Rd. 2 News and Notes: Hatton makes hole-in-one at LIV Golf Chicago
BOLINGBROOK, Ill. – Jon Rahm jumped into the driver's seat for the season-long Individual Championship on Saturday at LIV Golf Chicago, but there were plenty of other news, notes and stats from the second round at Bolingbrook Golf Club.
RELATED: Rahm leads by one, eyes season-long Individual crown at LIV Golf Chicago
ROUND 2 NOTES
HATTON’S HOLE-IN-ONE: Legion XII’s Tyrrell Hatton recorded the eighth hole-in-one in LIV Golf history at the 164-yard island green sixth hole.
“I think that's the first one that they actually got on camera, so that's cool,” Hatton said. “I'll enjoy watching that one back. Yeah, just a gripped down 9-under around 160 yards and landed just short and trickled in and left side.”
The ace was sandwiched between two birdies and proved very timely, as Hatton rallied to shoot 65 and play his way back into contention in hopes of maintaining third place in the Individual points standings.
He has his work cut out for him. Fireballs GC Captain Sergio Garcia and Smash GC Captain Brooks Koepka are both projected to move ahead of Hatton if the leaderboard doesn’t change Sunday.
“It would be nice to have another good day tomorrow and finish third,” Hatton said. “It would cap off a pretty solid first year on LIV. Yeah, that's the goal, but there's obviously guys that are playing really well so far this week, and if they win, then yeah, they'll overtake me. They deserve to, obviously, if they go out and win this week.”
GARCIA SEES A BIT OF VALDERRAMA: Sergio Garcia won his first LIV Golf individual title earlier this year on his favorite course, Valderrama, which hosts LIV Golf Andalucía in his native Spain.
Now he’s in contention on a Bolingbrook Golf Club course in which he sees some similarities.
“It's a little bit the kind of golf course that I like, small greens like Valderrama,” said Garcia, who shot a 5-under 65 to move to 6 under and solo second behind Jon Rahm. “I always like those kinds of courses. It's obviously a totally different look from the tee than Valderrama might be, but the targets are similar.
“I've always enjoyed those kinds of courses, and obviously it's been working great so far this week.”
POULTER, MAJESTICKS MAKING NOISE: Majesticks GC has not produced a podium result since the inaugural 2022 season and has just two individual podiums this season – Sam Horsfield’s solo second and Lee Westwood’s tie for third in Nashville.
But the Majesticks have a chance to produce some much-needed positivity, starting the final round tied for fourth on the team leaderboard while co-captain Ian Poulter is tied for fourth individually.
“It's been an interesting year because I think as old as we are and as experienced as we are, I think we've been pretty frustrated, each and every one of us, that we haven't performed quite as well as we want to perform,” Poulter said.
“For us, we're staying pretty confident. We know we're good enough, and we just haven't been able to do it. It's refreshing. It's nice. It's a confidence boost, I think, for the team to come out on a course especially as difficult as this one is and kind of be in position.”
LOCK ZONE PROJECTIONS: No players are currently projected to move from the Open Zone to the Lock Zone, which are the top 24 players in points who will have guaranteed spots in the 2025 LIV Golf League.
But Ripper GC’s Lucas Herbert is close to breaking through. He enters Sunday’s final round tied for seventh at 3 under and is currently projected for 25th.
DROP ZONE PROJECTIONS: Players ranked 49th and below in points after Sunday will be relegated out of the league and must earn their way back in during the offseason.
Cleeks GC’s Kalle Samooja started the week in 53rd, but he’s now projected to finish 43rd. Samooja, who earned his LIV Golf spot this year through the Promotions tournament, is tied for seventh at 3 under.
Projected to fall into the Drop Zone is 4Aces GC’s Pat Perez. He started the week on the bubble at 48th but is projected to 49th. Perez starts the final round at 7 over and is 49th on the tournament leaderboard.
TEAM SEEDING PROJECTIONS: Crushers GC and Legion XIII have clinched two of the three available byes that go to the top three teams in the season-long standings after Sunday’s final round.
Ripper GC, which entered this week third in the standings, is projected to stay there and earn the final bye. Ripper is 11th through two rounds in Chicago while the two other teams who could still earn the bye, Torque GC and Smash GC, are sixth and eight, respectively. Unless those two teams make a move Sunday, Ripper will hold on to the final seed.
RAHM, NIEMANN IN DIFFERENT GROUPS: For the first time this week, Rahm and Niemann will not be in the same group, but both will tee off on hole No. 1. Niemann is in the earlier group teeing off at 12:05 CDT, while Rahm tees off 11 minutes later.
ROUND 2 STATS LEADERS
Driving accuracy: Richard Bland, 100% (14 of 14 fairways hit)
Driving distance: Bryson DeChambeau, 365.7 yards avg.
Longest drive: Bryson DeChambeau, 386.4 yards, 14th hole
Greens in regulation: Jon Rahm, 83.33% (15 of 18 greens)
Scrambling: Kalle Samooja (8 of 8), Sergio Garcia (4 of 4), Jon Rahm (3 of 3), 100%
Putting: Tyrrell Hatton, 1.17 putts per hole
Bogey-free rounds: Jon Rahm (64), Sergio Garcia (65), Kalle Samooja (66)