First Look: LIV Golf Singapore presented by Aramco

BASIC INFO

When: March 14-16

Where: Sentosa Golf Club (The Serapong)
Singapore

Competition: Three rounds/54 holes of stroke play

Field: 54 players – 13 teams of four players each, and two wild cards

Shotgun Start local time:
Rd. 1, 9:15 a.m. (9:15 p.m. ET Thursday)
Rd. 2, 9:15 a.m. (9:15 p.m. ET Friday)
Rd. 3, 9:05 a.m. (9:05 p.m. ET Saturday)

Defending champions: Brooks Koepka (individual), Ripper GC (team)

KEY STORYLINES

LIV Golf returns to Singapore Golf Club for a third consecutive season with its elite field of 54 players competing on the award-winning Serapong course

Fireballs GC, captained by Sergio Garcia, have won back-to-back tournaments to move atop the team points standings

Garcia comes off his second LIV Golf individual title, winning in Hong Kong by three strokes, and now leads the Individual Championship standings

Garcia is the 11th different player and the Fireballs are the fifth different team in LIV Golf history to lead the points standings

HyFlyers GC Captain Phil Mickelson enters Singapore off his first LIV Golf career podium finish, a third place in Hong Kong, and is a career-best 12th in Individual points

Reigning LIV Golf Team Champions Ripper GC, captained by Cameron Smith, return as the defending Singapore team champions

Smash GC Captain Brooks Koepka is the defending individual champion, having captured the fourth of his five LIV Golf individual wins last season

Koepka’s current Smash teammate Talor Gooch won the individual title in Singapore in 2023 while leading his former team RangeGoats GC to the team title

LIV Golf’s Young Guns, including 22-year-old newcomers Tom McKibbin (Legion XIII), Luis Masaveu (Fireballs GC) and Yubin Jang (Iron Heads GC), already are making an impact early in their LIV Golf careers, with Masaveu making a key final-hole birdie to secure the Fireballs’ victory in Hong Kong

Reflecting the league’s tight competition, the previous two tournaments (Adelaide and Hong Kong) have each seen three players tied for the lead entering the final round

Reserve player John Catlin will replace Jinichiro Kozuma in the Iron Heads GC lineup this week after winning LIV Golf’s first qualifying playoff

Holes-in-one have also been made at the last two tournaments in Adelaide (Patrick Reed) and Hong Kong (Mito Pereira). In the inaugural LIV Golf Singapore in 2023, Laurie Canter made an ace on the 17th hole at Sentosa

RED-HOT FIREBALLS

The hottest team in LIV Golf comes to Singapore this week seeking to make league history.

Top-ranked Fireballs GC, captained by Spanish legend Sergio Garcia, has won each of the last two LIV Golf tournaments, last month in Adelaide and last week in Hong Kong.

The Fireballs now have the chance to become the first team to win three consecutive events since the league expanded to a full 14-tournament schedule in 2023.

During the inaugural 2022 LIV Golf Invitational Series, Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC won four straight times – all in the United States – in the limited seven-tournament regular season before capturing the season-ending Team Championship.

But since 2023, no team has won more than two in a row.

Joaquin Niemann’s Torque GC won three times in a four-tournament stretch in that first full season.

In 2024, Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC won back-to-back early in the season. Cameron Smith’s Rippers GC also pulled off the double last year, bookending their emotional win in Adelaide with a victory in Singapore. That makes them the defending champions entering this week’s event at Sentosa Golf Club.

But based on the results from the last two tournaments, knocking off the Fireballs won’t be easy. The new all-scores-count-each-round format is showcasing their depth.

Garcia, a past Masters champion and European Ryder Cup star, has found another gear in his mid-40s, winning his first LIV Golf individual title last year in Andalucia and then adding another title last week in Hong Kong. He currently leads the individual points standings for the first time.

His teammate Abraham Ancer of Mexico won in Hong Kong the year before and was in contention last month in Adelaide. He’s ninth in points.

Spaniard David Puig, still just 23 years old but in his fourth season on LIV Golf, is finding his stride after claiming two Asian Tour titles. He ranks eighth in points.

And newcomer Luis Masaveu, a 22-year-old NextGen star from Spain, bounced back from a tough stretch on Sunday to record a final-hole birdie that elevated the Fireballs to their one-shot victory.

While winning is fun for Garcia, so is mentoring those two young guns from Spain.

“I really love the team aspect of it and trying to put my arm around them and give them advice if they need it or if they want it and try to help them be the best version of themselves on another golf course,” Garcia said.

Right now, the best version of the Fireballs is showing up each week.

PHIL’S THE TOP AMERICAN

HyFlyers GC Captain Phil Mickelson, the World Golf Hall of Famer with 57 career wins including six majors, enters Singapore off his best LIV Golf performance.

Improving his score in each round, the 54-year-old Mickelson finished solo third last week in Hong Kong to make his first individual podium. He shot rounds of 67-65-64 for a total of 14 under, and he led the field with 21 birdies made, three more than winner Sergio Garcia.

Mickelson has moved to 12th in the points standings, his highest placement at any point since joining LIV Golf as an original member in 2022. He’s currently the top-ranking American player in points.

TOP 5 USA PLAYERS AFTER 3 EVENTS

• Phil Mickelson, HyFlyers GC (12th overall)
• Bryson DeChambeau, Crushers GC (18th overall)
• Harold Varner III, 4Aces GC (19th overall)
• Peter Uihlein, RangeGoats GC (20th overall)
• Brooks Koepka, Smash GC (22nd overall)

ABOUT THE COURSE

SENTOSA GOLF CLUB (The Serapong)
Sentosa Island, Singapore

Par: 71
Yardage: 7,406
Meters: 6,777

• The Serapong at Sentosa Golf Club was named the World’s Best Golf Course in 2023 and Asia’s Best Golf Course in 2024 by the World Golf Awards
• The Serapong opened in 1982 and underwent a major renovation in 2006 and then another large renovation in 2020
• Sentosa is hosting LIV Golf Singapore for the third consecutive season, with Talor Gooch (2023) and Brooks Koepka (2024) winning the first two individual titles
• RangeGoats GC (2023) and Ripper GC (2024) won the first two team trophies
• Sentosa hosted the Singapore Open from 2005 to 2022, and LIV Golf members Ian Poulter (Majesticks GC) and Sergio Garcia (Fireballs GC) are past champions
• Sentosa has also hosted eight British Open qualifiers
• The stretch of holes from hole Nos. 3-7 is known as the Dragon’s Tail. The 495-yard third is the longest par 4 on the course
• The signature hole is the 486-yard par-4 fifth, situated in the belly of the Dragon
• The 444-yard par-4 sixth includes a large rock formation known as the Dragon’s Tooth, as well as a false front known as the Dragon’s Tongue
• The 450-yard par-4 13th was last year’s most difficult hole, playing to a stroke average of 4.17; the easiest hole was the 563-yard par-5 18th with a 4.43 stroke average
• The field stroke average for LIV Golf Singapore in 2024 was 69.59; the year before, it was 68.65

TEAM SCORING

Through 3 events

STROKES GAINED LEADERS

Minimum 6 rounds