4Aces start hot in Singapore fueled by Johnson’s 63

SINGAPORE – 4Aces GC Captain Dustin Johnson is back to full strength – and back at the top of the leaderboard.

Johnson leads LIV Golf Singapore presented by Aramco by three shots after a bogey-free 63 in Friday’s opening round at Sentosa Golf Club. His 8-under round matches his best single-round LIV Golf performance, relative to par, in 109 career regular-season rounds.

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His 4Aces, seeking their first win since 2023, lead the team competition by two strokes over Torque GC.

A week ago in Hong Kong, the 40-year-old Johnson woke up prior to the first round with a sore right shoulder that limited his range of motion. He shot rounds of 75 and 72 to drop to last place after the first two days.

“I couldn’t turn my head to the right,” Johnson explained. “I kind of just pulled when I was on the through swing, so I was hitting everything left. It wasn’t a whole lot of fun.”

He received treatment between rounds and his body finally responded prior to Sunday’s final round. He shot a 6-under 64, tying for the third best score of the day, but the leaderboard damage had been done, as he finished last for the first time at a LIV Golf tournament.

Feeling good about his game entering last week, Johnson said it was easy to dismiss the first two rounds and the final result because of the injury.

“Swung it really nicely on Sunday,” he said. “Obviously, the body loosened back up and I could hit the shots that I wanted.”

In shooting 63 at Sentosa’s Serapong course on Friday, Johnson hit 16 greens, tying for best in the field, and missed just three fairways. Meanwhile, his putter heated up, especially at the par-3 14th when he rolled in a birdie putt from 58 feet.

“I put a lot of work in the last couple of days on the putter,” Johnson said, “and it paid off.”

Johnson will enter the weekend seeking his fourth league individual title. He’s won once in each of LIV Golf’s first three seasons and can become the first player to win in all four seasons.

His closest pursuer is Torque’s Sebastián Muñoz, who continues to push for his first LIV Golf title. Muñoz shot a 5-under 66 to take solo second. Muñoz has held or shared second after five of the first 10 rounds of the 2025 LIV Golf season.

“I don’t know if I’m going to get it done this week, but I’m working hard at it,” Muñoz said. “I want that opportunity again.”

Eight players are tied for third after shooting 4-under 67, including five team captains – Jon Rahm (Legion XIII), Brooks Koepka (Smash GC), Joaquin Niemann (Torque GC), Louis Oosthuizen (Stinger GC) and Cameron Smith (Ripper GC).

Rahm is the reigning LIV Golf Individual Champion and Niemann already has a win this season. Koepka is the defending Singapore champion while Smith tied for second with teammate Marc Leishman as the Rippers won the team title in 2024.

The 4Aces shot a collective 14 under, while Torque is at 12 under. Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC are another two strokes back, with all four of their players shooting in the 60s. Not only do the Aces have a lengthy winning drought, Torque also hasn’t won since 2023, while the HyFlyers have yet to win a team trophy.

“We’ve got a lot of golf to play in the next two days,” Niemann said. “We’re excited to see what’s coming.”

TEAM SCORES

LIV Golf’s new scoring format this season now involves all four scores now counting in every round in the team competition. (Click here for more on the new format). Here are the results and scores for each team after Friday’s Rd. 1 of LIV Golf Singapore.

1. 4ACES GC -14 (Johnson 63, Reed 68, Varner III 69, Pieters 70)

2. TORQUE GC -12 (Muñoz 66, Niemann 67, Ortiz 68, Pereira 71)

3. HYFLYERS GC -10 (Tringale 67, Mickelson 69, Ogletree 69, Steele 69)

4. FIREBALLS GC -7 (Ancer 67, Puig 68, Masaveu 70, Garcia 72)

T5. STINGER GC -5 (Oosthuizen 67, Schwartzel 68, Burmester 70, Grace 74)

T5. LEGION XIII -5 (Rahm 67, Surratt 68, Hatton 70, McKibbin 74)

7. RIPPER GC -3 (Smith 67, Herbert 68, Jones 72, Leishman 74)

T8. RANGEGOATS GC -2 (Uihlein 68, Campbell 68, Watson 70, Wolff 76)

T8. IRON HEADS GC -2 (Lee 68, Catlin 70, Jang 72, Na 72)

10. SMASH GC -1 (Koepka 67, Kokrak 68, Gooch 70, McDowell 78)

11. CRUSHERS GC +1 (Casey 67, Lahiri 70, DeChambeau 74, Howell III 74)

12. MAJESTICKS GC +8 (Stenson 71, Westwood 72, Horsfield 73, Poulter 76)

13. CLEEKS GC +10 (Meronk 70, Bland 71, Kaymer 73, Kjettrup 80)

Wild Cards: Lee 70, Kim 73

ROUND 1 NOTES

ENCOURAGING SIGNS: 4Aces GC were the dominant team in 2022, winning four consecutive regular-season titles and then the eventual Team Championship. They won two more regular-season tournaments in 2023. But nothing in their last 22 starts.

