4Aces GC captain and event co-leader Dustin Johnson in action at The Club at Chatham Hills on day two of LIV Golf Indianapolis on Saturday. Image courtesy LIV Golf.
From a Correspondent
Westfield, Indiana: The final day of the 2025 LIV Golf regular season reaches its conclusion on Sunday at LIV Golf Indianapolis with plenty of drama in the offing.
Front and centre at The Club at Chatham Hills is the showdown between Joaquin Neimann and Jon Rahm for the season’s individual championship.
The tournament title, which appeared to be a runaway victory for the record-setting Sebastian Munoz of Torque GC after midway through Saturday, is now a battle with 4Aces GC captain Dustin Johnson tying the lead with a second-round 64.
Both players are at 16 under par 126, four shots ahead of their closest pursuers.
Meanwhile, players at the bottom of the standings – including all three Majesticks GC co-captains – are battling to avoid relegation. One of them, Henrik Stenson, made a huge move on Saturday, as did HyFlyers GC’s Andy Ogletree.
Up for grabs
Nothing is official until the final putt drops on Sunday, which means plenty could change in what promises to be an electric day before another jam-packed crowd at Chatham Hills, a course that has offered plenty of low scores in the first two rounds.
The biggest prize will belong to either Niemann or Rahm, the Legion XIII captain and defending individual champion.
Torque GC captain Niemann is at 12 under and tied for third after a 5 under 66 on Saturday. Rahm is one stroke back on 11 under with his 64.
Fittingly, the two will play in the same group in the final round.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” said Niemann, a five-time tournament winner this season and the current points leader. “I think it’s been great. It will be a good day for us.”
Rahm, still seeking his first win this season, has been amazingly consistent and resilient to stay in the race.
He will need to finish higher than Niemann on the leaderboard, and depending on their placings, may even need to win the tournament. Four birdies in his last five holes Saturday improved his chances.
Challenge expected
“I have to expect that Joaquin is going to come out and at the very least post a 5 under (66),” Rahm said.
“He’s such a good player and it’s a very accessible golf course. I’m going to need a Sebastián-esque round to give myself a chance to win and hopefully take it all.
“If not, I’m going to need a lot of luck in all those possible scenarios.”
Rahm’s reference was to Munoz’s 12 under 59 on Friday which included 14 birdies (the most in any round on a top professional golf tour) and a double bogey (the only sub-60 round on any tour with a double bogey).
Muñoz appeared to be headed for another low score Saturday when he birdied his first four holes and six of his first seven.
At that point, he had recorded an astounding 17 birdies in 18 holes over two rounds. He also held a seven-shot lead toward his chase of his first individual LIV Golf title.
Crucial miss
But he missed a three-foot birdie putt at the ninth hole, then bogeyed the 10th, knocking the wind out of his sails. He parred the next four holes, bogeyed the 15th, birdied the next two, but then doubled the 18th for a 4 under 67.
“Just a couple mistakes,” Muñoz said. “Misjudgment of speed on 10 and then a really bad lie on 15 and unfortunately a bad swing on 18. I had my fair share of mistakes on that back nine. But yeah, looking forward to tomorrow.”
Johnson, meanwhile, kept grinding away. After a start of six straight pars, he made six birdies during an eight-hole stretch to claw his way back into the tournament; his 16 under total is his best through 36 holes in his LIV Golf career.
He’s the only player to win an event in each of LIV Golf’s first three seasons and would love to add a fourth year of success in his last chance of 2025.
“Haven’t really had that many chances this year, but really looking forward to tomorrow,” Johnson said.
“I’m playing really solid. I’m really comfortable over the ball. Hopefully it’ll be a good day and a good fight.
A good fight is definitely what some players at the back end of the points standings are doing this week as they seek to avoid the Drop Zone (players ranking 49th or below in points) that will suffer relegation.
Hot run
Stenson started the week on the bubble, but he’s having his best week of the season, including a second-round 64 that left him in a six-way tie for third.
He’s now projected to move to 39th in points, while his co-captains Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter are currently projected to be relegated.
