two scenarios to finish in the third-place bonus individual spot. The first is to win in Jeddah and have DeChambeau finish no better than sixth. The second is to finish runner-up, DeChambeau finishes no better than 15th and Dustin Johnson, Branden Grace or Brooks Koepka not win the event.
So, as it should be with a white-knuckle week upon us, there’s plenty on the line for the individuals and the teams, no matter where they are positioned.