Torque GC won four times in 2023, more than any other team. But they also went winless in 2024.

Both those teams find themselves 1-2 on the leaderboard after Friday’s first round and would like nothing more than to end their respective droughts and celebrate a team victory this week in Singapore.

“We're all playing well enough where we can get it done,” said 4Aces Captain Dustin Johnson, whose team entered this week ninth in the standings. “Obviously we've still got two more days, and we need to all four play really solid the next couple days.”

“Coming out of a year we didn't win, we didn't have the results, it's normally where you come back stronger and you go out and work harder to kind of accomplish your goals,” said Torque Captain Joaquin Niemann, whose team is tied for fifth in points.

CLOSE CALLS: Torque’s Sebastián Muñoz has been inside the top 10 after seven of the first 10 rounds this season, including five rounds in which he’s held or shared second. Asked if it was frustrating or encouraging to come so close, Muñoz definitely is looking at the positive aspects.

“I feel like I'm doing a good job mentally of not getting frustrated even though I've had a couple good chances,” he said. “I’m in a good place.”

He said watching his captain Joaquin Niemann’s recent success is a huge motivation factor. Niemann won twice last year while finishing second to Jon Rahm in the season-long Individual Championship, and he’s already won again this season in Adelaide.

“He's inspiring, and I feel like that really motivated me and my team to come this year and really perform,” Muñoz said. “We're working on it, and it's still not easy, but we're a lot closer.”

Said Niemann: “Sebastian, sooner than later, he's going to show what he can really do.”

CAM’S PUTTING: Ripper GC Captain Cameron Smith is one of the game’s best putters, but entering this week, 11 LIV Golf players had better Strokes Gained Putting averages than his +0.27 on the greens.

On Friday, Smith made several long putts en route to his bogey-free 4-under 67. He gained +3.37 strokes on the field with his putting.

“I've worked so hard on my putting in the offseason,” Smith said. “I don't think there's anyone in the world that's hit more putts than me in the last four months. It's nice to see the putts going in.”

RAHM’S UNDER-PAR STREAK: Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm shot a 4-under 67, extending his streak to 19 consecutive LIV Golf rounds under par. If he shoots under par in Saturday’s second round, he will tie Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau’s LIV Golf record of 20 straight sub-par rounds.

Rahm also is in good shape to finish inside the top 10 for every LIV Golf tournament he’s completed, as he’ll start the second round tied for third.

Despite the streaks, Rahm remains in search of top form.

“So far this year, I haven't played my best,” he said. “I haven't felt as comfortable as I would like, and it's showed in my wedge game, especially last week. I hit some really bad ones. Me and Cam [Smith] were joking on the second round in Hong Kong saying we were just competing to see who hits the worst wedge shot today because we hit some bad ones.

“It's something to keep an eye on because if you want to contend and win and especially win majors, you need that part of your game.”

SOLID PHIL: HyFlyers GC Captain Phil Mickelson, fresh off the first podium finish of his LIV Golf career last week in Hong Kong, shot a 2-under 69 and is tied for 21st. His HyFlyers are in solo third after tying for third last week.

BIG-TOP UIHLEIN: RangeGoats GC’s Peter Uihlein continued his thrill-ride reputation Friday in shooting 68. He posted two eagles, including a chip-in at the par-5 18th. He made three birdies, including a chip-in at the 12th to end his round. But he also suffered two bogeys and a double.

QUALIFIER UPDATE: John Catlin, the reserve player who won LIV Golf’s first playoff qualifier earlier this week to earn a starting spot for Iron Heads GC, shot a 1-under 70. It was the team’s second best score behind Danny Lee’s 68.

ROUND 1 STATS LEADERS

Driving accuracy: Paul Casey, 92.86% (13 of 14 fairways hit)

Driving distance: Bryson DeChambeau, 340.5 yards avg.

Longest drive: Bryson DeChambeau, 368.8 yards, 18th hole

Greens in regulation: Ben Campbell, Talor Gooch, Dustin Johnson, 88.89% (16 of 18 greens)

Scrambling: 9 players at 100%, led by Cameron Smith and Brooks Koepka, 7 of 7

Putting: Peter Uihlein, 1.22 putts per hole

Bogey-free rounds: Dustin Johnson (63), Cameron Smith (67), Joaquin Niemann (67), Louis Oosthuizen (67), Patrick Reed (68), Harold Varner III (69)