LIV Golf Singapore Round 1: Dustin Johnson Goes From Last to First With a 63

A week ago in Hong Kong, Dustin Johnson finished dead last. On Friday in Singapore, Johnson looked like the best player on the planet again.

Johnson opened LIV Golf Singapore with a bogey-free 8-under 63 on the Serapong Course at Sentosa Golf Club, good for a three-shot lead after the first round. Torque GC's Sebastián Muñoz is alone in second at 5 under after a 66, and a crowded group of eight players sits at 4 under, a list that includes Jon Rahm, defending Singapore champion Brooks Koepka and Joaquin Niemann. In the team race, Johnson's 4Aces GC leads at 14 under, two clear of Torque GC.

From Last to First

The turnaround is the story. Johnson showed up in Hong Kong with a sore right shoulder, opened 75 and 72, and closed with a 64 that still left the 4Aces GC captain at the bottom of the board. The problem was physical and it showed up in the swing: Johnson said turning the head to the right was impossible, and everything kept going left through the ball.

Seven days later, the ball went where Johnson aimed it. Johnson hit 16 greens in regulation, tied for the most in the field, and missed just three fairways. The 63 matched Johnson's best round relative to par in 109 career LIV Golf regular season rounds, per LIV Golf. Five of the eight birdies came on the back nine, and the one that made the highlight reels was a 58-footer at the par-3 14th.

The flatstick was not an accident. "I put a lot of work in the last couple of days on the putter," Johnson said, "and it paid off."

There is a bigger target sitting out there, too. Johnson has won once in each of LIV's first three seasons, and a fourth individual title this week would make Johnson the first player to win in all four.

Muñoz Keeps Knocking

If the 2025 season has a recurring character in the runner-up chair, it is Muñoz. A 66 put Muñoz in second again, and LIV Golf notes the Colombian has held or shared second after five of the first 10 rounds this season while sitting inside the top 10 in seven of them. The missing piece is a LIV title.

Muñoz is not pretending otherwise. "I don't know if I'm going to get it done this week, but I'm working hard at it," Muñoz said.

The Eight at 4 Under

The logjam at 67 reads like a captains' meeting. Rahm, Koepka, Niemann, Louis Oosthuizen and Cameron Smith all posted 4 under, joined by Cameron Tringale, Abraham Ancer and Paul Casey.

Rahm's number keeps a remarkable run alive. It was Rahm's 19th straight under-par round on LIV, one shy of the league record of 20 held by Bryson DeChambeau. Smith was the tidiest of the group, going bogey-free and gaining 3.37 strokes on the greens. Koepka, back at the scene of last year's win, matched Smith by getting up and down on all seven missed greens.

Niemann, whose 67 paired with Muñoz's 66 to keep Torque GC in the hunt, kept it simple. "We've got a lot of golf to play in the next two days," Niemann said.

Peter Uihlein had the wildest card of the day. The RangeGoats GC player made two eagles, including a chip-in at 18, and still had to sign for a 68 after two bogeys and a double.

4Aces Deal First

All four scores count every round in LIV's 2025 format, so a hot captain only gets you so far. The 4Aces got the support Johnson needed: Patrick Reed shot 68, Harold Varner III 69 and Thomas Pieters 70, adding up to 14 under. It is a welcome sight for a team that has not won since 2023 and is riding a 22-event winless stretch.

Torque GC is two back at 12 under, with Muñoz's 66 and Niemann's 67 backed by a 68 from Carlos Ortiz and a 71 from Mito Pereira. Phil Mickelson's HyFlyers GC is third at 10 under and got solid work from everyone: Tringale's 67 led the way, and Mickelson, Brendan Steele and Andy Ogletree all shot 69. The HyFlyers are still chasing their first team trophy.

Fireballs GC sits fourth at 7 under. Ancer (67) and David Puig (68) carried the load while captain Sergio Garcia, the winner in Hong Kong a week ago, opened with a 72.

Rough Days at the Bottom

DeChambeau had a rare off day with a 74, and Crushers GC is 11th at 1 over despite Casey's 67. Two teams are already in a deep hole. Majesticks GC is 12th at 8 over after Ian Poulter shot 76, and Cleeks GC is last at 10 over after Frederik Kjettrup's 80 dragged down a team that also got a 73 from captain Martin Kaymer.

In a format where nothing gets dropped, numbers like that do not disappear on Saturday. They just sit there.

What Saturday Holds

Johnson owns the lead, the momentum and a putter that is behaving again. Muñoz has the steadiness and the motivation of a player who keeps getting close. And with eight players three shots back, including two former world No. 1s in Rahm and Koepka and a red-hot putter in Smith, a three-shot cushion over 36 holes is a head start, nothing more. The team race is tighter still, with three teams separated by four shots.

Full first-round scoring and stats are in the LIV Golf Round 1 recap (opens in a new tab).

Sources: LIV Golf (Round 1 recap), ESPN, Arab News, South China Morning Post, Golf News Net. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Chris Trotman/LIV Golf.