If Tom McKibbin was feeling the pressure on his maiden start as a LIV Golf player, he certainly didn’t show it and the Holywood man is very much in the hunt for victory after day one in Riyadh.
Playing under the lights at Riyadh Golf Club, the 22-year-old’s iron-play was sublime and proved to be the foundations for a bogey-free, seven-under-par 65 that leaves him sitting tied for third, three shots behind leader Adrian Meronk.
Starting on the 12th in the Shotgun Start format, a birdie on the par-5 13th was an early nerve settler, but it wasn’t until he reached the front side of the course that he really caught fire. A birdie on one was swiftly followed by an eagle on three courtesy of an inch-perfect chip from short of the par-5 green which propelled him to four-under.
Further birdies followed on six, eight and nine, and it could easily have been two strokes lower as short range birdie putts on his final two holes failed to drop.
Earlier in the week, Legion XIII team captain Jon Rahm had suggested that the change to all four players’ scores counting could only be beneficial to the team, and he was proven correct as Rahm’s own five-under tally proved to be fourth-best of his team, with McKibbin leading the way on -7 and Tyrrell Hatton and Caleb Surratt both carding -6. This gives Legion XIII a commanding seven-shot lead in the Team Category and afterwards, Rahm paid tribute to McKibbin’s potential.
“I certainly didn’t think -5 would be the worst score for the team,” he said, before being asked about McKibbin specifically.
“As a captain, that we were able to sign such a fantastic player at a young age – and if I’m really not mistaken, we felt [surprised] at not a lot of opposition that we were the only team really going after him, so thrilled to have him on the team,” Rahm explained.
“I hadn’t really played a lot of golf with him prior to this week, and it was very clear early on his level of golf and his talent, so I’m not surprised at all.
“It’s good because those two practice days, he didn’t miss a shot at all. I think I think this could be a very, very good year for him.
“He’s one of the few players I’ve actually heard say he was watching LIV golf when he wasn’t on LIV. I was one of those players, and not many have said that, and I think it shows you wanted to come here and you put him in a very unusual week here in Saudi Arabia under the lights in the golf course that he hadn’t seen, and he’s proven himself already.”
If McKibbin’s round was one of the best of the day, the clear winner was Adrian Meronk’s as the Pole carded 10 birdies in a blemish-free 62 that sees him two clear of Sebastian Munoz in solo second.
Alongside McKibbin at -7 in a two-way tied for third is seasoned veteran Lee Westwood, with Hatton, Surratt, Charles Howell III and Dean Burmester one shot further back at -6.
There are plenty of big names lurking behind with Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann among those alongside Rahm at -5, but Bryson DeChambeau bogeyed two of his final four holes to fall back to -3.
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