Talor Gooch in action in Adelaide. LIV Golf

The 2023 LIV Golf League season has reached the halfway point. Seven tournaments in the books, seven more to go. Here’s a look at the highly unscientific, totally subjective first-half superlatives. Feel free to disagree.

BEST PLAYER

Talor Gooch. LIV Golf

Talor Gooch (RangeGoats)
Easy choice here. Only player with two individual wins this season. First LIV golfer to post back-to-back wins. First player to shoot 10-under par for a single round — and he did it on consecutive days. Led by 10 strokes through 36 holes in Adelaide. Other players have been more consistent, but no one’s been more spectacular than the current individual points leader.

BEST TEAM

LIV Golf’s 4 Aces — Talor Gooch, Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed and Pat Perez. LIV Golf

4 Aces
Not such an easy choice here. Yes, the 4Aces are the points leaders at the halfway mark, and they have more podium finishes (5) than any other team, including a win in Adelaide. But Torque have two wins and are one of just two teams earning points in each of the first seven tournaments (RangeGoats being the other one). The nod goes to 4 Aces and their consistency, but it’s evident that other teams have raised their game and won’t allow a 2022-type domination.

MOST IMPROVED PLAYER

Scott Vincent. Asian Tour

Scott Vincent (Iron Heads)
Having earned playing privileges due to his success in the International Series last year, the Zimbabwean has emerged as one of the League’s consistent point producers, finishing in the top 24 in six of the first seven events. The highlight came in Singapore when he shot a second-round 62 on his way to a LIV-career best solo fourth. You could argue newcomer Mito Pereira, who has four top-six finishes and is eighth in points. But anyone who saw Mito play in the 2022 PGA Championship shouldn’t be surprised. Vincent finished 46th in points last season and is now 24th against deeper competition.

MOST IMPROVED TEAM

The RangeGoats. LIV Golf

Torque & RangeGoats (tie)
Joaquin Niemann’s Torque and Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats are the two obvious candidates here. Both teams made significant changes in their line-ups from last season (and in the RangeGoats’ case, they also rebranded the team name, while Torque changed its pronunciation to two syllables). Torque’s won twice and have six more points, the RangeGoats have one team win, but three individual winners in Talor Gooch (twice) and Harold Varner III.

BEST NEWCOMER

Iron Heads’ Scott Vincent and Kevin Na congratulate Danny Lee. LIV Golf

Danny Lee (Iron Heads)
Of the six new players added to the LIV Golf League roster this season, Lee hasn’t been as consistent as Mito Pereira, Sebastian Munoz, Dean Burmester and even Brendan Steele, who each have more points. But the South Korean-born Lee, who represents New Zealand, is the only one with a victory, having won a four-man playoff in Tucson with a dramatic birdie putt from off the green. That gave his Iron Heads a chance to celebrate their first trophy of any kind.

BEST SHOTS

Chase Koepka throws his ball into the crowd after his hole-in-one at LIV Golf Adelaide. LIV Golf

TEE SHOT – Chase Koepka’s ace, 12th hole, Adelaide, Round 3
It’s the moment that not only defines the first half of the season but is arguably the most unforgettable shot to date in LIV Golf’s young history. Koepka’s shot at the Watering Hole set off a celebration rarely seen at any golf tournament, and it typified the successful tournament in Australia that has set the standard for Golf But Louder.

APPROACH – Phil Mickelson’s 3rd shot, 7th hole, Singapore, Round 2
Mickelson missed the fairway with his tee shot at the par-5 seventh. Forced to lay up, the HyFlyers captain faced a lengthy third shot … which he holed for eagle. The shot gave Mickelson the solo lead, and though he slipped out of the top 10 by the end of the tournament, it was another reminder that Lefty has plenty of magic left in his bag.

BUNKER – Harold Varner III’s hole-out, 11th hole, DC, Round 3
Tied with Branden Grace at the top of the leaderboard with eight holes left, Varner faced a delicate shot from the greenside bunker at the 11th. He popped the ball up to catch the green just beyond the fringe with just enough spin to head right toward the pin. The birdie was the key moment in Varner’s win in DC.

PUTT – Danny Lee’s playoff putt, 18th hole, Tucson
In just his second LIV Golf start, Lee ended the four-man playoff with a spectacular putt on the third playoff hole from off the green, a ball that bounced through the fringe and clanged the flagstick before dropping into the cup. Lee thrust both his arms in the air to celebrate his first win of any kind. Arlo White’s call on the broadcast was both rhythmic and sublime: “Danny Lee. Goodness me!”

BEST PERFORMANCES

4 Aces’ Dustin Johnson and Pat Perez. LIV Golf

INDIVIDUAL – Talor Gooch in Adelaide
Gooch’s domination in the first two rounds gave him a 10-shot lead — hard to fathom after just 36 holes. He came back to the pack in the final round, with his advantage whittled to two strokes at one point. But he made quality shots when needed to win the first of his back-to-back titles.

TEAM – 4 Aces in Adelaide
As dominant as Gooch’s performance was on the individual leaderboard, you could argue that the 4 Aces’ effort in Australia was even more so. All four Aces finished inside the top 10 that week — Patrick Reed and Pat Perez among four players tied for third, Peter Uihlein among three players tied for seventh, and Dustin Johnson in solo 10th. That all-four-inside-top-10 had never happened in any previous LIV Golf tournament. And yet, the Aces still won by only one stroke over the RangeGoats, a testament to how well Gooch played that week.

BEST ROUNDS

Harold Varner III. LIV Golf

INDIVIDUAL – Harold Varner III’s nine-under 61, Tulsa, Round 3
It’s not the lowest round relative to par this season — Gooch’s twin 10-under 62s in Adelaide remain the standard there. But through 14 holes that Sunday at Cedar Ridge, Varner was on pace to shoot not only 59, but lower. He eagled two of his first four holes, was five-under at that point and 10-under after finishing his first 14 holes. He ended the round with three pars and a bogey to tie for lowest score in LIV history.

TEAM – Crushers’ 20-under, Singapore, Round 3
From a counting score standpoint, it’s the second best score this season, with the RangeGoats counting for 23-under in the second round at Adelaide. But several teams went super-low that day. In Singapore, the Crushers were seven strokes better than the next team counting score, thanks to twin 63s by Charles Howell III and Paul Casey, and a 67 by Anirban Lahiri. It wasn’t enough to grab the team trophy, as the Crushers started the day tied for ninth on the leaderboard, but the final-day rally did put Bryson DeChambeau’s squad on the podium with a third-place finish.