LIV Golf Indianapolis Round 2: Richard T. Lee Leads as Michael La Sasso Fires a 60 and 4Aces Surge

Friday at Chatham Hills produced two very different headlines. One belonged to a 35-year-old wild card who now leads LIV Golf's season finale. The other belonged to a 22-year-old rookie who flirted with 59 and nearly rewrote the week by himself.

Richard T. Lee shot a 4-under 66 to reach 11 under and take a one-shot lead after the second round of LIV Golf Indianapolis. Thomas Detry (64), Dustin Johnson (66) and first-round leader Laurie Canter (68) are tied for second at 10 under. Michael La Sasso of HyFlyers GC posted a bogey-free 10-under 60 to jump into a seven-way tie for fifth at 9 under. In the Team Championship, 4Aces GC went 18 under for the day and lead by five at 31 under.

La Sasso Chases 59

La Sasso opened the week with a 1-over 71 that gave no hint of what was coming. Starting on the par-3 15th in the shotgun, he birdied seven of his first 10 holes, rolling in four putts between 9 and 17 feet during that run. Birdies at the ninth and 10th made it nine in 14 holes, and suddenly a sub-60 round was very much on the table.

Then the putts stopped dropping. He missed a 15-footer at the 11th, which left him needing two birdies over his last three holes for 59. Pars at the 12th and 13th ended that chase, and he closed with a birdie at the par-5 14th. "Yeah, and then I started leaving (putts) short. It's funny how that works," La Sasso said.

The 60 tied the lowest score by any player in the league this season, the third 60 of the year, and it was three shots better than his previous LIV best, a pair of 63s in South Africa. He needed just 21 putts, fewest in the field, and got up and down on all five of his scrambling chances. The 2025 NCAA individual champion turned pro this year to join Phil Mickelson's team. "Just found a good zone," he said.

Lee Takes Over

Lee's round was less spectacular and more relentless, with birdies on three of the first five holes and four of the first seven to grab the lead. Back-to-back bogeys at the ninth and 10th gave two shots back, and birdies at 13 and 14 got them right back. It is a fitting position for a player who has made the most of a rare opening. Lee earned a place by winning LIV Golf Promotions last winter and became the first Canadian to compete in the league. Before this season, Lee's wins had come on the Asian Tour and the Korean Tour.

Lee has already been close once this year, losing a playoff to Bryson DeChambeau in Singapore. Now the Canadian sleeps on a 36-hole lead in the final event of the season. "Just being on a tour like this is just a dream come true," Lee said.

4Aces Take the Wheel

The biggest move of the day came in the team race. 4Aces put all four scores in the 60s: Detry's 64, Thomas Pieters' 65, Johnson's 66 and Anthony Kim's 67. Detry made seven birdies, and Johnson closed with three birdies in his last five holes to reach 10 under. "To be honest, when I joined the league, I didn't realize how much fun team golf was going to be," Detry said.

The 18-under team round put 4Aces five shots clear of Torque GC at 26 under. HyFlyers, Majesticks GC and Ripper GC are tied for third at 25 under, with La Sasso's 60 doing almost all of the lifting for HyFlyers on a day that included a 70 from Cameron Tringale. Legion XIII, tied for second after the first round and briefly in front during Friday's play, slid to 23 under, eight off the pace.

The stakes are clear. 4Aces won the league's first Team Championship in 2022 and are this season's regular-season team champions. Legion XIII are the defending Team Champions, and Torque won the team competition on this course a year ago. Majesticks and HyFlyers have never won a team title.

Shuffle Behind the Leaders

The seven players at 9 under show how crowded this has become. Pieters, Abraham Ancer and Matthew Wolff each shot 65, Joaquin Niemann and Lee Westwood both had 67, and Cameron Smith followed his opening 63 with a 68. Canter, who led by one after Thursday's 62, managed a 68 and is still only one back.

Louis Oosthuizen supplied the shot of the day. The Southern Guards GC captain holed out from 156 yards for an eagle 2 at the par-4 17th on the way to a 68. Crushers GC climbed out of last place in the team standings with a 9-under round but still sit at 3 under, far behind the leaders.

In the season-long individual race, Jon Rahm has long since clinched the title. DeChambeau, No. 2 in the standings, is guaranteed no worse than third. Niemann, No. 3, is tied for fifth this week.

Halfway Home

Thirteen players are within three shots of the lead, and the soft conditions keep inviting low numbers. Lee has the lead, 4Aces have the cushion, and La Sasso has a 60 that changed the shape of both leaderboards in a single afternoon. With 36 holes left in the season, everything is still open.

Catch up on the Round 1 recap, and see the full second-round details in the LIV Golf Round 2 recap (opens in a new tab).

Sources: LIV Golf (Round 2 recap), Field Level Media, Golf News Net, Arab News. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Montana Pritchard/LIV Golf.