Two LIV golfers make aces in opening round of South Korea event, each coming with this twist

Hours after LIV Golf announced a new pay-TV deal across Asia, two of its players made holes-in-one within an hour of each other at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club on Day 1 of its debut tournament LIV Golf Korea.

In a strange twist, both ace makers—Dean Burmester and Marc Leishman—had double-bogeyed their opening holes.

The first hole-in-one came via South African Burmester, who struck a smooth 7-iron at the 204-yard par-3 13th at the Nicklaus Club, which hosted the 2015 Presidents Cup. Because of an initiative from Kolon Motors, a tournament sponsor for LIV Golf Korea, a fan received the BMW 520i on display behind the tee box. First-round attendees were able to vote for the LIV team that they believed would bag a hole-in-one, and Burmester chose the winner on the post-show broadcast.

“A hole-in-one and an eagle in one day, that doesn’t happen very often,” Burmester told reporters. “It was a 7-iron that was pitch perfect with that upslope on the green. That's when the excitement happens. I [almost] felt like going for a swim [in the water hazard].” Burmester said this was the fifth of his career and second in the last five months having made one on an Asian Tour’s International Series last fall.

Burmester, whose career wins include one on the LIV circuit and four on the DP World Tour, then birdied his next hole after the ace and holed-out for eagle at the par-5 18th during a four-under-par 68. He was three shots behind joint leaders Bryson DeChambeau and Talor Gooch at seven-under 65.

For Leishman, who won his first LIV title at Doral in Miami in March after six career PGA Tour victories, it was his fourth ace in competition. The Australian had made double at his opening hole, the 11th, but at the 172-yard par-3 fifth he drew a short iron over water and into the hole. Leishman finshed the day with a one-under 71.

Prior to the beginning of the first round, LIV also announced a live broadcast partnership with KC Global Media. The Singapore-based company said it would show LIV Golf events this season on AXN—a pay-TV channel owned by KC Media—“to sports fans in more than 94 million homes” in 19 countries across Asia. Those countries include India, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. LIV Golf is the first live sport to be aired on AXN Sports, a new programming block of the company.

George Chien, Co-founder, CEO, and President of KC Global Media, said that “the launch of AXN Sports as a dedicated programming block for more live sports content marks a significant milestone.”

The Asia broadcast partnership comes after LIV began showing its tournaments on Fox Sports in the U.S. at the beginning of the 2025 season. Ratings, however, for the FOX broadcasts have been disappointing; last weekend it was reported that FS1, Fox’s cable arm, averaged 100,000 viewers during the final round of the LIV Golf Mexico event after having 84,000 during Saturday’s second round and 30,000 on FS2 during Friday’s opening round.