Rahm, DeChambeau, Westwood, Lee Tied After Round 1 of LIV Golf Singapore

Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau routinely find themselves at the top of the LIV Golf leaderboard. Lee Westwood and Richard T. Lee, meanwhile, finished Thursday’s opening round at Aramco LIV Golf Singapore breaking new ground. Rahm, DeChambeau, Westwood and Lee each posted 4-under 67s to share the first-round lead on a demanding day at Sentosa’s Serapong course. They lead by one stroke over a group of seven players, with 10 other players another shot back. For Rahm, winner of last week’s HSBC LIV Golf Hong Kong, it’s the 14th time in his league career that the Legion XIII captain has owned at least a share of the lead after any round. For Crushers GC Captain DeChambeau, who has played two more seasons than Rahm, it’s also his 14th time as a leader/co-leader. Last month, the two shared the lead entering the final round in Adelaide before seeing Anthony Kim surge past them for the win. While Westwood certainly has plenty of experience atop leaderboards, having won 44 times in his storied career, it’s the first time he’s held a share of the lead as an original LIV Golf member. He also said it’s a bit unexpected considering he just returned last week from a torn tendon in his left wrist, finishing T18 in Hong Kong in his first tournament start in six months. At age 52 – he turns 53 next month – he becomes the oldest LIV Golf player to ever claim a share of the lead. “Seven weeks ago, I couldn’t hold the putter,” said the Majesticks Golf Club co-captain after his bogey-free round. “The specialist was worried that I’d torn the sheath in the wrist and I would need surgery to reconstruct it. To be sitting here, having a good week last week and then be leading this week is a very pleasant surprise.” Lee spent the majority of LIV Golf Promotions in January atop the leaderboard, eventually winning in a dominant performance on the final 36-hole qualifier to earn his way into the league as an independent Wild Card player. Now, in just his fourth start as a LIV Golf player, he becomes the first Wild Card player to ever lead after any round, his 67 kick-started by a birdie on his opening hole when he holed out of the bunker. Lee, the first Canadian player in league history, is determined to end the week setting another new standard. No Wild Card player has ever finished inside the top 10 in any tournament. “That could possibly change this week,” he said. “I’ve played this course so many times on the Asian Tour and I think I have a bit of an advantage on this course, knowing where the slopes are and where to miss it. I think it’s going to be a great week.” Rahm is coming off a great week in Hong Kong as the two-time reigning LIV Golf Individual Champion won his first tournament since 2024. He birdied three of his first seven holes Thursday and also finished with a flourish with two consecutive birdies. He feasted off the par 5s in Hong Kong, making birdie or better on each of the two at Hong Kong Golf Club in every round. He continued that trend Thursday with birdies on each of The Serapong’s three par 5s. “I’m hitting it better off the tee, so it all starts with that on a par 5 where you’ve got to put it into play,” said Rahm, whose Legion XIII has a six-shot lead over DeChambeau’s Crushers on the team leaderboard. “Once you’re in play, I’m long enough to have a comfortable number usually into the par 5s, and I think that’s been the main difference. It’s just everything so far this year is just a little bit better than it’s been in the past.” DeChambeau, meanwhile, played his final 10 holes in 5 under, ending the round with three consecutive birdies. His only slip-up was a double bogey at the par-4 fifth when he had trouble out of both the fairway bunker and greenside bunker. He continues to chase the form that he showed in 2023 LIV Golf Greenbrier when he shot a league-record 12-under 58 to win the first of his three LIV Golf titles. “Things just haven’t quite lined up yet,” he said. “… It may just pop up with one golf shot. I don’t know. I’m one swing thought away. I’m really close is what I’m saying. I’m close to figuring out what that exact thing is, but I have to dial in my irons a little bit more.” TOP OF THE LEADERBOARDS Individual Top 10 T1 (-4) – Jon Rahm, Legion XIII (67); Bryson DeChambeau, Crushers (67); Lee Westwood, Majesticks (67); Richard T. Lee, Wild Card (67) T5 (-3) – Louis Oosthuizen, Southern Guards (68); Tyrrell Hatton, Legion XIII (68); Thomas Detry, 4Aces (68); Marc Leishman, Ripper (68); Charles Howell III, Crushers (68); Cameron Tringale, HyFlyers (68); Matthew Wolff, RangeGoats (68) Team Top 3 1 (-11) – Legion XIII (Rahm 67, Hatton 68, McKibbin 69, Surratt 69) 2 (-5) – Crushers GC (DeChambeau 67, Howell III 68, Casey 70, Lahiri 74) 3 (-4) – 4Aces GC (Detry 68, Kim 69, Johnson 71, Pieters 72) Click here for full leaderboard ROUND 1 NOTES RD. 2 START TIME CHANGE:  The shotgun start time for Friday’s second round at Sentosa Golf Club has been moved up to 8:05 a.m. Gates on Friday will open at 7:30 a.m. The live broadcast will begin at 8 a.m. (all times local). BRYSON’S WEDGES: Bettinardi is a golf equipment company that is well known for their putters. This week, however, DeChambeau put Bettinardi wedges in his bag for the first time ever in an attempt to dial in his spin control as major championship season approaches. “On 11, I hit it in the