Rd. 2 recap: 4Aces take control of team leaderboard; RT Lee tops individual competition while La Sasso sizzles with a 60

WESTFIELD, Ind. – LIV Golf’s youngest player made the biggest noise Friday at LIV Golf Indianapolis Championships, while another first-year player grabbed the individual lead. But it was one of the league’s blue bloods that took command of the Team Championship competition.

4Aces GC, this year’s regular-season champions, will take a five-shot lead at 31 under into the weekend at The Club at Chatham Hill, while independent Wild Card player Richard T. Lee moved atop the individual leaderboard by one stroke.

Meanwhile, 22-year-old Michael La Sasso of HyFlyers GC produced the best round of his young career, shooting a bogey-free 10-under 60 that ties for the lowest score by any player in the league this season.

“Just found a good zone,” said La Sasso, who opened with a 1-over 71 but is now tied for 5th at 9 under. “I called my coach [Chase Duncan] who was here beginning of the week and I was like , I didn’t really feel like I was that far off yesterday. Today, I didn’t feel like I did much different. A couple putts dropped, and next thing you know it’s an 11-shot difference. Kind of a funny game we play.”

It’s serious business for the 4Aces as they seek to become the first team to win two Team Championships.

Thomas Detry shot a 6-under 64 to move into a tie for second individually, with captain Dustin Johnson joining him there after a 66. Detry’s fellow Belgian Thomas Pieters shot a 65 and is tied for 5th, with Anthony Kim contributing a 67 as the Aces combined to shoot 18 under Friday.

The 4Aces won the league’s first-ever Team Championship in 2022 and have been the best regular season team in three of the league’s first five years. With captain Dustin Johnson revamping his lineup this season with the additions of Detry and Kim, the 4Aces won three tournament titles and now are in pole position through 36 holes to claim the biggest prize of the season.

“To be honest, when I joined the league, I didn’t realize how much fun team golf was going to be,” Detry said. “… We finished No. 1 in the season-long rankings, so I think it would be well-deserved to get this Team Championship win this week.”

Added Johnson: “Obviously we’ve got a really good team. We’ve played well all year. It was nice to get the season-long victory. But we’ve got one more event left, two more days, so a lot can happen. But we’re in a good position right now.”

Meanwhile, it’s a player without a team – Lee, who earned entry into the league as a Wild Card with a dominant performance at LIV Golf Promotions in January – who climbed to the top of the individual leaderboard. He followed his opening 7-under 63 with a 66 on Friday to move to 11 under, one shot ahead of Detry, Johnson and Majesticks GC’s Laurie Canter, the first-round leader who followed his 62 with a 68.

Lee nearly became the first Wild Card player to win a LIV Golf tournament earlier this season at Singapore, finishing second after losing to Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau in a playoff. That remains the best result by any Wild Card player but Lee – the first Canadian player to compete on LIV Golf – is determined to finish his first year on a high note with a victory.

“I don’t want to think too ahead for myself, but yeah, definitely a victory would be amazing,” said Lee, who has been flawless through the first two rounds outside of a two-hole stretch in the middle of Friday’s round with consecutive bogeys. “It’s always been a dream to play with these guys and have a big victory out there. Hopefully, if I win, I have a little surprise for my wife this week.”

TOP OF THE LEADERBOARDS

Individual Top 10

1 (-11) – Richard T. Lee, Wild Card (63-66)

T2 (-10) – Thomas Detry, 4Aces (66-64); Dustin Johnson, 4Aces (64-66); Laurie Canter, Majesticks (62-68)

T5 (-9) – Thomas Pieters, 4Aces (66-65); Abraham Ancer, Torque (66-65); Michael La Sasso, HyFlyers (71-60); Joaquin Niemann, Torque (64-67); Matthew Wolff, RangeGoats (66-65); Lee Westwood, Majesticks (64-67); Cameron Smith, Ripper (63-68)

Team Top 3

1 (-31) – 4Aces GC (Detry 66-64, Johnson 64-66, Pieters 66-65, Kim 71-67; Rd. 2 score: -18)

2 (-26) – Torque GC (Ancer 66-65, Niemann 65-67, Ortiz 68-67, Munoz 70-67; Rd. 2 score: -14)

T3 (-25) – HyFlyers GC (La Sasso 71-60, Steele 64-68, Vincent 66-68, Tringale 68-70; Rd. 2 score: -14)

T3 (-25) – Majesticks GC (Canter 62-68, Westwood 64-67, Poulter 68-66, Horsfield 69-71; Rd. 2 score: -8)

T3 (-25) – Ripper GC (Smith 63-68, Herbert 66-69, Leishman 66-67, Smyth 70-66; Rd. 2 score: -10)

Click here for full leaderboard

ROUND 2 NOTES

LA SASSO’S CHASE OF 59: Michael La Sasso started his second round on the par-3 15th and birdied seven of his first 10 holes, rolling in four putts between 9 and 17 feet in that stretch. He had a couple of more looks inside 15 feet that he didn’t convert, but then made a 10-footer at the ninth hole (his 13th of the day) and a 19-footer at the 10th.

He then left a 15-footer at the 11th short, but with three holes left, he needed just two birdies to become the second-youngest player in professional golf to shoot 59.

