BOLINGBROOK: Sergio Garcia may be regaining his form from earlier this season. Dustin Johnson may be rounding into form.
In Friday’s first round at LIV Golf Chicago, the two captains and major champions showed they’re ready to make plenty of noise as the 2025 season nears its conclusion.
Garcia, the Fireballs GC captain, shot a 4-under 67 that was matched by Johnson, the 4Aces captain, for a share of the lead at a challenging Bolingbrook Golf Club. The two will start Saturday’s second Round 1 stroke ahead of a six-player chase pack that includes four other major champions: Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Jon Rahm.
On the team leaderboard, South African Stinger GC shot a cumulative 6 under to lead by one stroke over Garcia’s Fireballs, with Johnson’s 4Aces and DeChambeau’s Crushers tied for third at 3 under. The Stingers are looking to break a drought of 31 tournaments without a team win.
Two weeks ago at LIV Golf UK by JCB, Johnson finished last in the 54-man field but bounced back on Friday thanks mostly to a nine-hole stretch in which he posted five birdies. It’s the second time this season he’s gone from worst in one tournament to the lead in the first round of the next tournament. He finished 54th in Hong Kong, then had the solo lead after 18 holes in Singapore, eventually tying for fifth.
“To be honest, even in the UK, I did not play nearly as bad as my score,” Johnson said. “I know my score was horrible, but I actually hit a lot of good shots.”
He’s been hitting plenty of good shots lately. Prior to the UK event, he had finished in the top 10 in three of five starts, his best stretch this season as he chases his first win of 2025. He certainly hit some terrific shots Friday, despite windy conditions and tough pin placements. His irons were especially on point, as he hit 14 greens in regulation, tying for second-most in the field.
“It’s close,” Johnson said when asked about his form. “I feel like I’m always close, and it only takes a couple shots here or there where my game just clicks back and I start playing good again.”
Garcia won earlier this year in Hong Kong during a stretch in which his Fireballs claimed three consecutive team titles. But the legendary Spaniard’s form fell off during the middle part of the season.
Always a great ball-striker, Garcia found his putting stroke Friday, as he needed just 23 putts, tying for fewest in the field. Entering the tournament ranked sixth in the season-long points race, Garcia is now projected to move into fourth place.
“I’ve been working very hard on all parts of my game,” he said. “Today, I felt like I hit the ball pretty much as well as I hit the ball at the beginning of the year … I hit several shots very, very close, so obviously on the conditions that we had today, if you have five or six tap-ins for birdie, that helps a lot.”
Among the chasers, the most intriguing development concerns the Individual Championship race. Rahm is tied for third on the Chicago leaderboard while points leader Joaquin Niemann — a five-time winner this season — is tied for 45th after shooting a 74.
If Rahm wins this week and Niemann finishes no better than 18th, then Rahm takes over the lead entering the decisive event next week at the regular-season finale at LIV Golf Indianapolis. According to LIV Golf data experts, Rahm increased his chances of catching Niemann from 15 percent to 30 percent after Friday’s round.
Others have plenty to play for, too, including the 55-year-old Mickelson, the six-time major winner who is having his best season on LIV Golf. He started the week 20th in points but is projected to 11th after shooting a 68 in which he was bogey-free for the first 14 holes. He’d love to finish inside the top 10 in the season-long race.
“I’ve played well this year, played consistent,” he said. “At 55, I think that’s a cool accomplishment, and I would love to finish this year off right.”
TEAM SCORES
LIV Golf’s scoring format involves all four scores now counting in every round in the team competition. Here are the results and scores for each team after Friday’s Round 1 of LIV Golf Chicago.
1. STINGER GC -6 (Burmester 68, Grace 69, Schwartzel 69, Oosthuizen 72)
2. FIREBALLS GC -5 (Garcia 67, Ballester 69, Ancer 71, Puig 72)
T3. CRUSHERS GC -3 (DeChambeau 68, Casey 70, Lahiri 71, Howell III 72)
T3. 4ACES GC -3 (Johnson 67, Reed 70, Pieters 72, Varner III 72)
5. SMASH GC -2 (Koepka 68, Gooch 69, McDowell 72, Kokrak 73)
6. HYFLYERS GC -1 (Mickelson 68, Ogletree 69, Tringale 70, Steele 76)
7. LEGION XIII E (Hatton 68, Rahm 68, McKibbin 73, Surratt 75)
8. TORQUE GC +1 (Pereira 69, Muñoz 70, Ortiz 72, Niemann 74)
9. RIPPER GC +2 (Herbert 69, Leishman 71, Smith 71, Jones 75)
10. RANGEGOATS GC +3 (Uihlein 70, Watson 71, Campbell 73, Wolff 73)
11. CLEEKS GC +4 (Bland 70, Kaymer 70, Meronk 72, Kjettrup 76)
T12. IRON HEADS GC +9 (Jang 72, Kozuma 72, Lee 72, Na 77)
T12. MAJESTICKS GC +9 (Horsfield 72, Westwood 72, Poulter 74, Stenson 75)
Wild Cards: C. Lee 74, Kim 82
