Dustin Johnson leads by three shots after a bogey-free 63 in Friday’s opening round at the LIV Golf Singapore tournament at Sentosa Golf Club.
The 8-under round marked the lowest relative to par in 109 rounds on the circuit for the 4Aces GC captain.
The two-time major winner recorded five of his eight birdies on the back nine to build a three-stroke lead over Spain’s Sebastian Munoz of Torque GC. Eight others are tied for third at 4-under 67, including defending champion Brooks Koepka of Smash GC.
Johnson’s 4Aces, seeking their first team win since 2023, lead the team competition by two strokes over Torque GC at 14-under. Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC sit third at 10-under.
Johnson, 40, struggled with shoulder soreness last week at LIV Hong Kong.
“I couldn’t turn my head to the right,” Johnson said. “I kind of just pulled when I was on the through swing, so I was hitting everything left. It wasn’t a whole lot of fun.”
He received treatment after the Hong Kong second round and his body responded prior to Sunday’s final. He shot a 6-under 64, tying for the third-best score of the day, but he nonetheless finished last for the first time at an LIV Golf tournament.
In finishing with a 63 at Sentosa’s Serapong course on Friday, Johnson hit 16 greens, tying for best in the field. On the greens, his putting was efficient, especially at the par-3 14th where he holed a birdie putt from 58 feet.
“I put a lot of work in the last couple of days on the putter,” Johnson said, “and it paid off.”
Johnson is seeking his fourth league individual title. He’s won once in each of the three seasons of LIV Golf and can become the first player to win in all four seasons.
Munoz continues trying to run down his first LIV Golf title. He has held or shared second place after five of the first 10 rounds of the 2025 LIV Golf season.
“I don’t know if I’m going to get it done this week, but I’m working hard at it,” Munoz said. “I want that opportunity again.”
Five team captains are among the group bunched up at 4-under: Koepka, Jon Rahm (Legion XIII), Joaquin Niemann (Torque GC), Louis Oosthuizen (Stinger GC) and Cameron Smith (Ripper GC).
–Field Level Media
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