Low scores mark LIV Golf Hong Kong first day as field overpowers course

CAPTION:Enthusiastic crowds followed the field on day one of the event at the storied Hong Kong Golf Club on Friday. Image courtesy livgolf.com.

Such was the strength of the 2023 and Jeddah team champions’ scoring on day one of LIV Golf Hong Kong  that India star Anirban Lahiri’s 4 under par 66 was not even needed for Crushers GC who were comfortably perched in second place on the leaderboard on Friday.

In the individual standings, Lahiri held a share of 11th place alongside team mate Paul Casey and five others as South African Dean Burmester lead the pack on 7 under 63 alongside Mexico’s Abraham Ancer at the Hong Kong Golf Club, that was founded in 1899.

The 6,710-yard layout was overpowered by the 54-strong field asjust 10 scores above par were logged through the day with six-time major winner Phil Mickelson bringing up the rear. Burmester’s all-South African Stinger GC topped the team leaderboard with a 16 under par counting aggregate.

For the first two days, the best three scores of each four-member team countstowards the total and on the final day, no score is omitted.

At Jeddah, the Stingers let slip a seven-shot lead and watched the Crushers overturn a 11-stroke deficit on the run to the winning post. This time, the South Africans look determined to make amends. Led by Burmester’s 63, the Stingers led by one shot. But a familiar nemesis was sitting just one shot behind, the Crushers, who fired a record-setting 20 under run to take the Jeddah victory.

“It was obviously a tough pill to swallow,” Burmester said. “I saw Bryson in the locker room, and I used some language. But all in good spirits. I was like, damn, you guys are tough to beat. …We had a good week last week and the Crushers did something crazy on Sunday, but I see they're right behind us again. Hopefully we can do something to them this week.”

Burmester and Fireballs GC’s Ancer were a stroke ahead of a six-man chasing pack that included Burmester’s captain Louis Oosthuizen, Crushers’ Charles Howell III, Fireballs GC’s Eugenio Chacarra, 4Aces GC’s Harold Varner III, Ripper GC’s Matt Jones and Cleeks GC captain Martin Kaymer, whose 64 is his lowest score in a LIV Golf tournament.

Crushers captain Bryson DeChambeau and Smash GC skipper Brooks Koepka were a further stroke behind as the course bowed to the power-packed lineup but for a brief while when the winds shifted late in the afternoon.

Worst hit was Masters champion and Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm, who was 6 under and tied for the lead with three holes left when he went into the rough off the tee on the par-4 18th hole, had to hit a provisional and ultimately took a triple-bogey to drop him down the leaderboard into a tie for 18th at 3 under.Still, a total of 44 players shot par or better.

“It’s crazy, right? said Crushers star Howell, one of seven players to produce an error-free round. “Never thought that, how low the scores are with this golf course. It’s a testament to the strength of the field and how good these guys are really are.”

“I feel like sometimes when I show up to a golf course that stat-wise I should be very good at, sometimes I don't have a really good tournament,” added Ancer, who owns a share of the lead for the first time at a LIV event. “I feel like I put expectations and things don't go my way, I try to be too perfect and stuff like that. 

“I just said, I'm going to go with a fresh mindset, I'm going to go and think this golf course is the worst for me and I've got to figure it out and be on point in every single shot, and I think I did a good job with that. I didn't really get too caught up on ‘I need to play really good here because it suits my game.’ I just went out there and had a good time and played some good golf.”

Burmester almost didn’t play at all. He fell ill earlier in this week, and was nauseous on Tuesday that preventing him from practicing. Oosthuizen was also sick, but both managed to make the Friday start. Burmester said it reminded him of the stomach bug he suffered last December at the South African Open when he was throwing up on the course and nearly withdrew. He finished that week by winning the tournament. “Seems to be every time I get ill, I seem to play OK,” Burmester said, “so that's great news.”

First round scores1. Stinger GC -16 (Burmester 63, Oosthuizen 64, Grace 67)2. Crushers GC -15 (Howell III 64, DeChambeau 65, Casey 66)T3. Fireballs GC -12 (Ancer 63, Chacarra 64, Garcia 71)T3. Cleeks GC -12 (Kaymer 64, Bland 66, Meronk 68)5. Ripper GC -11 (Jones 64, Smith 67. Leishman 68)6. 4Aces GC -10 (Varner III 64, Reed 67, Perez 69)7. Torque GC -9 (Muñoz 66, Niemann 67, Ortiz 68)T8. Smash GC -7 (Koepka 65, Gooch 69, McDowell 69)T8. Majesticks GC -7 (Stenson 66, Poulter 66, Horsfield 71)T10. Iron Heads GC -6 (Na 67, Vincent 67, Lee 70)T10. Legion XIII -6 (Rahm 67, Hatton 68, Vincent 69)12. HyFlyers GC -5 (Tringale 66, Ogletree 69, Steele 70)13. RangeGoats GC -4 (Wolff 67, Watson 68, Pieters 71)ENDS