Horsfield, Torque GC lead after Round 1 in Adelaide

ADELAIDE, South Australia – Patrick Reed set off an early celebration in Friday’s opening round at LIV Golf Adelaide. Majesticks GC’s Sam Horsfield and a couple of Torque GC teammates then followed with the lowest scores on a challenging day at The Grange Golf Club.

Horsfield moved atop the individual leaderboard with a 6-under 66, while Torque took the team lead at 8 under thanks to a pair of 67s by captain Joaquin Niemann and Carlos Ortiz.

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Meanwhile, defending champion Ripper GC received massive support from their Australian fans but struggled to generate many fireworks and now must play catch-up this weekend. They’ll start Saturday’s second round 11 shots behind Torque.

It was Reed who produced the day’s biggest shot, making a hole-in-one at the Watering Hole less than 20 minutes after the shotgun start. His 8-iron at the 151-yard par 3 set off a scene reminiscent of two years ago when Chase Koepka delivered LIV Golf’s first ace at the famous party hole. Reed’s ace is the ninth in league history.

“It's awesome to give the fans what they want,” said Reed, making his fifth competitive ace (and sixth overall) of his career. “That's why we want to be out here: Golf, but louder.”

Reed’s hole-in-one was one of the few highlights of his 1-over 73; the rest of the day belonged to a variety of other competitors, among them multiple major winners Dustin Johnson (68), Bryson DeChambeau (68) and Brooks Koepka (69), each inside the top 10 of the leaderboard.

But it was Horsfield who emerged with the solo lead, thanks to shooting the only bogey-free round of the day. In fact, Horsfield has made just one bogey in his last 60 holes going back to last week’s LIV Golf Riyadh, in which he tied for 12th. He’ll enter this weekend in search of his first LIV Golf title.

“I feel like I’m playing really, really good,” said the English-born Horsfield. “Played solid last week. It's just nice to see that momentum from last week carry over and be able to put a low one out there today and try to do more of the same this weekend.”

Ortiz had the solo lead until a couple of late bogeys, and his captain Niemann also shared the lead temporarily until suffering his only bogey of the day on his next-to-last hole. Still, it was a productive afternoon for both players, who combined to win three individual titles a year ago.

“It's unbelievable,” Ortiz said of the atmosphere in Adelaide. “The people here are great. The music is even better. This is probably my favorite tournament I've ever played on.”

Niemann tied for third in Adelaide a year ago, and in 2023, he won the Australian Open. He said the enthusiastic Australian golf fans are definitely a factor in how well he performs down under.

“The Australian crowd is really good. They kind of like me a little bit, I think, and you can feel the energy,” Niemann said. “There's a few guys following around, really energized, enjoying my shots, enjoying when I was making a putt. So that gets me going.”

DeChambeau was 4 under through his first nine holes but two poor swings resulted in a double-bogey 7 at the par-5 ninth. Thanks to a hot putter, though, he battled back down the stretch to stay close to the leaders and give himself a shot at his first individual LIV Golf title since 2023.

“Certainly, this is one of the best LIV events if not the best LIV event on our schedule, and it's a joy coming back here with the fans and the people and the atmosphere,” DeChambeau said. “This is what LIV Golf is about.”

TEAM SCORES

LIV Golf’s new scoring format made its debut in last week’s season opener in Riyadh, with 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 1 of LIV Golf Adelaide.

1. TORQUE GC -8 (Niemann 67, Ortiz 67, Pereira 72, Muñoz 74)

T2. FIREBALLS GC -6 (Ancer 68, Puig 70, Garcia 71, Masaveu 73)

T2. LEGION XIII -6 (Hatton 70, McKibbin 70, Rahm 70, Surratt 72)

T2. 4ACES GC -6 (Johnson 68, Varner III 70, Pieters 71, Reed 73)

T5. STINGER GC -5 (Schwartzel 69, Burmester 70, Grace 72, Oosthuizen 72)

T5. CRUSHERS GC -5 (DeChambeau 68, Lahiri 71, Casey 72, Howell III 72)

7. MAJESTICKS GC -2 (Horsfield 66, Stenson 69, Poulter 74, Westwood 77)

8. HYFLYERS GC E (Ogletree 70, Tringale 71, Mickelson 72, Steele 75)

T9. SMASH GC +3 (Koepka 69, Kokrak 73, McDowell 73, Gooch 76)

T9. IRON HEADS GC +3 (Lee 70, Jang 71, Na 71, Ormsby 79)

T9. RIPPER GC +3 (Herbert 71, Smith 72, Leishman 73, Jones 75)

12. CLEEKS GC +4 (Bland 69, Meronk 71, Kaymer 73, Kjettrup 79)

13. RANGEGOATS GC +5 (Watson 70, Campbell 73, Uihlein 73, Wolff 77)

Wild Cards: Lee 72, Kim 73

ROUND 1 NOTES

REED’S ACE: Two years ago at the inaugural LIV Golf Adelaide, Patrick Reed famously did a shoey on stage while celebrating his 4Aces GC’s team victory. He would’ve liked to have done another shoey to celebrate his hole-in-one at the Watering Hole on Friday.