rough and I caught a jumper out of the left-hand rough,” DeChambeau said. “So, I didn’t really get to test the wedges, but they feel good. In practice, they’ve felt great. It’s going through the turf a lot better from the fairway. I am trusting of that, and hopefully that new bounce that I’m using is going to be a benefit to me in softer conditions because that’s really what I’m struggling with.” WOLFF DIALED ON APPROACH: Matthew Wolff has gained strokes on approach in each of his first three starts of the season and leads the field in the category through the first round in Singapore (+4.98). If he were to gain strokes on approach for the week, it would be the first time he’s done so in four consecutive starts since a stretch in 2020 that included a runner-up finish at the U.S. Open. “Feeling more confident with my swing, just control of the ball, knowing which way it’s curving, feeling like I know what to do if I need to not miss it a certain way,” Wolff explained about his success with the irons. “Just little stuff in my swing … I think it’s just confidence in the swing, really.” LEE LOVES SENTOSA: Richard T. Lee’s previous appearance at Sentosa’s Serapong course came in 2020 when he finished solo fifth at the Singapore Open, earning a spot in the Open Championship in the process. It was his fifth consecutive year of playing the course, and the Wild Card player from Canada believes that gives him an edge as he seeks to test his game against LIV Golf’s world-class players. “I’ve been playing tournaments all my life, and for me to come out on LIV Golf and play with these great players, I still have a lot of things to learn out there,” he said. “I think just putting myself in position, keep playing better and better.” He said his goal is to have a successful season and hopefully latch on to a team for 2027. “That’s the plan, honestly,” he said. “I feel like a little loner out there playing by myself as an individual. I think if I play my best and maybe get a win possibly, I think there’s a possibility that I can get on a team.” UNDER-PAR RECORD: In shooting a 4-under 67 on Thursday, Jon Rahm shot his 22nd consecutive LIV Golf round under par, breaking his own league record. Southern Guards GC’s Branden Grace shot a 1-under 70, extending his streak to 21 consecutive rounds under par. BUBBA’S WILD ROUND: RangeGoats GC Captain Bubba Watson started his round off the 10th hole and immediately carded five bogeys, the most ever by any LIV Golf player to start a round. He finished his first nine with a birdie at 17 and eagle at 18. He then bogeyed the first, made consecutive birdies at 3 and 4, triple-bogeyed the par-4 sixth and bounced back with a birdie at the par-5 seventh. Just your average 3-over 74. “The course was playing tricky because the wind was variable, so it changed directions a lot, and by the end of the round it made different holes play different for other guys, and so it made it tough,” Watson said when asked to describe his round. “The greens were lightning fast. I’ve never seen them this fast, making chips and shots into the green tougher. So tomorrow I just need to try to come out and just miss those two wayward shots that I hit today that cost me a lot and then try not to have the three-putts. The greens got me the first few holes because of how fast they were.” BURMESTER’S EAGLE: Southern Guards GC’s Dean Burmester opened his round at the par-5 18th and rolled in a 13-foot eagle putt. He becomes the ninth player in league history to start a tournament with an eagle. BRYSON ON 1: Bryson DeChambeau started his round off the No. 1 tee in the shotgun start. It’s the 20th time in his 49 regular season starts that the Crushers GC captain has started a LIV Golf tournament on the No. 1 tee – the most of any player. On the flip side, first-year LIV Golf player Thomas Detry of 4Aces GC made his first start on No. 1 in the final group after finishing solo second last week in Hong Kong. Notes & Nuggets Round 1 team leaders Legion XIII were the only team to have all four players contributing a score under par Thursday; Jon Rahm’s team holds a six-shot lead, tying for the second-largest Rd. 1 lead in LIV Golf history Richard T. Lee shot 4-under on par 4s in Rd. 1, two shots better than any other player Jon Rahm has made birdie or better on his last 11 par 5s and is 12 under over those 11 holes HyFlyers GC’s Cameron Tringale is making his fourth LIV Golf Singapore start and has finished the opening round inside the top five each time – T2 (2023), T2 (2024), T3 (2025) and T5 (2026) Over half the field (29 players) had to take a penalty stroke on Thursday The 15th hole played the to an average of +0.40, the most difficult hole on Thursday; a total of 18 players played the hole over par, with nine players hitting it in the water STATS LEADERS Round 1 Driving Distance: Lucas Herbert, 328.5-yard avg. Longest Drive: Luis Masaveu, 340.3 yards (18th hole) Driving Accuracy: Charles Howell III, Cameron Tringale, Tom McKibbin, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson, 78.57% (11 of 14) Greens in Regulation: Lee Westwood, Jon Rahm, 83.33% (15 of 18) Scrambling: Thomas Detry (7 of 7), Marc Leishman (6 of 6), Adrian Meronk (3 of 3), Lee Westwood (3 of 3), 100% Fewest Putts: Tom McKibbin, Miguel Tabuena, 24 Bogey-free rounds: Lee Westwood (67), Thomas Detry (68), Marc Leishman (68) This piece is courtesy of Mike McAllister in partnership with LIV Golf.