OTHER MEN’S PROFESSIONAL GOLF THIS WEEK
The Liv Golf League Chicago
Course: Bolingbrook (Ill.) Golf Club (Par 70; 7,131 yards) Individual purse: $20 million (Winner: $4 million)
Team purse: $5 million (Winners: $3 million)
2024 leaders: Players: Jon Rahm; Team: Crushers GC
TV (EDT): Friday: 1:15 p.m. (CW App, Liv Golf Plus); Saturday: 1:25 p.m. (CW Network, CW App, LIV Golf Plus); Sunday: 1:05 p.m. (CW Network, CW App, LIV Golf Plus)
X: @livgolf_league
This is the final of 13 individual events, which will be followed by next week’s Team Championship. The top 3 teams after this week earn first-round byes at Dallas. Crushers GC and Legion XIII have secured byes, with Ripper GC, Smash GC and Torque GC competing for the final bye. … Joaquin Niemann, who won two events earlier this year and led the season-long standings until after LIV Golf Greenbrier, trails Rahm by only 2.97 points. Rahm needs to finish ahead or equal to Niemann in the top 15 this week to secure the individual title. If Niemann finishes 16th or 17th, then Rahm must finish inside the top 24 players who receive points. Both players are guaranteed to finish first or second in the standings. Five players are still mathematically alive to catch
Tyrrell Hatton for third place: Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Cameron Smith and Brooks Koepka. … The top 24 players in the standings after this week will secure their spots for next season. After Chicago, players with expiring contracts who are within Nos. 25-48 will become free agents with the opportunity to be re-signed by their team or picked up by another team. Those in 49th or below will finish in the Drop Zone and be relegated out of the league, although they can earn their way back in at the LIV Golf Promotions tournament. … Next tournament: Team Championship Dallas, Carrollton, Texas, Sept. 20-22.
PGA Tour Champions Sanford International
Course: Minnehaha Country Club (Par 70; 6,747 yards) in Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Purse: $2.1 million (Winner: $315,000) TV (EDT): Friday-Saturday, 4-6:30 p.m. (Golf Channel); Sunday, 4-6 p.m. (Golf Channel).
X: @ChampionsTour
Ernie Els holds a lead of only $31,168 over Stephen Ames for the top spot in the Charles Schwab Cup standings. Y.E. Yang moved up to sixth place with his win last weekend in the Ascension Charity Classic.