Ancer, Fireballs GC hold the early lead at LIV Golf Nashville

Crushers captain Brysin DeChambeau acknowledges his fans on the opening day at The Grove in Nashville, Tennessee. Image courtesy LIV Golf.

From a Correspondent

College Grove, Tennessee: In his first round since winning the US Open, Bryson DeChambeau continued to thrive off the energy of his growing fan base with a 4 under par 67 on Friday at LIV Golf Nashville.
 
Meanwhile, a rejuvenated Abraham Ancer continued to ride the form that’s already led to one LIV Golf victory this season, as he grabbed the first-round lead at The Grove with a bogey-free 7 under 64.
 
With Ancer leading the way, Fireballs GC led the team competition by four shots over DeChambeau’s Crushers GC, with Torque GC another shot back in third.

Anirban Lahiri was a counting score for the Crushers for a good part of his round but two dropped shots in a row saw him run out of momentum and into a share of 20th place on 1 under 70,

The Fireballs, captained by Sergio Garcia, are seeking their first team title this season after tying for second in each of the previous two tournaments.
 
Ancer opened his round with a birdie, and then took the lead on his final nine with four birdies in a five-hole stretch. He finished by getting up-and-down on his last hole to keep his scorecard clean.
 
“Extremely happy the way I fought today,” said Ancer, the winner at LIV Golf Hong Kong earlier this year in a playoff.

“Even the last hole, I put myself in a tough spot and then made a longish putt for par, which was really nice. You don’t want to finish on a bogey.”

Hot putter

One shot back was Legion XIII’s Tyrrell Hatton, the only player this season to finish inside the top 24 in points in each of the first eight tournaments.

Hatton leaned heavily on his putter during a round in which he needed just 24 putts.
 
“The big thing that I was most pleased with today was just the putter,” Hatton said. “Feel like I holed out really well from inside 10 feet.”
 
In solo third is John Catlin, a reserve player who is filling in for injured Crushers veteran Charles Howell III for the second consecutive LIV Golf tournament.

Catlin’s 5 under 66 was highlighted by a stretch of four birdies in five holes around his turn.
 
No reserve player has finished inside the top 5 of a LIV Golf tournament, but Catlin, a 13-time winner in his professional career and currently second in the International Series standings, is confident he can continue to make noise this week.
 
“I feel like if I can go out and play my game, I’m capable of anything,” he said.

The exhausted DeChambeau was in a four-way tie for fourth with Torque’s Sebastián Muñoz, Fireballs’ Eugenio Chacarra and Majesticks GC’s Sam Horsfield.
 
It has been a whirlwind for the Crushers captain after winning his second major with a clutch up-and-down on the 72nd hole at Pinehurst. A media tour in New York followed the next day before he travelled to Nashville.

Dead man walking

“I’m a zombie right now. I’m a dead man walking,” he said.
 
But the crowd support on Friday helped keep him going, and he acknowledged them at every opportunity – including at the par-3 15th party hole when he made birdie, then cupped his ear to hear the fans cheer.

“The crowd have given me a lot of energy,” he said. “Very gracious to have that happen. Man, they’re just pushing me forward. I can’t thank them enough.”
 
Even so, he said there were moments when he stood over putts as the crowd hushed, and he began losing focus.
 
“My head was starting to bob a little bit,” he said. “I’m like ‘Come on, come on.’ I started looking around the crowd and seeing how many people were them and I’m like, ‘I’ve got to go.’

“It was really fun to get back in that mindset and focus super-hard, but there was a few moments out there, for sure.”

“It’s quite an honour to be out here and have so much support,” DeChambeau said. “It’s fantastic. This is what LIV is all about.

“I didn’t know how well I’d do today, but I know my game is in a really good spot. I’m putting well, hitting my irons really well, driving it solid and yeah, gave myself a lot of good chances today. … I’m full-court press to do it again here this week.”

Day 1 counting scores

1. Fireballs GC -14 (Ancer 64, Chacarra 67, Garcia 68)
 
2. Crushers GC -10 (Catlin 66, DeChambeau 67, Casey 70)
 
3. Torque GC -9 (Muñoz 67, Ortiz 68, Pereira 69)
 
4. Legion XIII -8 (Hatton 65, Rahm 70, Surratt 70)
 
5. Majesticks GC -7 (Horsfield 67, Westwood 69, Stenson 70)
 
T6. Stinger GC -4 (Schwartzel 69, Burmester 70, Oosthuizen 70)
 
T6. Ripper GC -4 (Leishman 69, Smith 69, Jones 71)
 
T6. Cleeks GC -4 (Kaymer 68, Bland 70, Samooja 71)
 
9. Iron Heads GC -3 (Na 69, Vincent 69, Kozuma 72)
 
10. Smash GC -2 (Koepka 69, Kokrak 71, Gooch 71)
 
11. HyFlyers GC E (Mickelson 70, Steele 71, Ogletree 72)
 
12. RangeGoats GC +1 (Watson 70, Wolff 72, Uihlein 72)
 
13. 4Aces GC +2 (Varner III 71, Reed 72, Perez 72)

Day 1 stat pack

Driving accuracy: Kevin Na, 100% (14 of 14 fairways hit)
Driving distance: Jon Rahm, 338.4 yards avg.
Longest drive: Joaquin Niemann, 346.1 yards, 18th hole
Greens in regulation: Louis Oosthuizen, 94.44% (17 of 18 greens)
Putting: Eugenio Chacarra, 1.22 putts per hole
Bogey-free rounds: Abraham Ancer (64), Carlos Ortiz (68), Lee Westwood (69)

Also read: US Open in the bag, DeChambeau back to business at Nashville