Burmester leads at LIV Golf Andalucia, Lahiri is T4 with Garcia

LIV Golf’s sole India star Anirban Lahiri was one of just seven players bringing in sub-par scores on a tough opening day of LIV Golf Andalucia at Valderrama on Friday. image courtesy X.

From a Correspondent

Sotogrande, Spain: Real Club Valderrama bared its teeth in Friday’s first round of LIV Golf Andalucía, making it the toughest scoring day in the league’s young history. 

Dean Burmester shot a 5 under par 66 for a one-shot advantage while leading Stinger GC to the top of the team leaderboard, but even the South African wasn’t sure how he managed the low score. 

“Valderrama is some place,” said Burmester, the individual winner earlier this season in Miami on another difficult course, Doral’s Blue Monster. “… I don’t know how I shot 5 under, to be honest with you.” 

Danny Lee of the Iron Heads was second a stroke behind Burmester with Fireballs member Eugenio Chacarra in third on 3 under 68.

Anirban Lahiri rode a rollercoaster round into a share of fourth place alongside Sergio Garcia, marking his card with five birdies against three dropped shots.

All three bogeys came in the finishing stretch though the Crushers GC player did pick up a shot on his closing eighth hole for a 2 under 69 on a tough day.

Chosen few

The Indian star was one of just seven in the 54-strong field who finished Friday were under par, the fewest amount in a single round of any LIV Golf regular-season tournament.

The field stroke average of 3.519 over par, with five players shooting 80 or higher, was the highest for any of LIV Golf’s 88 regular-season rounds.

Collectively, the field was 190 over, and just one hole played under par, the par-5 11th. 

Gusting winds reaching nearly 20 mph from a direction that was different than the practice days required players to throw their game plans out the window. The winds also dried the greens, creating firm putting surfaces. 

Fireballs GC captain Garcia, who has the most experience at Spain’s most celebrated golf course in the field, told fellow Spaniard and playing partner Jon Rahm early in their round that Valderrama was “showing some teeth today. Probably not the whole mouth but definitely the teeth.” 

Replied the Legion XIII captain: “Some teeth? I think it’s more than that.” 

Small slip

Rahm, making his first home start since joining LIV Golf in the offseason, shot a 2 over 73 on a day in which he said he made just one mistake, misjudging his putt on the 13th hole, leading to a three-putt bogey.  

“I feel like I played really good,” said Rahm, in an eight-way tie for 16th. “The scores on this golf course a lot of times are worse than it feels like.” 

Rahm’s round didn’t end the way he wanted, with a double bogey at the par-5 17th when he found the water with his approach shot, then a missed birdie putt on the 18th.

But he was appreciative of the support on every hole. 

“It’s always fun to be back home and be with the home crowd. It’s always a joy to have this many people supporting me all day.

“Just too bad I couldn’t finish it a little bit better for them. I wanted that last putt to go in so bad. It was a really good putt.” 

Garcia was one of the seven players under par, shooting a 69 to share fourth place with Lahiri.

 Fireballs teammate Chacarra was one stroke better as his game continues to improve after a tie for third at last week’s International Series Morocco. 

“My goal for today was to play smart golf,” Chacarra said. “I know my game is there.” 

The Fireballs, with three Spanish players on their roster, are at 2 under and in second place on the team leaderboard, two shots behind the Stingers. 

Overcoming odds

The closest pursuer to Burmester was Lee of the Iron Heads who has struggled for results having started the week ranked 45th in points.  

“Definitely a sign that I’m moving in the right direction,” said Lee, whose goal is to finish the regular season inside the top 24 to lock up playing privileges for 2025. 

For Burmester, the key to survival on Friday was his putter. He needed just 21 putts, which tied for fewest in the field with wild card player Anthony Kim, who shot a 73. 

“It was probably one of the best putting rounds I’ve ever had as a professional,” Burmester said. “Just every time I stood over a putt, I just felt like could I make it. You don’t get days like that too often.” 

LIV Golf players have never seen a day like this. They’re hoping for a bit of relief this weekend in the final two rounds. 

“Can it be more difficult? Yes, everything can be more difficult,” Rahm said. “… But not a lot harder, obviously. Today was a pretty hard day.” (courtesy Liv Golf)

Team counting scores

1, Stinger GC -4 (Burmester 66, Oosthuizen 70, Schwartzel 73) 

2. Fireballs GC -2 (Chacarra 68, Garcia 69, Ancer 74) 

3. Iron Heads GC -1 (Lee 67, Vincent 72, Na 73) 

T4. Crushers GC +4 (Lahiri 69, Casey 74, DeChambeau 74) 

T4. Majesticks GC +4 (Horsfield 70, Westwood 71, Poulter 76) 

T6. Cleeks GC +6 (Bland 71, Kaymer 72, Meronk 76) 

T6. Torque GC +6 (Ortiz 72, Pereira 73, Muñoz 74) 

8. 4Aces GC +8 (Reed 72, Johnson 73, Perez 76) 

9. Legion XIII +9 (Hatton 72, Rahm 73, Vincent 77) 

10. Ripper GC +10 (Smith 72, Herbert 75, Leishman 76) 

T11. Smash GC +13 (Koepka 75, McDowell 75, Gooch 76) 

T11. HyFlyers GC +13 (Mickelson 73, Tringale 76, Steele 77) 

13. RangeGoats GC +18 (Wolff 73, Pieters 79, Watson 79) 

First round stats

Driving accuracy: Dustin Johnson, 85.71% (12 of 14 fairways hit) 
Driving distance: Bryson DeChambeau, 343.9 yards avg. 
Longest drive: Bryson DeChambeau, 386.9 yards, 18th hole 
Greens in regulation: Richard Bland, 72.22% (13 of 18 greens) 
Scrambling: Dean Burmester (8 of 9), Louis Oosthuizen (8 of 9), 88.89% 
Putting: Dean Burmester, Anthony Kim, 1.17 putts per hole 
Bogey-free rounds: none 

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