Paul Casey leads the way at LIV Golf Hong Kong, his Crushers share team lead as well 

Defending team champions Crushers GC powered by Paul Casey’s league-leading 7 under par 63 shared the day one lead at LIV Golf Hong Kong on Friday raising the Englishman’s hopes of winning at a city he has not yet tasted success. 

Casey received good support at the par-70 Hong Kong Golf Club from team captain Bryson DeChambeau (66) and Charles Howell III (67) while Crushers India star Anirban Lahiri was the only over-par member of the team with his 72. 

Sitting three shots behind his league-leading teammate in a share of eighth place, DeChambeau has his sights set on a win. “I’m happy for Paul being at 7 under, but I’m going to come kick his ass here by the end of the week,” he said with a smile. The long-hitting Crushers captain, however, knows he has to dial in his short game on a course he called an iron-players’ paradise.  

“My wedges are not great right now. I've got to figure that out. There are a lot of holes you can get after it, but you've got to have your iron play just on point. If it's not, you're going to get penalized,” DeChambeau said, adding “It wasn't terrible, obviously, but I just have higher expectations for myself. I just continue to work. I've got to keep working. It's obviously not fully there yet.” 

The Crushers shared the team lead with Joaquin Neimann’s Torque GC on 12 under while Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC were just one stroke in their wake. Sebastian Munoz and Garcia led the scoring with matching 5 under 65 for Torque and the Fireballs respectively. 

At the top though, it was all about the globe-trotting Casey, who has won 21 times around the world in 13 countries but never in Hong Kong, though he did come within touching distance last year before bowing out of a four-way playoff. “I’ve always been a global traveller and enjoyed the challenge of trying to tick another country off on the win list,” said the 47-year-old later. 

“It’s something that always kind of excited me, to win around golf courses with a history that is iconic. So, you can be assured that I’m trying very hard this week because I’d love to add this one to the list. 

“Hong Kong is one of those cities where I would come back here in a heartbeat just to visit and travel to and experience. That's part of it. Sometimes you need the whole package to kind of give you that vibe for the week.” On Friday, Casey almost repeated history by going into the water at the Par-4 18th which he had bogeyed in the 2024 playoff to be eliminated. This time, he was in the drink again with his approach shot but holed his chip shot to walk away with a par. 

“It (hole 18) has got our full respect every time we play it,” Casey said. “So to find the water, take a drop and chip in for par was huge.” 

In the six-way tie for second place were team captains Garcia and Martin Kaymer of Cleeks GC besides Peter Uihlein of the RangeGoats, Fireballs rookie Luis Masaveu, Muñoz and wild card player Chieh-Po Lee of Taipei, who won the LIV Golf Promotions to earn his slot. 

Muñoz came close to winning his first LIV Golf individual title at the season opener in Riyadh before tying for second place and on Friday, quickly overcame an opening bogey with five birdies on the trot. 

“Even though I started with a bogey, with a three-putt, I didn't let it bother me. I just gave myself chances and made the first one on 17, and then just kind of went on a roll for a little bit there,” Munoz said after opening round on March 7.