LIV Golf Korea: Notes on each team

May 1, 2025 - 4:15 PMWritten by: Mike McAllister

Quick look at each team heading into this week’s LIV Golf Korea presented by Coupang Play (players listed by current Individual Championship ranking).

4ACES

17 Harold Varner III
23 Dustin Johnson (captain)
25 Patrick Reed
33 Thomas Pieters

Team posted third consecutive top-4 finish after back-to-back podium results in Singapore & Miami … Varner is team’s only player to finish with points (top 24) in each event this season … Johnson’s top-10 finish in Mexico City is 18th of his LIV Golf career … Johnson & Reed were members of the U.S. team competing in Korea at the 2015 Presidents Cup.

PREVIOUS EVENT: 4th in Mexico City

CLEEKS

12 Adrian Meronk
20 Richard Bland
36 Martin Kaymer (captain)
T52 Frederik Kjettrup

Team seeking first top-10 finish since opening tournament of the season … Bland posted the league’s second albatross in Mexico City … Kjettrup’s T30 in Mexico City is his best result since joining LIV Golf this season … Bland has led the team in scoring in three of the first six events … Team is a collective 16 under in final rounds this season but 53 over in the first two rounds.

PREVIOUS EVENT: 11th in Mexico City

CRUSHERS

5 Bryson DeChambeau (captain)
22 Paul Casey
26 Anirban Lahiri
39 Charles Howell III

Team has finished top-5 in five of the first six tournaments, including a podium in Miami … DeChambeau has posted his team’s best score in 10 of the first 18 rounds this season … DeChambeau’s T2 in Mexico City is his best result since winning in Chicago in 2023 … DeChambeau is league’s only player to rank top 10 in both driving distance (1st) and fairways hit (9th).

PREVIOUS EVENT: 5th in Mexico City

FIREBALLS

3 Sergio Garcia (captain)
7 David Puig
15 Abraham Ancer
42 Luis Masaveu

Team seeking to bounce back from season-worst 8th place finish in Mexico City … 4 of the team’s league-best 7 regular-season wins have come in Asia, including their two most recent wins earlier this year (Hong Kong, Singapore) … Puig has led team in scoring in 5 of the first 18 rounds this season, and tied for his team’s lowest round 4 other times.

PREVIOUS EVENT: 8th in Mexico City

HYFLYERS

14 Phil Mickelson (captain)
24 Cameron Tringale
45 Brendan Steele
T47 Andy Ogletre

Team’s best-ever streak of four consecutive tournaments with points ended in Mexico City … Mickelson has finished inside the points (top 24) in each of his first 5 starts this season, a personal best … Tringale suffered his first non-points finish of the year in Mexico City … Tringale has led the team in scoring in three of the first six tournaments in 2025.

PREVIOUS EVENT: 10th in Mexico City

IRON HEADS

34 Danny Lee
35 Kevin Na (captain)
46 Jinichiro Kozuma
51 Yubin Jang

Team seeks to bounce back from their last-place finish in Mexico City to their first-ever team title in their “home” game in Korea … Lee was born in Incheon, location for this week’s course … Kozuma made his season debut in Mexico City after missing the first 5 events with a back injury and produced the team’s best individual result (21st).

PREVIOUS EVENT: 13th in Mexico City

LEGION XIII

2 Jon Rahm (captain)
16 Tom McKibbin
18 Tyrrell Hatton
28 Caleb Surratt

Win in Mexico City was the team’s sixth in 20 starts since making their expansion team debut last season … Rahm has finished top 10 in all 18 regular-season starts he’s completed; his only non-top 10 was a WD (injury) last year in Houston … Rahm is league’s only player to lead/tie for his team’s lowest score in each event in 2025 … Hatton’s T5 in Mexico City is his best result this year.

PREVIOUS EVENT: 1st in Mexico City

MAJESTICKS

29 Sam Horsfield
T40 Henrik Stenson (co-captain)
T52 Ian Poulter (co-captain)
T52 Lee Westwood (co-captain)

Team seeking to break four-tournament streak without a top-10 finish … Horsfield has posted his team’s lowest round 6 times and tied for lowest score in 2 other rounds … Team is a collective 5 under in the first round but 49 over in the final two rounds … Westwood has won pro tournaments in 20 different countries, including one win in Korea in 2011.

PREVIOUS EVENT: 12th in Mexico City

RANGEGOATS

19 Ben Campbell
27 Bubba Watson (captain)
30 Peter Uihlein
43 Matthew Wolff

Watson’s T7 in Mexico City is his best result in 35 regular-season LIV Golf starts … Watson has posted his team’s best result in 3 of 6 starts in 2025 … Korean golfer Minkyu Kim will start in place of injured Ben Campbell, who missed Mexico City with a wrist injury … Kim is the youngest-ever winner on the Challenge Tour, winning the Czech Challenge at age 17 in 2018.

