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Smash GC sits atop the team leaderboard at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club
INCHEON, South Korea – While Bryson DeChambeau continued his quick-start prowess Friday, Talor Gooch hopes his opening-round performance at LIV Golf Korea will jump-start his season.
DeChambeau, the Crushers GC Captain, rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt on his final hole to shoot a bogey-free 7-under 65 and join Gooch atop the individual leaderboard at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea. It’s the second consecutive week that DeChambeau has held at least a share of the lead after 18 holes, and the fifth time in his last seven worldwide starts – including the recent Masters – in which he’s been in a top-5 position after the opening round.
“It was a tough, grueling round of golf,” said DeChambeau, who finished tied for fifth last week at LIV Golf Mexico City. “I was proud of the way I stuck in there. I played some great golf today.”
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Gooch, in his second season with Smash GC, posted six birdies during an eight-hole stretch to fuel his round of 65. His stellar iron play looked very familiar to the form he displayed in 2023 when he won three tournaments and the 2023 LIV Golf Individual Championship while playing with RangeGoats GC.
After a disappointing 2024 season and a sluggish start to 2025, his last two starts have been encouraging, with top-15 finishes in Miami and Mexico City. Friday’s round was another positive step.
“Yeah, it was a tough start to the year,” said Gooch, who put together two streaks of three consecutive birdies between the second and ninth holes. “The game was pretty rusty. It’s been nice these past couple events to show some life and get some good golf going again.
“Hopefully this round kind of kick-starts a good rest of the season and we can kind of channel some of that 2023 season again.”
With Gooch and DeChambeau leading their teams, Smash and Crushers also stand atop the leaderboard. Smash – captained by Brooks Koepka – shot a cumulative 10 under to lead the Crushers by one shot. The RangeGoats, who have Korean player Minkyu Kim in their lineup this week, are in solo third at 8 under.
Fourth in the team standings is Stinger GC, captained by Louis Oosthuizen, who is tied for third with Cleeks GC’s Richard Bland on the individual leaderboard at 6 under. Ten years ago, Oosthuizen went undefeated at the Presidents Cup at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea, winning four matches with partner Branden Grace and halving his singles match with another future LIV Golf player, Patrick Reed.
Grace, now one of his Stingers teammates, is out this week with an injury, but Oosthuizen said he still found time to reminisce. “Definitely today on a few occasions I remember shots that I hit back in 2015,” Oosthuizen said. “Just good memories.”
DeChambeau and Gooch each seek to carve out some good memories this weekend in Korea. Last week in Mexico City didn’t end as well as DeChambeau hoped, and last season certainly didn’t provide many positives for Gooch inside the ropes. But both are feeling upbeat after Friday.
“I’m excited for the weekend,” DeChambeau said. “It’s going to be a fun battle.”
TEAM SCORES
LIV Golf’s new scoring format this season now 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 Rd. 1 of LIV Golf Korea presented by Coupang Play.
1. SMASH GC -10 (Gooch 65, Kokrak 69, Koepka 71, McDowell 73)
2. CRUSHERS GC -9 (DeChambeau 65, Lahiri 68, Howell III 70, Casey 76)
3. RANGEGOATS GC -8 (M. Kim 69, Watson 69, Uihlein 71, Wolff 71)
4. STINGER GC -7 (Oosthuizen 66, Burmester 68, Catlin 73, Schwartzel 74)
5. CLEEKS GC -6 (Bland 66, Meronk 69, Kaymer 72, Kjettrup 75)
6. MAJESTICKS GC -4 (Poulter 69, Stenson 69, Horsfield 73, Westwood 73)
7. TORQUE GC -2 (Niemann 68, Ortiz 71, Muñoz 73, Pereira 74)
8. IRON HEADS GC -1 (Kozuma 68, Na 70, Lee 73, Jang 76)
9. LEGION XIII E (Hatton 69, Rahm 72, Surratt 73, McKibbin 74)
10. RIPPER GC +1 (Herbert 71, Leishman 71, Smith 73, Jones 74)
11. 4ACES GC +3 (Pieters 71, Reed 71, Johnson 72, Varner III 77)
12. FIREBALLS GC +5 (Puig 71, Ancer 72, Masaveu 73, Garcia 76)
13. HYFLYERS GC +8 (Ogletree 72, Steele 73, Mickelson 75, Tringale 76)
Wild Cards: C. Lee 73. A. Kim 79
ROUND 1 NOTES
TWO ACES: For the second time in LIV Golf history, two aces were made in the same round, with Stinger GC’s Dean Burmester making a hole-in-one at the 205-yard 13th, while Ripper GC’s Marc Leishman following about an hour later with a hole-in-one at the 172-yard 5th.
