Andy DevaneyLIV Golf Indianapolis 2026 has begun with a sight that has been rather less common than an empty hospitality tent: Majesticks Golf Club at the top of the leaderboard.
Laurie Canter supplied the fireworks at The Club at Chatham Hills with an eight-under 62, his lowest round of the season, while Lee Westwood added a 64 to help push the team two shots clear after Round 1.
For a side still searching for its first LIV Golf team victory, Thursday represented considerably more than an agreeable afternoon in Indiana.
Majesticks finished 17-under, two ahead of Ripper GC and Legion XIII, after Canter and Westwood were backed by Ian Poulter’s two-under 68 and Sam Horsfield’s one-under 69.
Three rounds remain, naturally, which in golf is roughly enough time for confidence, weather and a seven-iron from 183 yards to ruin everybody’s plans. Still, this was a start with substance.
Canter turns an awkward beginning into a 62
Canter did not require perfection to reach eight under. In fact, his own account began with the reassuring admission that things initially went slightly sideways.
“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.”
That aggression produced his best score of 2026 and left him one clear of Richard T. Lee and Ripper captain Cam Smith, who each shot 63.
Canter’s round was not merely useful to his own Indianapolis ambitions. It gave Majesticks something they have spent much of LIV Golf’s existence chasing rather than protecting: a lead.
Westwood gives Majesticks another reason to believe
There was useful reinforcement from Westwood, whose six-under 64 continued the form that produced a season-best tie for third at LIV Golf New York 2026.
His putting numbers, by his standards at least, bordered on suspicious.
“…My game is in good shape. Generally I play well from sort of the middle of the year onwards. Historically that’s what’s happened. I’m not surprised we’re playing well. I’ve been working quite hard on my game recently, and I’ve putting as good as I’ve ever putted, I think. I think I had 20 putts today, if we’re just counting the ones on the greens, which is pretty much unheard of for me.”
The significance for Majesticks lies in the collective contribution. A low round from one player can propel a team for an afternoon; several players arriving with confidence creates a rather more interesting proposition.
“Last three or four events as a team we’ve played better, and it does make a massive difference. You get a big boost seeing Sam have that start early. I think undoubtedly you can carry each other forward. I hope we can do that the next three days. It would be massive. For all the people who work for Majesticks and us as players, to have a real run at a team event would be a lot of fun.”
They now have precisely that.
Cam Smith keeps Ripper GC within striking distance
Majesticks will not have needed long to locate the danger behind them.
Smith’s bogey-free 63 contained another telling statistic: he did not miss a fairway. It was only the second time he has managed that in a LIV Golf round, the previous occasion coming in the opening round in Singapore in 2023.
“I think the fairways are pretty forgiving around here as well, which is nice. I didn’t hit every drive perfect, but it was kind of where I was aiming. It was nice. The driver is starting to feel really nice. I feel like I’ve got some work to do into the greens, but the putter was alive today and holed some kind of nice 10 to 20-footers.”
Alongside Smith’s 63, Lucas Herbert and Marc Leishman each shot 66, with Elvis Smylie contributing a 70 as Ripper reached 15-under.
That was enough to share second place with Legion XIII.
Rahm’s Legion XIII lurk two shots back
Legion XIII found their 15-under total in a rather different fashion.
Caleb Surratt led the scoring with a six-under 64, while Tyrrell Hatton, Tom McKibbin and Jon Rahm each returned 67s. No single round matched Canter’s, but there is something mildly ominous about four scores bunched that tightly together.
Three-time individual champion Rahm therefore begins the second round with both his team and himself still close enough to make life uncomfortable for the leaders.
The 4Aces are next at 13-under, with Thomas Detry’s four-under 66 their lowest round.
Niemann and DeChambeau remain in the Indianapolis picture
The individual leaderboard is considerably more crowded than Canter might prefer.
Joaquín Niemann, Dean Burmester, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Surratt, Brendan Steele, Westwood and Bubba Watson all shot 64, leaving them two behind the leader.
Niemann arrives in Indianapolis after claiming his ninth career title in New York and is therefore immediately positioned for another challenge.
Bryson DeChambeau sits alone in 12th after a five-under 65 as he attempts to protect his place in the individual season standings. Thomas Pieters, Peter Uihlein, Detry, Matthew Wolff and Byeong Hun An are another shot back after 66s.
The arithmetic is tidy. The competitive picture is not.
Majesticks now face the harder part
One fine Thursday does not erase Majesticks’ winless team history, and nor should it. This is a four-round contest, with the Team Championship, Indianapolis title and the final two places on the Individual Championship podium still unresolved.
But there was something different about the manner of this opening round.
Canter produced his lowest score of the season. Westwood’s recent form survived the journey from New York. Poulter and Horsfield supplied usable scores. More importantly, Majesticks did not simply hang around the leaderboard waiting for somebody else to make a mistake. They went to 17-under and made everybody chase them.
For a team that has spent years looking for its first LIV Golf victory, the view from the front must feel rather pleasant.
Now comes the awkward bit: staying there.