PREVIOUS EVENT: 9th in Mexico City

RIPPER

4 Lucas Herbert
8 Marc Leishman
21 Cameron Smith (captain)
44 Matt Jones

Team’s 2nd place in Mexico City is its fourth podium in six starts this season … Herbert’s final-round 10-under 61 in Mexico City ties for team’s lowest-ever round, and his T2 result is his personal best in LIV Golf … Herbert has produced the team’s lowest round 7 times and tied for the lowest round 2 other times … Smith’s T5 in Mexico City is his best result in his last 8 LIV Golf starts.

PREVIOUS EVENT: 2nd in Mexico City

SMASH

13 Brooks Koepka (captain)
32 Talor Gooch
37 Jason Kokrak
38 Graeme McDowell

Team’s 6th place in Mexico City is its best result this season … Gooch, the 2023 LIV Golf Individual Champion, has posted back-to-back top 15 results for the first time in 2025 … Koepka has led or tied for the team’s lowest round in 9 of 18 rounds this season … Team is 21 under in the second round and 8 over in the other two rounds.

PREVIOUS EVENT: 6th in Mexico City

STINGER

9 Dean Burmester
10 Charl Schwartzel
31 Louis Oosthuizen (captain)
T47 Branden Grace

Only non-winning team this season that has finished with points (top 8) in each of the first six events … Reserve John Catlin will replace Grace, who is out with a wrist injury … Schwartzel has finished top-7 in his last 2 starts … Schwartzel is tied for league’s best in scrambling and putting average … Team is 101 under on par 5s this season, second-best in the league behind Ripper (-102) … Grace & Oosthuizen combined for 9.5 out of a possible 10 points in 2015 Presidents Cup in Korea …

PREVIOUS EVENT: 7th in Mexico City

TORQUE

1 Joaquin Niemann (captain)
11 Carlos Ortiz
6 Sebastián Muñoz
T47 Mito Pereira

Niemann’s win in Mexico City is his third of the season and fifth in his LIV Golf career, tying Brooks Koepka for most by any player … Niemann also clinched the LIV Golf exemption for this year’s U.S. Open … Team’s 3rd place in Mexico City is its second podium finish this season … Muñoz has 4 top-10 finishes this year, one more than all of last season.

PREVIOUS EVENT: 3rd in Mexico City

Captain Martin Kaymer of Cleeks GC and participants are seen at the first tee and KPGA potential, unleashed activation during the practice round before the start of LIV Golf Korea at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club on Wednesday, April 30, 2025 in Incheon, South Korea. (Photo by Charles Laberge/LIV Golf)
Brendan Steele of HyFlyers GC hits his shot from the ninth tee during the practice round before the start of LIV Golf Korea at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club on Wednesday, April 30, 2025 in Incheon, South Korea. (Photo by Chris Trotman/LIV Golf)
LIV Golf Ambassador, Rick Shiels, hits his shot during the five man scramble with Torque GC during the practice round before the start of LIV Golf Korea at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club on Wednesday, April 30, 2025 in Incheon, South Korea. (Photo by Mike Stobe/LIV Golf)
Co-Captain Henrik Stenson of Majesticks GC hits his shot from the 10th tee during the practice round before the start of LIV Golf Korea at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club on Wednesday, April 30, 2025 in Incheon, South Korea. (Photo by Pedro Salado/LIV Golf)
Captain Phil Mickelson of HyFlyers GC hits his shot from the 18th fairway during the practice round before the start of LIV Golf Korea at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club on Wednesday, April 30, 2025 in Incheon, South Korea. (Photo by Pedro Salado/LIV Golf)
Andy Ogletree of HyFlyers GC hits his shot from a bunker on the 18th hole during the practice round before the start of LIV Golf Korea at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club on Wednesday, April 30, 2025 in Incheon, South Korea. (Photo by Pedro Salado/LIV Golf)
Cameron Tringale of HyFlyers GC on the 16th tee during the practice round before the start of LIV Golf Korea at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club on Wednesday, April 30, 2025 in Incheon, South Korea. (Photo by Mateo Villalba/LIV Golf)
Captain Bryson DeChambeau of Crushers GC hits his shot during the practice round before the start of LIV Golf Korea at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club on Wednesday, April 30, 2025 in Incheon, South Korea. (Photo by LIV Golf)
Participants are seen at the first tee and KPGA potential, unleashed activation during the practice round before the start of LIV Golf Korea at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club on Wednesday, April 30, 2025 in Incheon, South Korea. (Photo by Charles Laberge/LIV Golf)
Dustin Johnson during the practice round before the start of LIV Golf Korea at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club on Wednesday, April 30, 2025 in Incheon, South Korea. (Photo by Chris Trotman/LIV Golf)
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