Tom McKibbin carded a three-under 67 to share 25th place with Graeme McDowell a shot further back as Majesticks Golf Club set the pace on both the team and individual leaderboards in Round 1 at the LIV Golf Indianapolis 2026 Championships.
The team’s best round since 2022 has them in early position for their first-ever LIV Golf victory in the 2026 season finale at The Club at Chatham Hills.
Laurie Canter fired the top round of his season, an 8-under 62 to grab the individual lead by one shot. Combined with Lee Westwood’s 6-under 64, Ian Poulter’s 2-under 68 and Sam Horsfield’s 1-under 69, the Majesticks posted a team total of 17-under, giving them a two-shot cushion over a pair of chasers. Co-captained by English legends Poulter and Westwood, the squad is still searching for its first team victory since LIV’s inception, making Thursday’s showing a big first step in the four round stroke-play event that will crown the 2026 Team Champion.
“I didn’t get off to the best of starts,” Canter said. “I think I bogeyed 8, hit it in the right trap but it still got me going. I think I had three birdies off the back of that. Drove the ball great. I hit a lot of fairways, and kind of the way the golf course is playing with no wind and you have to take it at pretty much all the pins, I stayed aggressive for the day and made a lot of birdies.”
Canter’s 62 stands as his low round of the year, and it gives him the outright individual lead before a chasing pack closed within a shot.
Westwood continues his run of hot form after finishing a season-best tie for 3rd in his most recent start at LIV Golf New York 2026.
Richard T. Lee and Ripper GC Captain Cam Smith each carded 7-under 63s to sit T2, one back. Smith’s round was especially clean as he was bogey free and didn’t miss a single fairway on the day for only the second time in his LIV Golf career (Round 1, Singapore 2023). The hot start from Smith propelled Ripper GC into a share of second on the team leaderboard.
Ripper GC (Smith 63, Herbert 66, Leishman 66, Smyth 70) finished the round at 15-under, tied for second with Legion XIII. Three-time individual champion Jon Rahm’s squad got a 6-under 64 from their youngest player, Caleb Surratt, to go with a trio of 3-under 67s from Tyrrell Hatton, Tom McKibbin and Rahm.
4Aces GC sits fourth at 13-under, paced by Thomas Detry’s 4-under 66.
A crowded group at 6-under 64 filled out the top of the individual leaderboard behind Canter, Lee and Smith, including Torque GC Captain Joaquín Niemann, Dean Burmester, 4Aces GC Captain Dustin Johnson, Fireballs GC Captain Sergio Garcia, Surratt, Brendan Steele, Westwood and RangeGoats GC Captain Bubba Watson.
Niemann, fresh off his record ninth career title in New York, opened his bid for a second straight win in the mix just two back of Canter. Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau sits solo 12th at 5-under 65, keeping himself well inside the mix as he looks to protect his position in the individual season standings.
Also at 4-under 66: Thomas Pieters, Peter Uihlein, Thomas Detry, Matthew Wolff and Byeong Hun An.
Three rounds remain at Chatham Hills, with the Team Championship, the final two spots on the Individual Championship podium and the Indianapolis title itself all still to be decided.
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