WESTFIELD, Ind. – Dustin Johnson and Sebastian Munoz are tied for the lead heading into Championship Sunday at LIV Golf Indianapolis, but there are plenty more news, notes and stats from the second round at Chatham Hills.
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LIV GOLF INDIANAPOLIS ROUND 2 NOTES
PROJECTIONS AFTER RD. 2
The LIV Golf Individual Championship and Zone status for players will be decided after LIV Golf Indianapolis, the regular-season finale. Here’s a look at the various projections after Saturday:
INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Joaquin Niemann shot a 66 and is tied for third at 12 under while Jon Rahm is tied for 9th at 11 under after shooting 64. Niemann is now projected to win by 18.77 points.
THIRD PLACE
Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau entered the week in the final bonus-paying position and remains there after shooting 68 to move to 7 under. Torque GC’s Sebastián Muñoz, the 36-hole co-leader, started the week in seventh and cannot catch DeChambeau. 4Aces GC’s Patrick Reed, tied for third on the leaderboard, still has a chance if he wins.
LOCK ZONE
4Aces Captain Dustin Johnson (28 to 11) is the only player projected to move into the Lock Zone; he enters the final round as the co-leader. Currently projected to drop out of the Lock Zone is HyFlyers GC Captain Phil Mickelson (22 to 25). Mickelson enters the final round tied for 35th at 3 under.
DROP ZONE
HyFlyers’ Andy Ogletree (50 to 45) moved out of the projected Drop Zone that will result in relegation after the season after shooting 65 on Saturday to move into a tie for 12th. Falling into the projected Drop Zone was Majesticks GC Co-Captain Lee Westwood (47 to 49), who is tied for 19th after a second-round 65.
PLAY-IN GAME
The 12th and 13th seeds in the team standings after Sunday must face off in a play-in game next week, with the winner advancing to the three-day weekend at the Michigan Team Championship. Majesticks GC entered the week 12th in points but are projected to move into 11th, with Cleeks Golf Club falling to 12th. The Majesticks are solo fourth on the team leaderboard in Indianapolis.
BIG POTENTIAL FOR TORQUE
With Sebastián Muñoz co-leading the tournament, Joaquin Niemann closing in on the season-long Individual Championship, and Torque GC atop the team leaderboard, Sunday has the potential to be a huge triple-trophy celebration for Torque.
Torque has not won a tournament since the 2023 season, a drought of 28 straight events. If Muñoz wins, he would be become the third different Torque player with an individual tournament title (to go with Niemann’s seven wins and Carlos Ortiz’s one).
“It would be pretty special,” Muñoz said. “This team has put a lot of work and has put a lot of good golf, and it would be a shame if we didn’t have a win. But it’s golf. It’s not about what’s fair or not, it’s what actually happens. Looking forward to tomorrow and trying to be aggressive.”
LOW-SCORE SATURDAY
While there were no record-setting low scores in the second round at Chatham Hills, the field stroke average was lower than the first round when Sebastián Muñoz carded 14 birdies to shoot 59.
The field averaged 68.204 on Saturday, nearly three strokes below par. On Friday, the field average was 68.519. There were less eagles on Saturday (12) than Friday (17), but significantly more birdies (282 to 256).
“Knew coming in here it was going to be a low-scoring week,” said Majesticks GC Co-Captain Henrik Stenson. “Probably need to be in the 20s to win this golf tournament for sure. If you want to have a good finish, you’ve got to make birdies, and that was the main focus for these couple of days.”
The LIV Golf tournament record for the lowest winning score is 23 under, set by Bryson DeChambeau at 2023 Greenbrier when he shot 58 in the final round. The team scoring low is 53 under, set twice. Both records are in jeopardy this week. Muñoz and Johnson share the lead at 16 under, and Torque leads at 39 under, with the 4Aces at 36 under.
“You don’t need anything special to shoot 6-under here compared to other courses because the fairways are so firm, and for the most part you’re coming in with short irons,” said Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm. “The par 5s, the ball rolls out 60 yards, so if you can just somehow hit it in between the lines, you’re going to have short irons in. You have 50 of the best players in the world with wedges in hand, so you’re going to have to expect birdies.”
Added 4Aces Captain Dustin Johnson: “You just have to hit the fairways. If you hit the fairways, you can attack the course because the greens are so receptive. But you have to hit quality golf shots to get it close to the hole.”
LIV GOLF RETURNING TO INDY
LIV Golf announced on Saturday that it will return to The Club at Chatham Hills for the 2026 LIV Golf season, with the dates set for Aug. 21-23. Early bird tickets are now on sale. “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 to The Club at Chatham Hills in 2026,” said Ross Hallett, LIV Golf Executive Vice President, Head of Events.
