Final Round News and Notes: Top 3, Lock Zone and Relegated Players

WESTFIELD, Ind. – Sebastian Munoz and Torque GC swept the individual and team titles at LIV Golf Indianapolis, but there were plenty of other news, notes and stats from the final round at Chatham Hills.

RELATED: Leaderboard | Rd. 3 recap | Video highlights

LIV GOLF INDIANAPOLIS ROUND 3 NOTES

TOP 3

Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm, Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann and Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau finished 1-2-3, respectively, in the final season-long standings. Each will earn a bonus for finishing in the top three. It’s the second consecutive year for Rahm and Niemann to finish 1-2, while DeChambeau finishes in the top 3 for the first time in his LIV Golf career.

LOCK ZONE

HyFlyers GC Captain Phil Mickelson, an original LIV Golf member, finished in the Lock Zone (top 24 in points) for the first time in his LIV Golf career. Mickelson finished 24th in points; the top 24 are guaranteed spots for next season.

Another LIV Golf captain, RangeGoats GC’s Bubba Watson, also finished in the Lock Zone for the first time at 11th. Watson tied for 8th in Indianapolis, his fourth top-10 finish in his last eight starts.

Other first-time Lock Zone finishers include: young Fireballs GC star David Puig (10th), 4Aces GC’s Thomas Pieters (19th) and first-year-LIV Golf player Tom McKibbin (20th) of Legion XIII.

RELEGATED PLAYERS

Majesticks Co-Captain Henrik Stenson (49th in points) was one of five team players relegated after finishing in the Drop Zone (49th and below) in the season-long points standings. The other relegated players are HyFlyers GC’s Andy Ogletree (50), Torque GC’s Mito Pereira (51), Iron Heads GC’s Yubin Jang (53) and Cleeks Golf Club’s Frederik Kjettrup (T55). Jang and Kjettrup were in their first year in the league.

In addition, wild-card player Anthony Kim (T55) also was relegated.

Stenson and his fellow co-captain Ian Poulter battled for most of the day to avoid relegation, with each player moving in and out of the projected Drop Zone. Poulter closed with a flourish, with four consecutive birdies late in his round to shoot 67 and finish T17, his second top-20 this season. Stenson bogeyed three of his first six holes en route to a 1-over 72 to tie for 22nd.

In the end, the difference between Poulter and Stenson in points was 0.38 – essentially a one-shot difference.

PEREIRA AFTER RELEGATION

Despite the disappointment of relegation, Torque GC’s Mito Pereira was happy to end the regular season with a team title, and he’ll get another chance to win the LIV Golf Team Championship next week in Michigan.

“I’m really happy to get this win,” he said after shooting 8 under to finish T36. “Everybody was working for it, and to do it in the last tournament is just a really good feeling.”

SEEDS SET FOR TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII enter next week’s Michigan Team Championship as the top seed on the strength of their four tournament wins and four other podium finishes. Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC are the No. 2 seed and Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC are No. 3. The top seeds entering Friday’s Quarterfinals will get to select their opponent.

The remainder of the seeds are as follows: 4) Torque GC; 5) 4Aces GC; 6) Ripper GC; 7) Stinger GC; 8) Smash GC; 9) RangeGoats GC; 10) HyFlyers GC; 11) Cleeks GC; 12) Majesticks GC; and 13) Iron Heads GC.

PLAY-IN OPPONENTS SET

The last two seeds in the standings – Majesticks and Iron Heads – will participate in a play-in match on Wednesday, with all players on both teams participating. Two singles and one foursomes (alternate-shot) match will take place, with the team winning at least two of those matches advancing to Friday’s Quarterfinals. The losing team will see its season end.

17TH TROPHY SWEEP

The sweep of both the tournament individual and team trophies by Torque GC on Sunday is the 17th time in LIV Golf history that a team has swept both trophies at a single tournament. It’s the fifth time this season, and the second consecutive week, with Stinger GC and Dean Burmester sweeping the trophies in Chicago.

RECORD LOW

Torque GC’s winning score of 64 under shatters the previous low score for a winning LIV Golf team, which was 53 under initially set by Ripper GC at 2024 Adelaide (Stinger GC also shot that score but lost in a playoff) and Smash GC later in the season at Greenbrier.

REGULAR-SEASON STAT LEADERS

With the regular season now complete, here are the leaders in key statistical categories for the entire season:

• Driving accuracy – Henrik Stenson 72.34%
• Driving distance – Joaquin Niemann, 330.7 yards average
• Greens in regulation – Jon Rahm, 74.50%
• Scrambling – Bryson DeChambeau, 66.97%
• Putting average – Caleb Surratt, Charl Schwartzel, Cameron Smith, 1.54
• Most birdies – Jon Rahm, 194
• Most eagles – Bubba Watson, 12

RECORD-SCORING ROUND

Sunday’s field average of 66.537 was 4.463 strokes under par, making it the lowest-scoring round in LIV Golf history. Each of the previous two rounds had set the same record – 68.519 in Friday’s first round, then 68.204 in Saturday’s second round.

LIV GOLF INDIANAPOLIS ROUND 3 STATS LEADERS

Driving accuracy: Jon Rahm, Abraham Ancer, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia, Tom McKibbin, Talor Gooch, Kevin Na, 92.86% (13 of 14 fairways hit)

Driving distance average (for measured holes 7 and 17): Matthew Wolff, 348.4 yards avg.

Longest drive (among measured holes 7 and 17): Brooks Koepka, 373.8 yards, 7th hole

Greens in regulation: Sebastián Muñoz, Carlos Ortiz, Tyrrell Hatton, 94.44% (17 of 18 greens)

Scrambling: Brendan Steele (7 of 7), Yubin Jang (6 of 6), Cameron Smith (5 of 5), Anthony Kim (5 of 5), Danny Lee (3 of 3), Thomas Pieters (3 of 3), Sergio Garcia (3 of 3, Bryson DeChambeau (2 of 2), Louis Oosthuizen (2 of 2), Sebastián Muñoz (1 of 1), Tyrrell Hatton (1 of 1), 100%

Putting: Branden Grace, Sam Horsfield, Matthew Wolff, Lucas Herbert, Harold Varner III, 1.33 putts per hole

Bogey-free rounds: Yubin Jang (64), Louis Oosthuizen (64), Sergio Garcia (65), Danny Lee (65), Brendan Steele (66), Thomas Pieters (67), Anthony Kim (68)