On-point Rahm leads LIV UK field, Legionnaires in the van too

Day one LIV Golf UK leader Jon Rahm of Legion XIII in action at the JCB Golf and Country Club in Rocester on Friday. Image courtesy livgolf.com.

From a Correspondent

Rocester, England: Jon Rahm is accustomed to being in contention after most of his LIV Golf rounds this season. But for the first time since joining the league, he has the outright lead.
 
Thanks to a bogey-free 8 under par 63, Rahm has a two-stroke lead over Abraham Ancer and Andy Ogletree after the first round at LIV Golf UK by JCB.

Meanwhile, his Legion XIII sit atop the team leaderboard by one stroke over Smash GC, HyFlyers GC and Fireballs GC.
 
Friday’s round was the 29th that Rahm has completed in LIV Golf. He’s been inside the top 5 after 13 of those rounds, including a tie for the lead after the first round in Jeddah. Six other times, he’s been inside the top 10.

In each of his nine completed tournaments – he had to withdraw in Houston due to a foot infection – he has produced a top-10 result, and he’s currently second behind Torque GC captain Joaquin Niemann in the season-long points standings.
 
It’s an impressive show of consistency that Rahm hopes will peak with his first individual LIV Golf title this week at JCB Golf & Country Club.

Good run

“Nothing much to say obviously but good things,” said Rahm, who entered the week off a tie for seventh at The Open Championship, his best major result of the year.

“Played really good golf all day. With days like this, it almost feels effortless.”
 
Rahm was in the same group as teammate and former Ryder Cup partner Tyrrell Hatton, along with another Legion XIII player, Caleb Surratt, as the LIV Golf captains were grouped with their top two teammates for the first round.
 
Not only did Rahm go low – the 8-under score matches his lowest LIV Golf round relative to par – but Hatton shot 66, bouncing back from an opening double bogey.

The duo fuelled Legion XIII’s 12-under total that also included a counting score of 72 from Kieran Vincent. Legion XIII have won three team titles during their inaugural season and are second in the points standings behind Crushers GC.
 
“It was the first time I played with any teammates in LIV Golf,” said Rahm, who had six birdies in his final nine holes to pull away from the pack. “I wasn’t sure how that was going to go. I was a little curious.”

Team vibes

Said Hatton: “We’ve shared some pretty cool stages over the last few years, and we generally play well when we play together. 

“So, it was nice for both of us to have a good round of golf and have some momentum going into the weekend.”
 
Ancer, the winner via playoff earlier this year in Hong Kong, finished with a flourish. The Fireballs star birdied four of his last five holes during a brilliant putting round in which he led the field.
 
Ogletree’s best finish during his first full LIV Golf season is a tie for third in Adelaide. He’s battled a wrist injury that may require offseason surgery and forced him to make some swing adjustments to alleviate the pain.
 
“I’ve had a lot of days where I’ve played 13 and 14 really good holes and then kind of held myself back by a bad stretch,” said the HyFlyers member. “Today, I was in it all day and played some solid golf.”
 
Hatton and Ripper GC captain Cameron Smith were tied for fourth, while a group of seven players – including Smash GC captain Brooks Koepka and local resident Sam Horsfield of Majesticks GC – were four strokes off the lead in a tie for sixth.
 
On a course unfamiliar to most players and expected to give up low scores grudgingly, 35 of the 54 players in the field broke par, with a stroke average of more than one shot under par.
 
It was not a surprise for Rahm. “You can’t really say surprising when the best players in the world show up at a course,” he said. (courtesy LIV Golf)

Round one counting scores

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 (Muñoz 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)

Round 1 stats

Driving accuracy: Graeme McDowell, Kevin Na, 92.86% (13 of 14 fairways hit)
Driving distance: Matthew Wolff, 320.2 yards avg.
Longest drive: Matthew Wolff, 327.7 yards, 10th hole
Greens in regulation: Richard Bland, 88.89% (16 of 18 greens)
Scrambling: Kevin Na (8 of 8), Jon Rahm (3 of 3), 100%
Putting: Abraham Ancer, 1.28 putts per hole
Bogey-free rounds: Jon Rahm (63), Kevin Na (70)

Also read: Lahiri out to overcome Valderrama letdown at LIV Golf UK