Whilst the Anthony Kim return may have dominated the pre-tournament narrative at LIV Jeddah, it was two of the off-season acquisitions who produced the fireworks on the course.
Adrian Meronk’s first LIV start may have been underwhelming, but his signing wasn’t finalised until shortly before the shotgun sounded for start of play, so a T47 finish is forgivable, but a top-10 finish a week later in Vegas was more like the Meronk we’ve come to know. The Cleeks GC man began his third LIV tournament in shaky fashion with a bogey on his second hole – the 16th – at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia, but that was the only blemish on his card as he birdied the following two and added five more with an eagle on the drivable par-4 10th the highlight of the day.
Having reached the eight-under mark through 15 holes, he reeled off successive pars to close, but he was caught at the top and now shares first-round leader honours with the fast-finishing Spaniard.
“Definitely,” he replied when asked if he was settling in to life on LIV. “I’m feeling way better this week than my first two weeks. I had some quality practice time last week in Dubai. I’m happy where my game is, and it’s definitely a big difference from even Vegas.”
Despite having just two previous LIV starts to his name, Rahm will have been silently seething not to have already tasted individual victory given that he’d held at least a share of the lead on the final round in both tournaments, though team victory in the first event will have been minor consolation.
Rahm went bogey-free, firing eight birdies, including three-in-a-row to close out the day, and as a three-time tournament winner in nearby Dubai, his Middle-East success rate is highly impressive and he’s definitely the man to beat going into the final two rounds.
“Anytime you shoot a bogey-free 62, there’s not much that goes wrong,” Rahm said. “Put it in the right spots and gave myself the opportunities.
“The key for that low of a score was three lengthy putts that I made. A long one on 6, a long one on 16, and maybe mid-range to long on that last one, on the 2nd, to finish the day. That obviously improved the score a little bit, but overall it was really good.
“Inside 10 feet, made pretty much every putt I looked at, so that’s always going to be good. Hopefully I can just keep playing as good as I have and keep rolling it in.”
One shot behind in a three-way tie for third are Bryson DeChambeau, Charl Schwartzel and Joaquin Niemann. Niemann captured his maiden LIV Golf title in Mayakoba back in early February, beating Sergio Garcia in a four-hole playoff that finally ended in darkness, while DeChambeau, who played in the final threeball with Rahm in Vegas, is a two-time winner and Schwartzel won the first ever LIV event in London back in 2022.
Graeme McDowell will have to do it the hard way if he’s to put back-to-back high finishes together. The Portrush man shot a best-of-the-day final-round 64 in Vegas to finish in the top five for the first time since making the move, but after a two-over 72, he’s 10 off the pace and a long way down the field.
McDowell was playing alongside Kim, who started with a bogey-six, and despite making a birdie on the sixth, six additional bogeys leaves golf’s prodigal son propping up the field at six-over.
“Obviously disappointed with the score,” Kim said afterwards, “but I played much better than the score. I’ve got a lot to build on. Just made a lot of unforced errors, and that was unfortunate, but I feel like I’m not that far away.”
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