ROCESTER: Jon Rahm is used to being in contention after most of his rounds at LIV Golf this season. But for the first time since entering the league, he has an absolute lead.
Thanks to a bogey-free 8-under 63, Rahm is two strokes ahead of Abraham Ancer and Andy Ogletree after the first round at JCB's LIV Golf UK. Meanwhile, his Legion XIII tops the team leaderboard by one stroke ahead of Smash GC, HyFlyers GC, and Fireballs GC.
Friday's round was the 29th round Rahm has completed at LIV Golf. He was in the top 5 for 13 of those rounds, including a tie for the lead after the first round in Jeddah.
Six times Rahm has finished in the top 10. He has finished in the top 10 in each of his nine completed tournaments – in Houston he had to withdraw due to a leg infection – and is currently second to Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann in season points.
It's an impressive display of consistency that Rahm hopes will culminate with his first LIV individual golf title this week at JCB Golf & Country Club.
“Obviously not much to say, but good stuff,” said Rahm, who entered the week tied for seventh at The Open Championship, his best major result of the year. “I played really good golf all day. On days like this, it's almost effortless.'
Rahm played in the same group with his teammate and former Ryder Cup partner Tyrrell Hatton along with fellow Legion XIII player Caleb Surratt as the LIV Golf captains were grouped with their top two teammates in the first round.
Not only did Rahm go low — the 8-under score matches his lowest LIV round of golf given par — but Hatton shot a 66 to bounce back from an opening double bogey. The duo powered Legion XIII's 12-under total, which also included a score of 72 from Kieran Vincent. Legion XIII won three team titles during its inaugural season and is second in points behind Crushers GC.
“It was my first time playing with teammates at LIV Golf,” said Rahm, who birdied six of his final nine holes to clear the pack. “I wasn't sure how it would turn out. I was a little curious.”
Hatton said: “We've shared some nice stages over the last few years and we generally get on well when we play together. So it was nice for both of us to play some good golf and have some momentum going into the weekend.”
Ancer, winner of a playoff earlier this year in Hong Kong, finished with success. The Fireballs star birdied four of his last five holes during a superb putting round in which he led the field.
Ogletree's best finish during his first full season of LIV golf is a tie for third in Adelaide. He battled a wrist injury that may have required offseason surgery and forced him to make some adjustments to his swing to ease the pain.
“I've had a lot of days where I've played 13 and 14 really good holes and then held back a little bit,” the HyFlyers member said. “I was in it all day today and played solid golf.
Hatton and Ripper GC Captain Cameron Smith are tied for fourth, while a group of seven players – including Smash GC captain Brooks Koepka and local resident Sam Horsfield of Majesticks GC – are four shots off the lead in tied for sixth.
On a course most players were unfamiliar with and expected to reluctantly surrender low scores, 35 of the 54 players in the field broke par, averaging more than one shot under par.
It was no surprise to Rahm. “You can't say it's surprising when the best players in the world appear on the field,” he said.
Standings and tallies for Friday's opening round:
The top three scores from each team count in the first two rounds, while all four results count in the final round. The team with the lowest cumulative score after three rounds wins the team title.
1. LEGION XIII -12 (Rahm 63, Hatton 66, Vincent 72)
T2. FIREBALLS GC -11 (Ancer 65, Garcia 68, Puig 69)
T2. SMASH GC -11 (Koepka 67, McDowell 67, Gooch 68)
T2. HYFLYERS GC -11 (Ogletree 65, Tringale 67, Mickelson 70)
T5. RIPPER GC -9 (Smith 66, Herbert 69, Jones 69)
T5. RANGEGOATS GC -9 (Wolff 67, Uihlein 68, Watson 69)
7. STINGER GC -8 (Oosthuizen 67, Burmester 68, Schwartzel 70)
8. TORQUE GC -6 (Munoz 68, Niemann 69, Pereira 70)
T9. CRUSHERS GC -5 (Casey 67, Lahiri 69, Catlin 72)
T9. CLEEKS GC -5 (Meronk 68, Bland 69, Samooja 71)
11. MAJESTICKS GC -4 (Horsfield 67, Stenson 70, Westwood 72)
12. 4ACES GC -1 (Varner 69, Johnson 71, Reed 72)
13. IRON HEADS GC Even (Na 70, Vincent 70, Kozuma 73)
