Johnson, Garcia come back to life

Writing from Bolingbrook, Illinois

Friday, August 8, 2025

Remember Dustin Johnson? How about Sergio Garcia?

Those erstwhile stars now ply their trade on the LIV golf circuit, which has rumbled into the Chicago area – Bolingbrook Golf Club, to be specific – this week for the fourth time in as many years. Friday, both players brought back memories of their best days on the PGA Tour, each scoring 4-under-par 67 to share the lead after the first of three rounds on the sturdy municipal layout.

Johnson, who captured the 2010 BMW Championship / Western Open at Cog Hill and last won at LIV’s Las Vegas stop 18 months ago, scattered six birdies across his card, offset by a pair of bogeys, to get to a share of the lead late in the round. The 41-year-old sees room for improvement in his game.

“I hit a lot of really good iron shots and drove it halfway decent,” Johnson said. “It’s close. It only takes a couple of shots here or there.”

Garcia, the world traveler from Spain first seen chasing after Tiger Woods in the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah, most recently triumphing in Hong Kong in March and lately falling out of form, survived a scare on the par-4 15th, his 16th hole, shanking a wedge but saving bogey after a run of four straight birdies and eight birds overall.

“A tricky day out there,” Garcia said. “It was good to be able to hit the right numbers (on approaches) most of the day. I’m happy with my round.”

Speaking of memory lane, remember Phil Mickelson?

The lefty? The phenom who took forever to win a major, then won his sixth, the 2021 PGA, after he’d turned 50?

That Phil Mickelson? The one who then jump-started golf’s civil war by signing with LIV for a king’s ransom and opening the door to similar riches for many of his peers? And who, four years in, hasn’t won on the rebel circuit?

Yep, that Phil Mickelson. Well, the 55-year-old led for a long time Friday thanks to a string of four straight birdies before back-to-back bogeys on the 17th and 18th, his 16th and 17th holes, derailed his chance to lead outright or share it. But at 3-under 68, it’s his best start since a 4-under 67 at LIV’s stop at Robert Trent Jones Golf Course in Virginia Beach. He sees the end of the season – there’s one individual tournament after this one, then the team championship, the same week as the PGA Tour Championship at East Lake – as an opportunity to salvage his year.

“This is a hard golf course, and with the (16 mph) wind, it can be challenging,” Mickelson said. “I was fortunate to make some birdies. It’s got a mixture of fun birdie holes and really difficult pars.” 

Mickelson is among a sixsome of players at 3-under, a gaggle including Bryon DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Terrell Hatton. All could have had better rounds but for a miscue. Hatton, by his reactions on the green, thought he should have scored 57 or so. Every missed putt was greeted with a look of shock.

The average age of the eight players at 67 and 68 is 38.25. Experience pays in LIV golf.

Then there was Joaquin Niemann, who was allergic to fairways in the opening round. A five-time winner this year, Niemann was 4-over though eight holes thanks to a bogey on the par-5 third and a triple-bogey 7 on No. 7. He rallied a bit and birdied the last to come in at 3-over 74, one of 27 players over par.

Fox in the henhouse

LIV touted its move from CW to Fox as a boon to larger ratings this year, but it really hasn’t worked out that way. Part of the problem may be the variety of times and the need to change channels. LIV uses the shotgun format to, in theory, get everyone in the field on television, but all three days at Bolingbrook are split between broadcast network Fox and either cable channel FS1 or FS2, the latter of which in in fewer homes.

Friday’s broadcast started at 11 a.m. and went from FS1 to Fox at 1 p.m. Saturday starts on Fox at noon and switches to FS2 at 2 p.m. Sunday starts on FS2 at 9 a.m. and moves to Fox at 11 a.m., but in Chicago there’s a twist. Fox-owned WFLD has the Bears preseason opener on Sunday, so the Fox portion of the final round will be on WPWR-TV 50. (And the IndyCar race on Fox apparently won’t be seen in Chicago until it airs on tape on FS1 at 7 p.m.).

Around Bolingbrook

Word on the street is 18,000 tickets have been sold for Saturday. … High man for the day was Anthony Kim, whose 11-over 82 included six bogeys, a double-bogey and a triple-bogey.

– Tim Cronin