Out of the Rough: LIV Golf Chicago (2025)

With just three weeks remaining in the 2025 LIV Golf schedule, the tour heads to the outskirts of Chicago for LIV Golf Chicago.

For the second consecutive season, Bolingbrook Golf Club will play host. The first two editions of this event were played at Rich Harvest Farms.

From here, LIV Golf will head to Indianapolis next week for LIV Golf Indianapolis and will cap its season with the end-of-the-season team championship at LIV Golf Michigan in two weeks.

The Field

Jon Rahm comes in as the defending champion, winning at Bolingbrook a season ago, topping Sergio Garcia and Joaquin Niemann by three strokes.

Joaquin Niemann, on the back of his five victories this season, has a demanding and insurmountable lead on the season-long standings at 206.8 points. He leads second place Rahm by 37.64 points.

Legion XIII (Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Tom McKibbin and Caleb Surratt) continues to lead the team standings with 218.66 points. They lead second place Crushers GC (Bryson DeChambeau, Paul Casey, Charles Howell III and Anirban Lahiri) by 46.66 points.

Additionally, with just two individual events left in the season, many players will be playing for their LIV Golf lives with the chance of being dropped from the tour.

Currently, the first five within the cutline are Kevin Na (44th,) Brandan Steele (45th,) Lee Westwood (46th,) Henrik Stenson (47th) and Andy Ogletree (48th.)

The first five outside of the cutline are Chieh-Po Lee (49th,) Luis Masaveu (50th,) Ian Poulter (51st,) Yubin Jang (52nd) and Mito Pereira (53rd.)

The Course

Bolingbrook sits approximately an hour outside of Chicago.

It was designed by Arthur Hills and Steve Forrest. It was opened in 2002.

It plays as a par-71 at 7,250 yards and features four par-threes, 11 par-fours and three par-fives. The course played as a par-72 for last year’s installment with one of the par-fives being moved to a par-four this week.

It was constructed on what was once an open field and features elevated tees into rolling fairways.

There is plenty of water in play this week, with seven different lakes being featured.

Off-the-tee, golfers will have to make the decision to tone-it-down for a safer approach, or take a risk in finding the multitude of water-hazards or bunkers alike.

The course is wall-to-wall bentgrass.

Two holes to watch are the 600-yard par-five 14th and the 151-yard par-three sixth that is a true island green.

The Weather

As of the time of writing this, Friday and Saturday are both calling for a 25-percent chance of precipitation as Sunday is calling for a 30-percent chance of isolated thunderstorms. Winds will range between 11-to-12 miles-per-hour across all three days as well. Temperatures will begin at 86-degrees on Friday before peaking at 89-degrees on Saturday and returning to 86-degrees on Sunday. If the thunderstorms hold off on Sunday, it appears to be a great three days for golf.

Key Stats

• Greens in Regulation Percentage (GIR%)

• Total Driving (60-percent hit fairway percentage / 40-percent accuracy)

• Putting Average

• Scrambling

• Birdie-or-Better Percentage

Betting Card

Sebastian Munoz (+2200)

Munoz is currently ninth on Tour in putting average, tenth in GIR%, tenth in birdie-or-better percentage, 16th in scrambling and 17th in total driving. He does lack a little distance off-the-tee but is just slightly below average on Tour. He makes up for that with elite accuracy. Munoz placed 11th in the UK, tenth in Andalucia, 16th in Dallas, 15th in Virginia and 20th in Korea over his last five starts. 

Dean Burmester (+4000)

This is a big number for a guy I really like this week. Burmester made the cut at The Open Championship and followed that up with a fifth place finish in his latest start in the UK. Burmester is currently fifth on Tour in birdie-or-better percentage, eighth in putting average, 12th in total driving, 19th in GIR% and 36th in scrambling. I love the combination of plus-distance off the tee with above-average putting on this golf course. He did play here last year where he finished 42nd.

Lucas Herbert (+5000)

Herbert is out of form, and that’s why there’s a big number next to his name. He did place sixth here a season ago so I’m hoping a return to a familiar course helps him break out of his slump. Herbert’s best finish over his last four starts was a 32nd in Andalucia. He placed 34th in his latest outing in the UK. Prior to his slump though he had a runner-up in Mexico, a fourth in Hong Kong and a fourth in Riyadh. He is currently third on Tour in putting average, eleventh in total driving, eleventh in scrambling, 12th in birdie-or-better percentage and 41st in GIR%.