Rd. 1 recap: Canter, Majesticks Golf Club off to fast starts in Indianapolis

WESTFIELD, Ind. – Laurie Canter has found his form in recent starts. So has his Majesticks Golf Club. As a result, the All-English team is off to a hot start in its pursuit of a dream finish to the 2026 season.

Canter produced the best round of his LIV Golf career, an 8-under 62, to claim a one-shot lead over Ripper GC Captain Cameron Smith and Wild Card player Richard T. Lee after Thursday’s opening round of the season-ending LIV Golf Indianapolis Championships. The Majesticks top the team leaderboard, shooting a cumulative 17 under at The Club at Chatham Hills for a two-shot advantage over Ripper and Legion XIII.

The Majesticks have never won a team trophy of any kind and haven’t reached the podium in the last 53 LIV Golf stroke-play tournaments but are now three rounds away from becoming the 2026 Team Champions.

“I hope we can do that the next three days,” Canter said. “It would be massive. For all the people who work for Majesticks and us as players, to have a real run at a team event would be a lot of fun.”

The Majesticks finished 11th or worse in eight of the first nine tournaments this season, but a solo fifth in their home event at LIV Golf United Kingdom followed by a T5 two weeks ago at LIV Golf New York gave them momentum and hope entering this week’s season finale.

“It's a strange situation because we've not played great as a team throughout most of the year,” said Co-Captain Lee Westwood, who finished T3 on the individual leaderboard in New York and is among a group of eight players tied for fourth at 6 under, two shots behind Canter. “Obviously we've just hit a bit of form recently. But to have a great chance to do something this week is obviously something we didn't expect to happen. We're obviously grabbing it with both hands.”

Canter, an original member of the Majesticks during the inaugural 2022 season, has produced his three best results of the season in his last four starts, with top-15 finishes in Korea, the UK and New York, where he posted a season-best T11.

On Thursday, he suffered an early bogey but immediately bounced back with birdies in five of his next six holes. He said finding his comfort zone took a while upon returning to the league to fill the Majesticks’ vacancy due to Henrik Stenson’s relegation

“Early on, to be honest, because I felt like I was really not finding my game, my sort of personal pride probably took a hit with it,” Canter said. “I've wanted to play better and contribute to the team more and try and feel like I could drive some good performances. Maybe I tried a bit hard to do that initially.”

One of his closest pursuers, Ripper Captain Smith, has been trying hard to improve his accuracy off the tee. He ranked 53rd in fairways hit at 51.79% coming into this week but was one of four players to hit all 14 fairways Thursday. It’s the first time in three years Smith has produced perfect accuracy off the tee at a LIV Golf tournament.

“The fairways are pretty forgiving around here as well, which is nice,” Smith said. “I didn't hit every drive perfect, but it was kind of where I was aiming. The driver is starting to feel really nice.”

TOP OF THE LEADERBOARDS

Individual Top 10

1 (-8) – Laurie Canter, Majesticks (62)

T2 (-7) – Richard T. Lee, Wild Card (63); Cameron Smith, Ripper (63)

T4 (-6) – Joaquin Niemann, Torque (64); Dean Burmester, Southern Guards (64); Dustin Johnson, 4Aces (64); Sergio Garcia, Fireballs (64); Caleb Surratt, Legion XIII (64); Brendan Steele, HyFlyers (64); Lee Westwood, Majesticks (64); Bubba Watson, RangeGoats (64)

Team Top 3

1 (-17) – Majesticks Golf Club (Canter 62, Westwood 64, Poulter 68, Horsfield 69)

T2 (-15) – Ripper GC (Smith 63, Herbert 66, Leishman 66, Smyth 70)

T2 (-15) – Legion XIII (Surratt 64, Hatton 67, McKibbin 67, Rahm 67)

Click here for full leaderboard

ROUND 1 NOTES

DECHAMBEAU ON PRESENT AND FUTURE: Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau has been heavily involved in helping LIV Golf’s future as it enters a new chapter after this season. Of course, he’s also still competing, with individual and team trophies at stake in Indianapolis.

“Look, it's tough. It's not easy,” said DeChambeau after shooting a 5-under 65. “We definitely have a lot against us. But I think behind the scenes we've got a lot of people that are working hard to make this possible for not only all the players that are out here but all the fans that have come out to these events and the economic impact that we've made in all these places, whether it's South Africa, here in Indy or Australia, numerous places across the world, the UK, all the different places we've been in the U.S. Even Nashville when we played a few years ago was unbelievable.

“I think we just have a bit of a responsibility to continue to show this. If it works, it works; awesome. If it doesn't, we'll figure things out. Time will move on, and I would say that time heals things. I hope people can see that we actually bring value to the game of golf. My wish is that people give us one more shot and be open minded.”