Asked if shooting 59 crossed his mind, La Sasso said, “Maybe a little bit on 11 after I left it in the heart short. I thought I flagged one on 12 and got a bad kick off the bunker. I was then kind of sitting there like I’ve got to do a couple things right to make it happen.”

His last birdie came on his final hole, the par-5 14th. His 60 is the third one shot in LIV Golf this season and is three shots better than La Sasso’s previous low, back-to-back 63s on the weekend in South Africa.

He said his work with new putting coach Eric Dietrich has paid off, and he also saw his swing coach Chase Duncan earlier this week. He came into the tournament with positive vibes and needed a field-low 21 putts on Friday.

“I thought I played pretty good golf down in Bedmister,” La Sasso said of his previous start at LIV Golf New York, where he finished T32. “It was a tough golf course and there were a lot of times where I feel like I shoot the worst score I can possibly shoot, just kind of not getting a lot out of my rounds. I told my caddie yesterday, I really feel like we’re not far off, and I guess it kind of started to come together today.”

THE BELGIAN DUO: 4Aces GC’s Thomas Detry and Thomas Pieters were in the same group Friday, with Detry shooting 64 to Pieter’s 65. As close friends and natives of Belgium, they said it’s a small advantage to play together.

“It feels like playing a practice round to me,” Pieters said. “It’s obviously very competitive and I want to beat him, he wants to beat me. But it’s loose. It’s nice. Anytime you play with a team member, it feels like that.”

At the par-3 15th, Pieters made a 7-foot birdie putt, and Detry followed by making his 6-footer.

“I remember he was away, so I really wanted him to make the putt so I had to momentum to make mine as well,” Detry said. “I didn’t want him to miss and then I feel like I would have been under pressure. Little mental things like that I thought was really fun today.”

Pieters is playing with a fractured rib that he sustained five weeks ago. He said it hurt “a bit” on Thursday but the pain goes away with medication. And how did the injury occur? “My kid jumped on me, and then a week later, I sneezed and I felt it pop. I’m a loud sneezer.”

TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP UPDATE: 4Aces GC have a five-shot lead over Torque GC, with Ripper GC, Majesticks GC and HyFlyers GC another shot back. Legion XIII, which once held the lead during Friday’s round, is eight shots off the pace.

The 4Aces, Ripper and Legion have been the dominant teams this season, along with Crushers GC. Meanwhile, Torque won the team title last year in the regular season finale and have been the most consistent non-winning team this year.

“That would be amazing to culminate the season,” said Torque’s Abraham Ancer, who’s tied with captain Joaquin Niemann as the team’s top scorer at 9 under. “I feel like all of us are maybe a little bit frustrated team-wise with our results. I feel like we have a great team, and we know that we could have done a lot better this season and obviously we have that hunger of doing it – especially being the last tournament of the season.”

Majesticks and HyFlyers have never won a tournament title of any kind but now have a chance to end the season with the Team Championship.

“It would be sick to win,” said HyFlyers’ Michael La Sasso.”I think a lot of the guys on the team are starting to play good golf coming into the week.”

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.

Niemann is tied for 5th on the individual leaderboard at 9 under, while DeChamberau is tied for 15th at 7 under. Hatton is T20 at 6 under and Herbert is T29 at 5 under.

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.

FAIRWAY PERFECTION: For the second consecutive round, four players hit all 14 players– Lee Westwood, Marc Leishman, Byeong Hun An and defending Indy champion Sebastián Muñoz. Coming into the week, 100% accuracy on fairways hit had happened just five times this season.

OOSTHUIZEN’S 2 EAGLES: Southern Guards Captain Louis Oosthuizen made two eagles in his first 648 holes (36 rounds) this season going into Friday. He then started the second round with two birdies in his first four holes, including an eagle 2 at the par-4 17th when he holed out from 156 yards. The Southern Guards captain returned to action this week after injuring his back in early June in the final round at Andalucia. He shot a 68 on Friday and is 1 under for the tournament.

STATS LEADERS

Round 2

Driving Distance: David Puig, 339.8-yard avg.

Longest Drive: David Puig, 350-8 yards (18th hole). Official measured drives taken only on holes 8 and 18.

Driving Accuracy: Lee Westwood, Marc Leishman, Byeong Hun An, Sebastián Muñoz, 100% (14 of 14)

Greens in Regulation: Ollie Schniederjans, 94.44% (17 of 18)

Scrambling: Luis Masaveu (7 of 7), Michael La Sasso (5 of 5); Marc Leishman (5 of 5); Charles Howell III (4 of 4), 100%

Fewest Putts: Michael La Sasso, 21

Bogey-free rounds: Michael La Sasso (60), Charles Howell III (66), Luis Masaveu (66), Marc Leishman (67)

Cumulative

Driving Distance: David Puig, 334.3-yard avg.

Driving Accuracy: Lee Westwood, 96.43% (27 of 28)

Greens in Regulation: Brendan Steele, Scott Vincent, 83.33% (30 of 36)

Scrambling: Dustin Johnson (10 of 11), 90.91%

Fewest Putts: Lee Westwood, Cameron Smith, 48

Low rounds: Rd. 1 – Laurie Canter (62). Rd. 2 – Michael La Sasso (60).