Home favorite Southern Guards GC enters the weekend at LIV Golf South Africa in contention for both the team and individual titles but will need to outlast a stacked leaderboard if the all-South African lineup hopes to leave Steyn City with either one of the highly coveted trophies. \u00a0
As a team, the Southern Guards are in solo second, two shots behind Torque GC. Individually, Branden Grace is tied for second, two shots behind Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau, the 36-hole leader seeking his second consecutive LIV Golf individual title. Grace’s teammate Dean Burmester is tied for fourth, another shot back.
“This is exactly where I want to be going into the weekend,” Grace said. “Coming in, I know tomorrow is going to be even more electrifying than today \u2013 and we’re ready.”
DeChambeau began the day in a tie for the lead with teammate Charles Howell III but quickly took control with a spectacular eagle at the par-4 first. He was 5 under through his first five holes, looking as if he may run away with the tournament.\u00a0
But last week’s Singapore winner cooled off, playing his next 10 holes at even par before finishing with a tap-in birdie on the par-5 18th. DeChambeau’s 6-under 65 stretched his score to 14-under for the week, with Grace and Fireballs GC’s David Puig his closest pursuers at 12 under.\u00a0
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Through birdies and bogeys, DeChambeau is soaking in the experience in LIV Golf’s first trip to the African continent, as well as his own personal initial visit to South Africa.
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“Making birdies and playing great golf matters, and I still get frustrated and disappointed when things don’t go my way,” he said. “But I look back on it ultimately when I give a fist bump or a high five, that weighs a lot more on me, and I think it’s really cool to see that we’re doing this around the globe, especially here in South Africa.”\u00a0
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Grace shot a 5-under 66, riding hot irons and a steady putter to a strong round that included six birdies and only one bogey.\u00a0\u00a0
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Grace, who\u00a0didn’t\u00a0have the opportunity to tee it up on the first hole on Thursday, got a taste of what his teammates Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel felt in such an important moment for the Southern Guards.\u00a0He was in the final group with DeChambeau on Friday and will join him again \u2013 along with Puig \u2013 in the final group Saturday.
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“Louis and\u00a0[teammates]\u00a0told me last night … listen, get yourself ready because\u00a0you’ve\u00a0not experienced anything like that. It was that and better,”\u00a0said\u00a0Grace.\u00a0
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“I got a little\u00a0teared\u00a0up there\u00a0on\u00a0the first hole.\u00a0It’s\u00a0a very special\u00a0week for us.\u00a0We’ve\u00a0dreamt of bringing the LIV Golf event here to South Africa, and we bought into this thing from day one. We believe in the product. We believe in the league, and we believe in all the players here, and we believe in where\u00a0we’re\u00a0going.”\u00a0\u00a0
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Puig went low, shooting a 7-under 64, tied for the low round of the day with Southern Guards’ Dean Burmester to get into a tie for second alongside Grace.\u00a0The Spaniard is looking for his first LIV Golf victory.\u00a0
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“I’ve been in this position before,” Puig said. “Never\u00a0kind of got\u00a0it done, but\u00a0I’ve\u00a0felt that\u00a0I’m\u00a0working on the right things, and I feel\u00a0I’m\u00a0ready.\u00a0I’m\u00a0pretty pumped, excited, and going to give it my best for the next two days.”\u00a0
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While\u00a0DeChambeau owns the 36-hole lead and Grace enters Saturday as the\u00a0closest South African\u00a0chaser, it was Burmester who stole the show and electrified the home crowd after each of his multiple great shots and holed putts.\u00a0It was especially true when he donned the just-released jersey of South African’s Bafana Bafana soccer team at the par-3 17th, then nearly walked in a hole-in-one.
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“I’m having a hell of a lot of fun, I’m not going to lie,” said the affable Burmester. “It’s\u00a0incredible the reception that\u00a0we’ve\u00a0all got.\u00a0I’m\u00a0sure all four of us have\u00a0got. I walk on every tee box, walking down every fairway to every green,\u00a0they’re\u00a0all shouting my name … \u00a0It’s\u00a0hard not to smile out there;\u00a0I’m\u00a0not going to lie.”\u00a0\u00a0
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The South African crowd is clearly cheering on their Southern Guards as well as the beloved DeChambeau, but\u00a0after shooting a 5-under 66, Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm is poised to make his presence known this weekend. Rahm has now\u00a0played two rounds without making a single bogey and is three shots back\u00a0of\u00a0DeChambeau’s lead at 11-under.\u00a0\u00a0
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Tied with Rahm are\u00a0both Abraham Ancer, who shot a 6-under 65 and Howell III,\u00a0who shot a 3-under 68.\u00a0Overall, there are 11 players within four shots of the lead.\u00a0
