GAINESVILLE, Va. — A 107-minute climate delay late Friday afternoon was the right jumpstart to Bryson DeChambeaus opening spherical at LIV Golf Virginia.
The Crushers GC captain’s first shot after the resumption of play at Robert Trent Jones Golf Membership was a chip-in for eagle on the par-5 14th. He adopted with a birdie on the fifteenth after which chipped in once more for birdie on the sixteenth en path to a 5-under 66 and a share of the lead with Cleeks Golf Membership Captain Martin Kaymer.
“You come again from a rain delay and normally assume you’re going to try to slowly get right into a move,” mentioned DeChambeau, who was 1 underneath and tied for 18th when play was suspended. “I got here out scorching.”
DeChambeau has been scorching all season, with a win at LIV Golf’s most up-to-date occasion in Korea, and top-5 finishes in every of his final 5 begins, together with the season’s first two majors. He’s trying to preserve that type heading into subsequent week’s title protection on the U.S. Open.
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Kaymer, in the meantime, has been in search of a aggressive type for many of this season, with 5 of his seven outcomes exterior the highest 40. However he was strong all day Friday whereas grabbing a share of the lead for the primary time after any LIV Golf spherical since final yr’s opening spherical in Houston. He hit 50% of his fairways, which tied for tenth greatest within the area at a difficult driving course, and he tied for the sphere greatest in placing common.
“I do know I’m ok,” mentioned the two-time main winner, who had two separate streaks of three consecutive birdies Friday. “I do know I can play good golf. I’ve confirmed many, many instances in my profession. However it is advisable proceed hitting fairways, and that was the draw back for me the previous few months. I used to be lacking so many fairways. Immediately, the sport is there.”
The sport was actually there for Ollie Schniederjans in a spectacular efficiency as a reserve participant for RangeGoats GC.
RangeGoats starter Matthew Wolff was compelled to withdraw with an harm after taking part in his first eight holes at even par. Schniederjans instantly took his spot to complete the spherical. His first gap was a birdie on the 18th, and he added two extra birdies and an eagle in his ultimate 9 holes.
The Wolff/Schniederjans rating solely counts for the workforce, however the 67 was the RangeGoats’ greatest rating as they grabbed a two-shot lead within the workforce competitors at 9 underneath. Captain Bubba Watson and teammate Peter Uihlein pitched in with 68s, whereas Ben Campbell shot 72 in his first begin after lacking Korea with a wrist harm.
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Chasing the leaders are six gamers tied at 4 underneath: captains Jon Rahm (Legion XIII), Joaquin Niemann (Torque GC) and Phil Mickelson (HyFlyers GC), together with Smash GC’s Graeme McDowell, Ripper GC’s Marc Leishman and Crushers’ Anirban Lahiri.
“I believe I needs to be happy with how comfy and the way nicely I performed at the moment,” mentioned Rahm, the reigning LIV Golf Particular person Champion.
Mickelson shot his lowest opening spherical relative to par in his final 16 LIV Golf begins as he continues to take pleasure in his greatest type since becoming a member of the league as an authentic member. “I’m having a whole lot of enjoyable,” he mentioned. “It’s actually enjoyable. I’m beginning to play nicely.”
McDowell produced certainly one of simply two bogey-free rounds on the day. “Stable day,” he mentioned. “I’ve been working fairly onerous on my sport the previous few weeks. I’ve actually been feeling it trending in the fitting route.”
Few gamers are trending higher than DeChambeau, who acknowledged that his scorching end was helped by the softer situations after the resumption of play.
“That little chip shot turned a helluva lot simpler for me,” he mentioned of his eagle. “I used to be finding out it earlier than I left. It was like, this seems to be good. Got here out, nonetheless seems to be good. Hit it precisely the place I wished it to land, and it went proper within the frickin’ gap.”
TEAM SCORES
LIV Golf’s new scoring format this season now entails all 4 scores now counting in each spherical within the workforce competitors. Listed here are the outcomes and scores for every workforce after Friday’s Spherical 1 of LIV Golf Virginia.
1. RANGEGOATS GC -9 (Wolff/Schniederjans 67, Watson 68, Uihlein 68, Campbell 72)
T2. CRUSHERS GC -7 (DeChambeau 66, Lahiri 67, Howell III 71, Casey 73)
T2. 4ACES GC -7 (Pieters 68, Reed 68, Johnson 69, Varner III 72)
4. SMASH GC -6 (McDowell 67, Gooch 70, Kokrak 70, Koepka 71)
5. TORQUE GC -3 (Niemann 67, Muñoz 70, Ortiz 71, Pereira 73)
6. CLEEKS GC -1 (Kaymer 66, Meronk 71, Kjettrup 72, Bland 74)
7. STINGER GC E (Burmester 70, Schwartzel 70, Grace 72, Oosthuizen 72)
8. IRON HEADS GC +1 (Lee 69, Jang 70, Kozuma 71, Na 75)
T9. RIPPER GC +3 (Leishman 67, Smith 70, Herbert 75, Jones 75)
T9. LEGION XIII +3 (Rahm 67, Hatton 72, McKibbin 73, Surratt 75)
11. HYFLYERS GC +4 (Mickelson 67, Tringale 70, Steele 72, Ogletree 79)
12. FIREBALLS GC +5 (Ancer 69, Masaveu 71, Ballester 74, Garcia 75)
13. MAJESTICKS GC +12 (Westwood 70, Horsfield 73, Poulter 75, Stenson 78)
Wild Playing cards: Kim 73, C. Lee 75
This piece is courtesy of Mike McAllister in partnership with LIV Golf.
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