Meanwhile, the Majesticks are on pace to have their best team finish of the season, currently sitting in fourth at a collective 29 under, 10 strokes behind tournament leader Torque.
If the projections hold, the Majesticks would move to 11th in the team standings and avoid next week’s play-in game between the bottom two seeds prior to the Michigan Team Championship.
“It’s been a bad season for us, no question, both as individuals and as a team,” Stenson said. “As you can tell, we’re all kind of bunched up towards the bottom of the order of merit.
“Everyone has obviously been a bit unhappy about that position. As individuals, we’re in certain positions, and then as a team as well, if we don’t move out of 12th we’ll play on Wednesday next week.
“So, we’ve obviously got that to try and sort out tomorrow with a strong finish as a team. It would be a nice week to finish off strong here.”
Return trip
Meanwhile, it was announced on Saturday that the league will return to The Club at Chatham Hills for the 2026 LIV Golf season from August 21 to 23.
“The Indiana region, city of Westfield, Hamilton County, and Chatham Hills have all been tremendous hosts to LIV Golf, and we’re looking forward to building on this momentum when the league returns in 2026,” said Ross Hallett, LIV Golf Executive VP and Head of Events. (courtesy LIV Golf)
Round 2 scores
1. Torque GC -39 (Ortiz 63, Niemann 66, Muñoz 67, Pereira 72; Rd. 2 score: -16)
2. 4Aces GC -36 (Johnson 64, Pieters 66, Reed 66, Varner III 71; Rd. 2 score: -17)
3. Crushers GC -31 (Howell III 63, Lahiri 67, DeChambeau 68, Casey 69; Rd. 2 score: -17)
4. Majesticks GC -29 (Stenson 64, Westwood 65, Poulter 66, Horsfield 69; Rd. 2 score: -20)
5. FIREBALLS GC -26 (Puig 63, Garcia 67, Ancer 70, Ballester 71; Rd. 2 score: -13)
T6. Legion XIII -25 (Rahm 64, McKibbin 68, Surratt 70, Hatton 71; Rd. 2 score: -11)
T6. HyFlyers GC -25 (Ogletree 65, Steele 66, Tringale 71, Mickelson 72; Rd. 2 score: -10)
8. Stinger GC -22 (Grace 64, Burmester 68, Schwartzel 68, Oosthuizen 69; Rd. 2 score: -15)
9. RangeGoats GC -20 (Watson 65, Campbell 69, Wolff 70, Uihlein 72; Rd. 2 score: -8)
10. Smash GC -11 (McDowell 66, Gooch 69, Koepka 70, Kokrak 72; Rd. 2 score: -7)
11. Iron Heads GC -10 (Na 66, Kozuma 67, Jang 69, Lee 74; Rd. 2 score: -8)
12. Ripper GC -8 (Jones 68, Smith 69, Herbert 70, Leishman 77; Rd. 2 score: E)
13. Cleeks GC -7 (Meronk 63, Bland 66, Kaymer 69, Kjettrup 75; Rd. 2 score: -11)
Wild Cards: C. Lee 70, Kim 74
Round 2 stats
Driving accuracy: Henrik Stenson, 100% (14 of 14 fairways hit)
Driving distance average (for measured holes 7 and 17): David Puig, 383.0 yards avg.
Longest drive (among measured holes 7 and 17): David Puig, 410.1 yards, 7th hole
Greens in regulation: Henrik Stenson, David Puig, Charles Howell III, Carlos Ortiz, 88.89% (16 of 18 greens)
Scrambling: Dustin Johnson (7 of 7), Branden Grace (5 of 5), Richard Bland (5 of 5), Lee Westwood (3 of 3), Ben Campbell (3 of 3), Charles Howell III (2 of 2), Carlos Ortiz (2 of 2), 100%
Putting: Dustin Johnson, Brendan Steele, Charl Schwartzel, Kevin Na, 1.33 putts per hole
Bogey-free rounds: Charles Howell III (63), Carlos Ortiz (63), Dustin Johnson (64), Branden Grace (64), Lee Westwood (65)
Also read: Munoz goes low at Indianapolis as Neimann, Rahm resume battle
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