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The Southern Guards rode adrenaline to the first-round lead but now find themselves two shots back\u00a0of\u00a0Torque at the halfway stage. Torque\u00a0was led\u00a0a trio of 6-under 6’s from Ancer, Joaquin Niemann and Carlos Ortiz.\u00a0\u00a0
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Burmester and Grace paced the Southern Guards as Louis Oosthuizen shot a 3-under 68 and Charl Schwartzel carded a 1-under 70 as he continues to battle through back spasms.\u00a0\u00a0
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Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs are another stroke back, while DeChambeau’s Crushers lurk in fourth. The most popular non-South African this week looks forward to the final 36 holes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It really did feel like Sunday out there already, and it’s only Friday,” DeChambeau said. “I can’t wait to see what the weekend brings. But this atmosphere is something that I want to play in a lot more, and I know we can do that across the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“But this place is just a special place. It’s exceeded my expectations.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TOP OF THE LEADERBOARDS<\/strong> STATS LEADERS<\/strong> Home favorite Southern Guards GC enters the weekend at LIV Golf South Africa in contention for both the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10779,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[58],"class_list":["post-10778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-golf"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Dean-Burmester.jpg",2145,1430,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Dean-Burmester-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Dean-Burmester-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Dean-Burmester-768x512.jpg",640,427,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Dean-Burmester-1024x683.jpg",640,427,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Dean-Burmester-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Dean-Burmester-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Dean-Burmester-825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Dean-Burmester-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Newsbeat<\/a>","tag_info":"Newsbeat","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Dean-Burmester.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10778"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10780,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10778\/revisions\/10780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Individual Top 10<\/strong>\u00a0
\u00a0
1\u00a0(-14)\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013\u00a0Bryson DeChambeau, Crushers (63-65)\u00a0
\u00a0
T2\u00a0(-12)<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Branden Grace, Southern Guards (64-66);\u00a0David Puig, Fireballs (66-64)\u00a0
\u00a0
T4\u00a0(-11)<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Jon Rahm, Legion XIII (65-66);\u00a0Dean Burmester,\u00a0Southern Guards\u00a0(67-64);\u00a0Abraham Ancer, Torque\u00a0(66-65); Charles Howell III, Crushers\u00a0(63-68)\u00a0
\u00a0
T8\u00a0(-10)<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Talor Gooch,\u00a0Smash\u00a0(65-67);\u00a0Joaquin\u00a0Niemann, Torque\u00a0(67-65);\u00a0Carlos Ortiz,\u00a0Torque\u00a0(67-65); Richard Bland, Cleeks (66-66)\u00a0
\u00a0
Team Top 3<\/strong>\u00a0
\u00a0
1 (-36)\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 Torque GC\u00a0(Ancer\u00a066-65,\u00a0Niemann\u00a067-65,\u00a0Ortiz\u00a067-65,\u00a0Mu\u00f1oz 70-67; Rd. 2 score: -22)\u00a0
\u00a0
2 (-34)<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Southern Guards\u00a0GC\u00a0(Grace\u00a064-66,\u00a0Burmester\u00a067-64,\u00a0Oosthuizen\u00a069-68,\u00a0Schwartzel 66-70: Rd. 2 score: -16)\u00a0
\u00a0
3\u00a0(-33)<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Fireballs\u00a0GC\u00a0(Puig 66-64, Ballester 69-65,\u00a0Garcia\u00a064-70,\u00a0Masaveu\u00a070-67: Rd. 2 score: -18)\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Round\u00a02<\/strong>\u00a0
\u00a0
Driving Distance:<\/strong>\u00a0Matthew Wolff, 341.1-yard avg.\u00a0
\u00a0
Longest Drive:<\/strong>\u00a0Peter Uihlein, 359.8\u00a0yards (15th hole)\u00a0
\u00a0
Driving Accuracy:<\/strong>\u00a0Abraham Ancer,\u00a0100% (14\u00a0of 14)\u00a0
\u00a0
Greens in Regulation:<\/strong>\u00a0Branden Grace, Brendan Steele,\u00a088.89% (16\u00a0of 18)\u00a0
\u00a0
Scrambling:<\/strong>\u00a010\u00a0players tied at 100%, led by Josele\u00a0Ballester\u00a0(8\u00a0of\u00a08)\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0
Fewest\u00a0Putts:<\/strong>\u00a0Josele\u00a0Ballester, 23\u00a0
\u00a0
Bogey-free rounds:<\/strong>\u00a0Dean Burmester\u00a0(64), Carlos Ortiz\u00a0(65),\u00a0Josele\u00a0Ballester\u00a0(65),\u00a0Jon Rahm\u00a0(66),\u00a0Brendan Steele\u00a0(66),\u00a0Thomas Pieters\u00a0(67),\u00a0Talor Gooch (67),\u00a0Bubba Watson\u00a0(67),\u00a0Phil Mickelson\u00a0(67)\u00a0
\u00a0
Cumulative<\/strong>\u00a0
\u00a0
Driving Distance:\u00a0<\/strong>Matthew Wolff, 337.2-yard avg.\u00a0
\u00a0
Driving Accuracy:\u00a0<\/strong>Abraham Ancer,\u00a0Ben Campbell\u00a092.86% (26\u00a0of 28)\u00a0
\u00a0
Greens in Regulation:\u00a0<\/strong>Branden Grace,\u00a091.67% (33\u00a0of 36)\u00a0
\u00a0
Scrambling:\u00a0<\/strong>Richard Bland (8 of 8),\u00a0Jon Rahm (7 of 7)\u00a0100%\u00a0
\u00a0
Fewest Putts:\u00a0<\/strong>Bryson DeChambeau,\u00a0Charles Howell,\u00a051\u00a0
\u00a0
Fewest bogeys:\u00a0<\/strong>Jon Rahm, 0.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"