Kozuma to make season debut for Iron Heads at LIV Golf Mexico

MEXICO CITY – Practicing putts from the same tricky spot on the 18th green during Wednesday’s practice round at LIV Golf Mexico City, the Iron Heads GC starting foursome took their turns. Closest to sinking his putt was a player whose last competitive stroke for the team came seven months ago.

Welcome back Jinichiro Kozuma, who will make his 2025 season debut this week at Club de Golf Chapultepec after missing the first five tournaments with a lower back injury.

His return couldn’t come at a better time for the Iron Heads, who currently languish (along with Smash GC) at the bottom of the season-long team standings and seek a much-needed boost of momentum going into next week’s LIV Golf Korea presented by Coupang Play.

“Definitely a lift for us going into our major next week,” said Captain Kevin Na, whose team is composed of three Korean-born players along with the Japanese-born Kozuma.

The last time the 30-year-old Kozuma played, he provided plenty of putting fireworks during the Iron Heads’ Cinderella run from the last seed to a tie for second at the 2024 season-ending Dallas Team Championship.

He finished the year with seven more starts – one on the Japan Tour, then six on the Asian Tour – during a nine-week stretch starting in mid-October. In all, he played in 28 tournaments in 2024, among the heaviest workloads of any LIV Golf player.

This week’s event will be his first on any tour in 2025. Na fully expects there to be some rust as Kozuma works back into tournament shape.

“I know he’s got the capability to come back and start out firing, but it’s not easy,” said Na, who added that Kozuma is probably at about 80%. “I see it in the practice round. He’s rusty.

“He plays that draw, yet he’s hitting block cuts. But I’ve had practice rounds where I’ve played absolutely terrible but when you tee off, it’s fine.”

During his absence, the Iron Heads have used four LIV Golf reserve players – Australian Wade Ormsby for the first two events in Riyadh and Adelaide; Americans Ollie Schniederjans in Hong Kong and John Catlin in Singapore; and Korea’s Young-han Song in Miami.

Song posted the best result for any of the reserves, a tie for 24th. Not surprising, the Iron Heads posted their best result of the year, a solo eighth that earned them their only point thus far this season.

Meanwhile, the uncertainty surrounding Kozuma’s status made caused other challenges for Na and his other full-time players – veteran Danny Lee and newcomer Yubin Jang.

But this week offers a fresh start.

“We had a team dinner yesterday, hung out,” Na said. “It’s great to see Jini back. I know he’s frustrated. He feels bad in a way, that he’s been hurt.

“No finger-pointing – we feel bad for each other. But hopefully we’ll start catching some momentum and get better as the week goes.”

With LIV Golf Korea just around the corner, the Iron Heads are hoping for another Dallas-type performance, only this time with a championship trophy to celebrate.