Bryson DeChambeau started his day with a 400-yard drive, and he closed with two birdies late in his round.
In between, he showed incredible patience on a Blue Monster course that gets increasingly difficult each day.
As a result, the Crushers GC captain will enter Sunday’s final round of LIV Golf Miami with the lead and a potentially huge momentum boost entering next week’s Masters.
DeChambeau’s two-under 70 in Saturday’s second round at Trump National Doral leaves him at five under and leading by two shots over Fireballs GC Captain Sergio Garcia.
Another stroke back are HyFlyers GC Captain Phil Mickelson, 4Aces GC’s Patrick Reed and Ripper GC’s Marc Leishman.
Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm and defending champion Dean Burmester of Stinger GC are tied for sixth.
South Africa’s Dean Burmester shared sixth position on one under after carding 71, with countryman and Stinger GC teammate Charl Schwartzel’s 75 leaving him a further two strokes behind in a share of ninth.
It’s a stacked leaderboard, appropriate for a course that’s offering the sternest challenge in LIV Golf’s young history.
“What a test of golf out there,” said DeChambeau, the reigning US Open champion who is seeking his third LIV Golf individual title. “This golf course, every single angle just produced the most testing golf shots out there that I’ve seen in a long time.”
Saturday’s field stroke average of 75.111 was more than three strokes above par, making it the second most-difficult round in LIV Golf, exceeded only by round one in 2024 Andalucia (+3.519 over par).
Add Friday’s first round at Doral – the third most difficult day in LIV Golf – and the first two rounds this week have been the hardest 36 holes the league has ever seen.
Consider the team leaderboard: Ripper GC lead with a collective nine over, thanks in large part to Lucas Herbert’s second-round three-under 69, the only individual score shot in the 60s on Saturday. 4Aces GC are second at 11 over, while the Fireballs and Crushers are at 12 over. The last-place Cleeks GC are at 46 over.
No team has ever won a LIV Golf tournament with an over-par score.
“It’s just a difficult golf course,” said Garcia, whose Fireballs are seeking their fourth consecutive tournament title. “It’s the Blue Monster. That’s just not a name; it comes with something. You have to respect it.”
Photo: Mike Stobe/LIV Golf
