Herbert leads in Virginia as Rippers top team leaderboard

Lucas Herbert of Ripper GC lines up a putt on his way to an 8 under 64 and a two-shot lead during the first round of LIV Golf Virginia at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, on Thursday. Image courtesy LIV Golf

From a Correspondent

Sterling, Virginia: Battling an illness earlier this week, Lucas Herbert managed just nine holes of practice, leaving him unfamiliar with half the course prior to teeing off in Thursday’s first round at Maaden LIV Golf Virginia. 

Back problems have also plagued the Australian lately. Meanwhile, some bad habits have crept into his game, resulting in a frustrating stretch of results.

Despite the odds stacked against him, Herbert went out and shot an 8 under par 64 for a two-stroke lead while also fuelling his Ripper GC to a four-stroke advantage on the team leaderboard. 

It’s the first time the 30-year-old has led after any round in his LIV Golf career.

“I don’t know that my expectations could have been any lower than what they were today,” said Herbert, adding, “strangely, here I am sitting here in front of you with a two-shot lead after the first round.”

His expectations may be higher now as he seeks to build on his fast start in search of his first LIV Golf individual title. 

His closest pursuers each have won at least one LIV Golf tournament.

Hot pursuit

They include teammate and Virginia resident Marc Leishman, Fireballs GC captain Sergio Garcia, Legion XIII’s Tyrrell Hatton and Torque GC’s Sebastián Muñoz, each of whom shot 66 at Trump National Washington D.C. on Thursday.

Since he was essentially playing half the course blind, Herbert leaned on caddie Nick Pugh to manage his way around the course that sits on the edge of the Potomac River. 

After two early birdies, Herbert settled into the unfamiliar front nine with an eagle at the par-5 second. A six-hole stretch with five birdies allowed him to move atop the leaderboard.

“It’s a big disadvantage really to have not played the course before you head out there,” Herbert said. 

“It’s not something I would do very often, but in a way, it felt like maybe a little bit of a positive today because my caddie can give me some lines off tees.

“I can occasionally go a little rogue from them if I know the course and feel a little more comfortable left and right of those lines, whereas today I had to stick to those pretty strictly because I didn’t know where I was going.”

New stick

Hatton also was dealing with something unfamiliar – a new putter that replaced the one he’s used since 2024. 

With top-5 finishes in his last two worldwide starts, including his best-ever major result with a T3 at the Masters, the Englishman feels like the change might better allow him to convert those opportunities into wins.

“I’ve been leaving a lot of putts short,” Hatton said. “That’s obviously frustrating. This one comes off a little bit quicker … 

“With it being the first round, you have that nervousness towards is it actually going to be OK? Thankfully, I hit a lot of good putts today.”

Muñoz has struggled for form lately after starting the season with a couple of top 10s. 

He’s hoping to get back to the kind of performer he was at the end of the 2025 season when he shot 59 en route to winning at Indianapolis in the regular-season finale.

“Come back to my senses that I don’t have to do anything extra,” Muñoz said. “Like me being me is good enough.” 

Clear mind

He brought his support team together earlier in the week and said it “kind of cleared my mind in a lot of things to give me the calm and confidence that I’m enjoying today.”

As for Leishman, he’s not surprised to see two Ripper players high up on the leaderboard. 

The all-Australian team remain atop the season-long race after their two early wins and the Trump National course appears to fit their collective game.

“Courses that are more difficult, I think, suit us pretty well, particularly if they’re firm,” Leishman said. “… This is certainly going to get pretty firm over the weekend.”

Bryson’s back

Meanwhile, Bryson DeChambeau returned to action after missing the final round of the previous LIV Golf tournament in Mexico with a wrist injury with a 3 under 69 despite bogeys in two of his first three holes.

“The wrist is feeling better,” said the Crushers captain, who won in Singapore and South Africa on back-to-back weeks. “I’ve had some shoulder stuff since the Ryder Cup. 

“I don’t know what happened. It’s been trained. It’s been treated. We’ve worked on it. We’ve done a bunch of stuff, MRIs. It’s all been fine. It’s been eking at me for quite a while.

“When I won those two events, I was waking up every day, uh-oh, is it going to hurt today? It’s a little bit of overuse. I’m grinding to figure it out. … I’m proud of the way I fought out there not hitting it my best.” (courtesy LIV Golf)

Leaderboards

Individual Top 10

1. (-8) – Lucas Herbert, Ripper (64)

T2 (-6) – Tyrrell Hatton, Legion XIII (66); Sergio Garcia, Fireballs (66); Sebastián Muñoz, Torque (66); Marc Leishman, Ripper (66)

6. (-5) – Graeme McDowell, OKGC (67)

T7 (-4) – Anthony Kim, 4Aces (68); Dean Burmester, Southern Guards (68); Victor Perez, Cleeks (68); Jeongwoo Ham, Wild Card (68)

Team Top 3

1. (-15) – Ripper GC (Herbert 64, Leishman 66, Smylie 71, Smith 72)

2. (-11) – Legion XIII (Hatton 66, Rahm 69, McKibbin 70, Surratt 72)

3. (-9) – Torque GC (Muñoz 66, Niemann 70, Ancer 71, Ortiz 72)

Day 1 stats

Driving Distance: Matthew Wolff, 324.4-yard avg.

Longest Drive: Peter Uihlein, 349.1 yards (12th hole). Official measured drives taken only on holes 2 & 12.

Driving Accuracy: Graeme McDowell, 92.86% (13 of 14)

Greens in Regulation: Talor Gooch, 94.44% (17 of 18)

Scrambling: Lucas Herbert (2 of 2), Paul Casey (2 of 2), Talor Gooch (1 of 1), 100%

Fewest Putts: Adrian Meronk, Louis Oosthuizen, 25

Bogey-free rounds: none

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