Four key storylines for LIV Golf Miami: The stars are on display in South Beach

Henry McKenna

NFL Reporter

Can anyone catch Sergio Garcia and Fireballs GC?

That’ll be one of the many questions looming over LIV Golf Miami when, for the first time this season, the tour comes to the United States.

Last year’s individual winner, Dean Burmester sits fifth in the individual rankings this season while his team — Stingers GC — reside in sixth. Burmester didn’t win easily in 2024. He went into a playoff with Garcia, who remains hot this year. He’s playing some of the best golf of the last decade and sits in third in the individual rankings. The league’s individual leader is Torque GC’s Joaquin Niemann (84.66 points), just ahead of Legion XIII’s Jon Rahm in second (66.7).

Players and teams will be competing for a $25 million purse in Miami, with the three-day event kicking off Friday at 12:15 p.m. at Trump National Doral, with coverage on FOX Sports.

Here are the key storylines to follow as the action heats up in Miami:

1. Even at the top of the team and individual standings, Sergio Garcia is facing every kind of pressure

It’s a big weekend for Garcia. There’s a lot on the line.

Earlier this month, Garcia just missed making The Open Championship after a major mental error at the Asian Tour’s International Series Macau event. Garcia missed a three-foot putt that dropped him out of a top-three finish.

“When it comes to The Open, this is something that I would love to be a part of again. It’s my favorite major,” Garcia said in a Miami pre-event press conference. “I was very close in Macau, but unfortunately, I fell short. I’ll just keep trying. I’m going to use every option that I have.”

Looking to this weekend, his Fireballs are atop the league’s standings in large part because of him. Another strong performance, like last year, could help his team run away with the lead in the team standings. Fireballs GC have 104 points, ahead of second-place Legion XIII (86) and Torque GC (36).

“It’s always fun to come back and play in the U.S.,” Garcia said. “Obviously, I played really well last year and hoping to to do more of the same and keep the good run going that that I’ve been having individually. But not only that, also as a team, we’ve been we’ve been doing really, really well. So yeah, we’re excited about everything that has to do with next week in Miami.”

Looking further ahead to the Masters the following weekend, Garcia will hope he can get into form for the only major he’s ever won. And that bears watching because, looking way ahead, he’s trying to insert himself into the Ryder Cup roster after failing last year to make the team for only the second time since 1999. Every point counts.

“Probably the most important thing is to keep playing like I’ve been playing,” Garcia said. “And then it’ll come down to [European captain Luke Donald] and his team deciding if I can bring something extra that will help.”

2. Brooks Koepka said he “found some things” at the end of LIV Singapore

Koepka (-12) wasn’t able to track down Joaquin Niemann (-17) in their final round at Sentosa Golf Club at LIV Golf Singapore. But Koepka’s second-place finish left him optimistic about what’s to come in Miami and at the Masters.

“[I] kind of found some things the last couple holes, which was good momentum to build on for the next month,” he told reporters in Singapore after the final round “It’s tough to explain [what I found]. … Just going back to the basics of setting the club down, making sure I was spot-aiming the last six holes. I wasn’t doing that all day. It was more of a spot aiming, picking something six inches in front of the ball and doing that. The start line was off. If I don’t feel comfortable with my start line, I’ll never hit it good. So it started to feel a little better.”

Koepka has said that Singapore is one of his favorite courses to play. And no doubt, he’s a fan of Miami, where he won in 2023, and the Masters, where he’s had top-two finishes in 2019 and 2023. If Koepka has momentum going into these tournaments, he could be dangerous.

Can Brooks Koepka carry some recent success into Miami?

3. Can Bryson DeChambeau build more consistency? How much might the course length in Miami help him?

In his first season on LIV, Bryson finished fourth in individual standings and the Crushers QC were second among teams. Last year? Eighth in individual but No. 1 in team rankings.

Those seasons have set the bar high.

But this year hasn’t been like the others — not yet at least.

The Crushers are fifth and DeChambeau is 16th.

In Singapore, the Crushers finished fifth and DeChambeau managed a top-10 finish, his second of the season. But he also finished 20th in Singapore and 18th in Adelaide. It seems he will need to find more consistency for the rest of the season from weekend to weekend.

Might it help that Miami is one of the longest courses on the LIV calendar? That’s what Doral has to offer. Perhaps the right kind of challenge.

He’s still one of the biggest hitters in golf, thanks to the many transformations during his career — which he reflected upon in depth during a conversation earlier this month. Every year, he seems to reinvent himself. And yet, he still went out and smashed a drive 400 yards this season.

4. Is this Joaquin Niemann’s breakout year? He says he’s a “different player”

In Singapore, Torque GC’s Niemann snagged his second LIV win of the season and his fourth of his career. He sits at the top of the league’s individual standings. It’s hard to say with certainty that the 26-year-old golfer is playing the best golf of his career, because last year, he was just as hot, finishing the season in second.

So … what does he think? Has he improved?

“More than improved, I feel like I’m just a different player,” he said. “I feel like I’ve got an extra year of experience playing against the best players in the world, and I’m winning quite a lot in the last year. Yeah, I feel like a different player.”

The Chilean golfer has two PGA wins but has never won a major. There’s no doubt that his LIV performances have made headlines. But in terms of building a legacy — he’ll have to start winning majors. And it wouldn’t hurt to start … next week.

At Augusta.

That’s right, the first major of the season is just around the corner when Niemann tees off in the Masters.

“It’s just another golf tournament. Just going to work hard these next two weeks and try and be as ready as I can be,” he said in Singapore.

For now, his focus is on this upcoming weekend.

“There’s a few things that I can improve,” Niemann said, “then go down to Miami and have a chance to win.”

Prior to joining FOX Sports as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.

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