Rahm, Meronk share lead at Jeddah as Legion show the way

From a Correspondent

King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia: Offseason signees Jon Rahm and Adrian Meronk each shot 8-under 62 to share the first-round individual lead at LIV Golf Jeddah on Friday.

And further down the order, the most recent LIV Golf newcomer, Anthony Kim, made his official return to professional golf after nearly 12 years.

LIV Golf’s newest team, Legion XIII captained by Rahm, top the team leaderboard at 17 under in search of a second team title of the season having won on debut last month at Mayakoba.

Stinger GC are one shot back while 2023 champions Crushers are tied for third alongside the Iron Heads and HyFlyers on 12 under.

Reigning Masters champion Rahm was bogey-free in his first look at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club. He’s finished top 10 in his two previous LIV Golf starts since joining in early December.

“I feel like my record when I’m playing tournaments for the first time has been pretty good for some reason,” Rahm said. “Sometimes not knowing is a blessing.”

Big gap

Meronk played the 2020 PIF Saudi International at Royal Greens and was set to play again in 2021 until he contracted Covid. He spent 18 days in quarantine.

“That was my last memory from Saudi,” said the Polish star, who was signed by Cleeks GC prior to the season-opening tournament at Mayakoba.

Meronk suffered a bogey on his second hole but immediately bounced back with consecutive birdies.

The highlight of his round was a chip-in for eagle at the par-4 10th. He tied for ninth in Las Vegas in his last LIV Golf start.

“I’m feeling way better this week than my first two weeks,” Meronk said. “… I’m happy where my game is.”

Rahm and Meronk are one stroke ahead of the trio of Torque GC captain Joaquin Niemann, Crushers captain Bryson DeChambeau and Stinger’s Charl Schwartzel, who each shot 63.

Niemann beat Sergio Garcia in a playoff at Mayakoba to win for the first time since joining LIV.

Celebration mode

He recently received a special invitation to play in the Masters and continued to make the case he’s among the hottest golfers in the world Friday with a sizzling 6 under start in his first nine holes.

“It’s been good, but I just need to focus on what I have to do better,” Niemann said. “I think if I just keep doing that, then good things are going to come from that.”

DeChambeau was 1 under through his first 11 holes after suffering an early double bogey but finished with birdies on six of his last seven holes.

“I finished off strong, that’s for sure,” he said. “I needed something good after the way I started. It was fun.”

Schwartzel also had an impressive bounce-back after shooting 80 in his final round in Las Vegas.

As for the 38-year-old Kim, who retired from golf in 2012 following an Achilles tendon injury, the rust was evident in his 6-over 76.

“Obviously disappointed with the score, but I played much better than the score,” Kim said. “I’ve got a lot to build on.” (courtesy livgolf.com)

Team counting scores

1. Legion XIII -17 (Rahm 62, Hatton 65, Surratt 66)

2. Stinger GC -16 (Schwartzel 63, Oosthuizen 64, Burmester 67)

T3. Crushers GC -12 (DeChambeau 63, Howell III 67, Lahiri 68)

T3. Iron Heads GC -12 (Kozuma 65, Na 66, Vincent 67)

T3. HyFlyers GC -12 (Steele 65, Mickelson 65, Tringale 68)

T6. Torque GC -11 (Niemann 63, Muñoz 67, Ortiz 69)

T6. 4Aces GC -11 (Reed 65, Johnson 66, Perez 68)

T6. Cleeks GC -11 (Meronk 62, Bland 68, Kaymer 69)

9. Smash GC -8 (Gooch 65, Kokrak 68, Koepka 69)

10. Fireballs GC -7 (Garcia 67, Puig 68, Ancer 68)

11. Ripper GC -6 (Herbert 65, Smith 69, Jones 70)

12. Majesticks GC -5 (Horsfield 68, Stenson 68, Westwood 69)

13. RangeGoats GC -3 (Uihlein 67, Pieters 70, Wolff 70)

Also read: Anthony Kim’s surprise return intrigues fellow LIV Golf members