Going off No. 1: Fun facts and quirky stats from the 2024 LIV Golf season

Thanks to LIV Golf’s shotgun start, the No. 1 tee box has special significance. What is generally considered a formality everywhere else actually becomes a privilege in LIV Golf.

Unlike most other professional events, opportunities to tee off on No. 1 are limited in the LIV Golf League. Just three players in each of the first two days begin their rounds on No. 1. In the final round, that number is doubled to six. That means just 12 of the 162 rounds played at any single regular-season event start on No. 1.

Teeing off on No. 1 is a reflection of a LIV golfer’s performance and status.

The most recent tournament champion generally gets a No. 1 tee start in the opening round of his next start. Two other notable names join him, usually for special reasons – a local tie-in, for instance. That’s why Aussie superstar Cameron Smith went off No. 1 in Adelaide, why local resident Patrick Reed was in the No. 1 group at LIV Golf Houston, and why Valderrama member Sergio Garcia was in the opening group at Andalucía.

Or consider Bryson DeChambeau, who received the No. 1 honor in the opening round at Nashville, his first start after winning the U.S. Open. Or Richard Bland, who received No. 1 starts this season after each of his senior major victories.

For the final two rounds, only the players at the top of the leaderboard tee off on No. 1. On Sundays, the top three players tee off 11 minutes later than the rest of the field in the only non-shotgun start group at each event (unofficially called “the leaders’ group”). Players 4-6 on the leaderboard start on No. 1 at the regular shotgun time.

For LIV Golf’s 13 regular-season events this season, just 156 cumulative spots were available to start their rounds off No. 1. Compare that to a full-field event on other tours, in which all 156 players start on No. 1 in one of the first two rounds.

After crunching some numbers from 2024, here are a few observations and fun facts regarding the No. 1 tee box this season.

• Of the 58 players (including reserves) who completed at least one regular-season round in 2024, 41 started on hole No. 1 at least once.

• Unsurprisingly, 2024 LIV Golf Individual Champion Jon Rahm had the most starts on 1. Of his 38 rounds started, 15 began on the first. Joaquin Niemann (2nd place in points) and Brooks Koepka (two-time winner) had the next highest total with nine rounds each.

• Rahm also led in most rounds started on the final-day leaders’ group with four. Koepka had the next highest total with three.

• Rahm and his expansion Legion XIII team had the most No. 1 starts of any team with 22. In addition to Rahm’s 15, Tyrrell Hatton had six and first-year pro Caleb Surratt had one.

• Crushers GC had five players with No. 1 starts, the most players of any team. Their total includes reserve player John Catlin, who started the final two rounds in Nashville on No. 1 while filling in for injured Charles Howell III. Catlin is the only reserve player to ever start on No. 1.

• Captain Bryson DeChambeau led the team with eight No. 1 starts, two of those in the leaders’ group. Overall, his Crushers had 19 starts, tied for second-most with Fireballs GC.

• The Crushers also became the first team to fill out an entire group on No. 1. For the first round at LIV Golf UK by JCB, captains were grouped with two of their teammates. The Crushers got the No. 1 honors with DeChambeau, Paul Casey and Anirban Lahiri.

• Besides the Crushers, three other teams saw every member of their lineup make at least one No. 1 start – Fireballs, RangeGoats GC and Torque GC.

• Each of the 13 teams had at least one player who started on No. 1 in 2024. 

• Of the 13 individual champions during the regular season, 12 teed off on the final round on No. 1. Ten of those champions were in the leaders’ group.

• LIV Golf Andalucía winner Sergio Garcia was the only individual winner in 2024 not to start his final round on No. 1. The Fireballs captain started on hole No. 4 that Sunday. Yet he still ultimately won the title on the 18th green, beating Lahiri in a playoff.

• Garcia’s Fireballs teammate Abraham Ancer shot the lowest score this season starting on No. 1 with an 8-under 62 in the second round of Hong Kong (which he won the next day in a playoff).

• Koepka had the lowest final-round score to start No. 1, shooting a 7-under 63 in the leaders’ group to win at Greenbrier.

• Of Rahm’s 15 rounds off No. 1, he broke par 13 times. The other two rounds were the only ones this year in which he shot over par.

• Niemann’s worst single round this year was the 5-over 77 he shot in the final round of Houston when he started on No. 1 (but not in the leaders’ group). Side note: It was also the only time he wore a bucket hat.

• While Niemann struggled that day, Torque teammate Carlos Ortiz teed off 11 minutes later in the leaders’ group and shot 10 strokes lower, his 67 good enough to complete his first LIV Golf individual title.

• HyFlyers GC Captain Phil Mickelson, the six-time major winner and member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, was one of 14 full-time players who did not start a single round off No. 1 in the regular season.

• Mickelson wasn’t the only captain without a first tee appearance. Iron Heads GC Captain Kevin Na also did not have a first-tee start in the regular season; same for Majesticks GC Co-Captain Lee Westwood.

• Mickelson and Na do have something else in common, though – the last time they began rounds off No. 1 were in match play at the LIV Golf Team Championship. In 2023, Mickelson’s quarterfinals match started at No. 1; in 2024, Na’s quarterfinals match started at No. 1. And they lost to the same opponent each time – Brooks Koepka.

HOLE NO. 1 STARTS IN 2024

INDIVIDUAL

TEAM