That brings the LIV Golf total to 12 aces in league history, and four in the 2025 season. Last year in Hong Kong, two aces were made in the final round by Joaquin Niemann and Kalle Samooja.
For Burmester, it’s his second ace in competition and fifth overall since recording his first ace at the age of 24. His ace on Friday also resulted in a fan receiving a new BMW car. In addition to his ace, Burmester also holed-out for eagle at the par-5 18th.
“A hole-in-one and an eagle in one day, that doesn’t happen very often,” Burmester said.
For Leishman, it’s his fourth career ace in competition and sixth overall.
ELEVATION CHANGE: Last week in Mexico City, the LIV Golf players competed at an elevation just under 8,000 feet. Now they’re playing at sea level in Korea. For big-hitting Bryson DeChambeau, that’s quite a change.
“A unique test for me,” said the Crushers GC captain after grabbing a share of the lead with a 7-under 65. “I curve the ball a lot, so at elevation, it was nice for the ball to fly a lot straighter. Here, it’s curving a lot. So controlling my curvature, plotting around the golf course nicely.”
GOOCH’S SMASH SUCCESS: Although Talor Gooch did not win an individual tournament last season, he did enjoy two team victories in his first season with Smash GC. A year earlier, he led the RangeGoats to their only team victory, and in the inaugural 2022 LIV Golf season, he was a member of Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC that won four regular-season events and the Team Championship.
Smash has struggled for consistency this season but they’ll go into the weekend in Korea with the lead – and a chance for Gooch to extend his streak of winning at least one team trophy each season.
“If we go shoot 10-under par for the next two days, that would be a great game plan,” Gooch said. “Great day for the team, and hopefully we can keep it going the next two days.”
IRON HEADS UPDATE: Local favorites Iron Heads GC, with its three Korean-born players, shot a cumulative 1-under for solo eighth on the team leaderboard. The team did well to bounce back from Yubin Jang’s early sextuple bogey when he hit three balls in the water on his second hole of the day, the par-4 11th. Jang rallied to play his final 16 holes in 2 under.
RESERVES UPDATE: Korea’s Minkyu Kim, in the RangeGoats’ lineup as a replacement for Ben Campbell, shot a 3-under 69 and is tied for ninth. American John Catlin, in the Stinger lineup as a replacement for Branden Grace, shot a 73 and is tied for 32nd.
ROUND 1 STATS LEADERS
Driving accuracy: Talor Gooch, 100% (14 of 14 fairways hit)
Driving distance average (for measured holes 3 and 16): Mito Pereira, 369.7 yards avg.
Longest drive (among measured holes 3 and 16): Mito Pereira, 422.6 yards, 3rd hole
Greens in regulation: Louis Oosthuizen, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood, 83.33% (15 of 18 greens)
Scrambling: Jinichiro Kozuma (6 of 6), Talor Gooch (5 of 5), Bryson DeChambeau (5 of 5), Tom McKibbin (5 of 5), Anirban Lahiri (4 of 4), 100%
Putting: Ian Poulter, 1.22 putts per hole
Bogey-free rounds: Bryson DeChambeau (65), Jinichiro Kozuma (68)
This piece is courtesy of Mike McAllister in partnership with LIV Golf.
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