Steve Palmer's LIV Golf Chicago first-round preview and free golf betting tips

Where to watch LIV Golf Chicago

LIV Golf Plus app, 6.15pm Friday

Best bets

Sergio Garcia to beat Sebastian Munoz
3pts Evens bet365

Eugenio Chacarra top-20 finish
2pts Evens Hills

Matt Jones top Australian
1pt 6-1 bet365, Hills

LIV Golf Chicago first-round preview

LIV Golf Chicago provides the opportunity for some Ryder Cup rejects to show off their skills the weekend before Europe and the USA lock horns in Rome – and the motivation of these players is likely to be high.

European Ryder Cup stalwart Sergio Garcia will have been warmed by Jon Rahm's comments last week at Wentworth, where he said “it would be really stupid of anybody not to lean on Sergio Garcia's experience in a Ryder Cup”. Garcia is Europe's all-time leading points scorer in the biennial match.

Garcia reportedly offered to pay £700,000 to the DP World Tour in fines in a bid to be part of Team Europe, but the Spaniard will be a Ryder Cup outcast for the first time in 26 years when the action gets under way next Friday. 

Expect a determined effort in Chicago and for Garcia to outscore Sebastian Munoz over 54 holes at Rich Harvest Farms.

Garcia finished tied for fourth place in last year's LIV Chicago, while Munoz was yet to join LIV. Garcia can hit the ground running at a course he knows and leave Munoz behind. The evens outsider in this match represents eyecatching value.

Another Spaniard, rising star Eugenio Chacarra, looks excellent value at a shade of odds-on for a top-20 finish. And the man Chacarra beat in a playoff for the St Andrews Bay Championship on the Asian Tour last time out, Matt Jones, is an attractive price in the top Australian market.

Cameron Smith is a short-price favourite, but Jones should be able to keep pace with the 2022 Open champion given the red-hot form he has shown on the Asian Tour in recent weeks.

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