ROCESTER, England – On a picture-perfect day at JCB Golf & Country Club, LIV Golf individual points leader Joaquin Niemann raced out to the first-round co-lead, firing a 6-under, bogey-free 65. The Torque GC captain made six birdies to give himself a tie for the lead heading into Round 2 on Saturday.
Niemann finished tied for second at LIV Golf UK by JCB last year, only one shot behind winner Jon Rahm. With a new caddie and refocused approach after his disappointing missed cut at The Open Championship, the six-time LIV Golf winner bounced back nicely on Friday.
Sitting alongside Niemann at 6-under are Adrian Meronk of Cleeks Golf Club and Branden Grace of Stinger GC. The start for Meronk is a fantastic sign; he hasn’t had a top-14 finish since LIV Golf Adelaide in February. Grace is rounding into form after he had the best finish of his season at Valderrama two weeks ago (T4).
Lee Westwood, after a strong performance at The Open Championship, ignited a strong start for Majesticks GC at JCB, who urgently needed the boost. Westwood shot a 5-under 66, which puts him in a log jam with two other players in a tie for fourth. Sam Horsfield (3-under 68), Ian Poulter (even-par 71) and Henrik Stenson (1-under 70) all played steady golf for the Majesticks, who are in fifth place on the team leaderboard in their home event as they look for their first podium finish since 2022, the league’s inaugural season.
ADVERTISEMENT
RangeGoats GC Captain Bubba Watson and Carlos Ortiz of Torque GC are tied with Westwood in fourth place. Behind them are a duo of Englishmen at 4-under, Paul Casey of Crushers GC and Tyrrell Hatton of Legion XIII. Both Casey and Hatton finished in the top five at JCB last season. Casey, who let the lead slip away in that event, expressed a desire for payback to the course after LIV Golf Dallas, saying, “I think there’s kind of unfinished business around there.”
Ortiz’s strong start alongside his captain has catapulted Torque GC to a three-way the top of the team leaderboard at 11-under as the team seeks their first win since LIV Golf Greenbrier in 2023. Legion XIII was fueled by 4-under 67s for Hatton and Caleb Surratt, along with a 3-under 68 from Tom McKibbin. Surprisingly, the fast start for Legion XIII came despite a slow start for Rahm, who shot an even-par 71. Tied with Torque GC and Legion XIII is Stinger GC, who were led by the resurgent Grace.
JCB Golf & Country Club played receptively on Friday, with a course scoring average of –1.27. However, the final stretch of hole Nos. 15-18 was very difficult, as all four played over par. Outside of Nos. 15-18, the only other hole to play over par was the sixth, which played as the most difficult hole on the course (+0.33).
TEAM SCORES
LIV Golf’s new scoring format this season now involves all four scores now counting in every round in the team competition. Here are the scores and final results after Friday’s Round 1 at LIV Golf UK.
T1. LEGION XIII -11 (Hatton 67, Surratt 67, McKibbin 68, Rahm 71)
T1. STINGER GC -11 (Grace 65, Schwartzel 68, Burmester 69, Oosthuizen 71)
T1. TORQUE GC -11 (Niemann 65, Ortiz 66, Muñoz 71, Pereira 71)
4. RIPPER GC -10 (Leishman 67, Smith 68, Herbert 69, Jones 70)
5. MAJESTICKS GC -9 (Westwood 66, Horsfield 68, Stenson 70, Poulter 71)
6. HYFLYERS GC -6 (Tringale 68, Ogletree 69, Mickelson 70, Steele 71)
T7. CLEEKS GC -5 (Meronk 65, Bland 71, Kaymer 71, Kjettrup 72)
T7. RANGEGOATS GC -5 (Watson 66, Campbell 70. Wolff 71, Uihlein 72)
T7. CRUSHERS GC -5 (Casey 67, DeChambeau 68, Howell III 68, Lahiri 76)
10. FIREBALLS GC -3 (Puig 68, Ballester 70, Garcia 71, Ancer 72)
T11. 4ACES GC E (Reed 68, Pieters 70, Varner III 72, Johnson 74)
T11. SMASH GC E (Gooch 70, Kokrak 70, Koepka 72, McDowell 72)
13. IRON HEADS GC +2 (Jang 69, Kozuma 72, Lee 72, Na 73)
Wild Cards: Kim 72, C. Lee 75
This piece is courtesy of Mike McAllister in partnership with LIV Golf.
Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.
recommended
Get more from the LIV Golf Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