OOSTHUIZEN’S RETURN: Southern Guards Captain Louis Oosthuizen returned to the lineup this week after missing the previous two tournaments with a back injury that also forced him to withdraw in early June at Andalucia. Oosthuizen shot a 1-over 71, a respectable score given his rust and health.

“Louis has certainly come into this week with a really relaxed mindset,” said teammate Dean Burmester, the team’s top scorer Thursday with a 64. “He hasn't played a tournament in about three months. But he just wanted to be here for us and be here for the Team Championship.

“The four of us, we're a brotherhood. He's literally got a tear in his back, and it is painful and it's uncomfortable, and he's pushing through. I don't know what he shot today. I haven't had a chance to have a look. But whatever he shot is irrelevant because just being able to finish 18 holes I think is an accomplishment.

“We're all behind him, and we all laugh with him and have a good time and laugh at some of the golf shots he's hitting at the moment. He told me on the range he's definitely not hitting a 3-wood off the deck because he thinks he'll hit it on the helmet. He'll avoid that and hit driver off the deck, I think. It's fun times for sure, but he's a competitor at heart, and he's the nicest guy on the planet. It's just fun having him around.”

STROKE PLAY FOR TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: Previous LIV Golf Team Championships involved a combination of match play and stroke play, but with the schedule adjustment announced earlier in the week, the format for the Team Championship is a four-round shootout with all four scores counting, a carryover from the regular-season format.

Majesticks Golf Club has lost in the quarterfinals in each of the previous three Team Championships but may be benefiting from the format change due to finding their form down the stretch.

“If you're trending in the right direction, then you want it to be a format where it rewards consistency,” said Co-Captain Lee Westwood. “With the format being match play in previous years, it's very fast. It's like a sprint over 18 holes. But this week if we're all playing well and trending into form, then 72 holes is going to suit us more.”

Just four teams claimed the 11 team trophies during the regular season, with 4Aces GC, Ripper GC and Crushers GC winning three times and Legion XIII winning twice. Each of those teams, incidentally, have won the Team Championship in a previous LIV Golf season. Ripper and Legion XIII are just two strokes behind the Majesticks after Thursday’s opening round while the Aces are in solo fourth, four shots back.

“We’ve won one before and want another one,” Ripper Captain Cameron Smith said. “It would be cool to go out this season with a bang.”

The Crushers, meanwhile, are in unfamiliar territory, last place at 6 over. Bryson DeChambeau’s 65 was offset by Paul Casey, Charles Howell III and Anirban Lahiri, who were a combined 11 over. The Crushers started off slowly two weeks ago in New York but worked their way up the leaderboard to win their 11th regular-season team title, most in league history.

“Look, there's been times where we were almost dead last and then we came back and won like last week in New York,” DeChambeau said. “Maybe they need some better sleep or something. I have no idea. They're all individuals on their own; they're grown men. They're all older than me, so I can't really kick them in the butt or do anything because they'll just look at me and go, ‘What are you doing? You're like our son.’ Nothing I can do there, but I'm just hoping we can turn it around.”

INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE: Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm has already wrapped up his third consecutive LIV Golf Individual Championship but the two other bonus-paying positions remain up for grabs among No. 2 Bryson DeChambeau, No. 3 Joaquin Niemann, No. 4 Lucas Herbert and No. 5 Tyrrell Hatton. DeChambeau and Niemann are among the large group tied for fourth after shooting 6-under 64s, while Herbert is tied for 13th at 4 under and Hatton another stroke back tied for 25th. That leaves DeChambeau – who is guaranteed no worse than a third-place finish in the final standings – and Niemann still projected to claim the podium spots behind Rahm.

STATS LEADERS

Round 1

Driving Distance: David Puig, 328.8-yard avg.

Longest Drive: David Puig, 343.5 yards (8th hole). Official measured drives taken only on holes 8 and 18.

Driving Accuracy: Cameron Smith, Bubba Watson, Yosuke Asaji, Louis Oosthuizen, 100% (14 of 14)

Greens in Regulation: Brendan Steele, 88.89% (16 of 18)

Scrambling: Richard Bland (6 of 6), Cameron Smith (5 of 5), Joaquin Niemann (5 of 5), Richard T. Lee (4 of 4), Dustin Johnson (3 of 3), Bubba Watson (3 of 3), Bryson DeChambeau (3 of 3), 100%

Fewest Putts: Lee Westwood, 20

Bogey-free rounds: Cameron Smith (63), Richard T. Lee (63), Dustin Johnson (64), Joaquin Niemann (64), Bubba Watson (64), Bryson DeChambeau (65), Richard Bland (66)