But given that it happened less than 20 minutes into his round … well, not exactly the appropriate time.

“Being the second hole of the day, I still had a lot of golf holes to go,” Reed said. “It's funny because that's exactly what Harold [Varner III] said to me. He's like, man, why couldn't this be our second-to-last hole or last hole for that to happen?”

Reed was playing with his 4Aces teammates Varner and Thomas Pieters, as all non-captains were in the same groups as their teammates. Reed had the ace, Pieters had a birdie, and Varner had a par on the 12th hole.

“That was cool and an awesome moment,” Reed said. “For us to go 1, 2, 3 on that hole was pretty fun.”

TWO-YEAR TURNAROUND: Two years ago, Sam Horsfield finished LIV Golf Adelaide on crutches after tearing a tendon in the middle of the tournament. In fact, when Chase Koepka made his famous hole-in-one at the Watering Hole in the final round, Horsfield was watching nearby and hobbled onto the tee box to celebrate with his friend. A few weeks later, he underwent hip surgery.

It’s a different story this week, as Horsfield has the solo lead after shooting a 6-under 66 on Friday. He’s back to full strength, not only from the injury two years ago but some foot and ankle injuries that impacted him last season. He worked hard in the offseason, spending significant time in the gym.

“It’s an amazing game,” Horsfield said. “Two years ago here, I was probably the most upset and pissed off I’d been for a long time on a golf course, and now I’m here leading after the first round. It’s an amazing game, and hard work and perseverance can bring you a long way.”

BRYSON’S PAR-4 STRATEGY: With two par 4s under 400 yards and five others under 425 yards at The Grange, Bryson DeChambeau has multiple opportunities to hit driver close to the greens. He said his strategy is wind-dependent, though, meaning it’s not an automatic green light off the tee.

“You can't get too far ahead of yourself thinking, oh, can I drive it or lay it back or whatnot. It's so situational,” the Crushers GC captain said after his 4-under 68. “Did I hit the drive well on the last hole? Am I comfortable with it? Am I feeling it?

“That's a lot of what it was today for the first nine holes, and then I kind of stalled on the back nine but made some great putts.”

WATERING HOLE: Don’t let Patrick Reed’s ace deceive you – the 151-yard 12th was not an easy hole for the field to conquer Friday. Along with Reed’s hole-in-one, just four birdies were made in front of the packed crowd surrounding the hole. The stroke average of 3.130 made it the third most difficult hole on the course.

“It’s not easy because there is quite a bit of cross wind and you can’t feel it,” said Torque GC’s Carlos Ortiz, one of those who made a birdie. “I honestly didn’t hit that great of a shot. I hit it pretty normal, middle of the green, and I just made a bomb of a putt.”

PHIL’S BACK: HyFlyers GC Captain Phil Mickelson made his 2025 LIV Golf debut on Friday after missing last week’s season opener with a shoulder injury. The six-time major winner shot an even-par 72 and is tied for 28th.

DEFENDING CHAMPS: The 2024 LIV Golf Adelaide individual and team champions will have to make up considerable ground this weekend if they want a chance to successfully defend.

Individual champ Brendan Steele of HyFlyers GC shot a 3-over 75 and is tied for 48th.

Team champions Ripper GC were a collective 3 over, leaving them 11 strokes off the lead. The only member of the all-Australian team to break par Friday was Lucas Herbert, who shot a 1-under 71. Captain Cameron Smith shot 72, with Marc Leishman shooting 73 and Matt Jones 75.

ROUND 1 STATS LEADERS

Driving accuracy: Kevin Na, 92.86% (13 of 14 fairways hit)

Driving distance: David Puig, 327.6 yards avg.

Longest drive: David Puig, 345.2 yards, 17th hole

Greens in regulation: Yubin Jang, 88.89% (16 of 18 greens)

Scrambling: Sam Horsfield, 4 of 4 (100%)

Putting: Brooks Koepka, 1.22 putts per hole

Bogey-free rounds: Sam Horsfield (66)