There were a lot of firsts for Tom McKibbin on Thursday, besides the obvious first round as a LIV golfer and Legion XIII team member.
It was a first Shotgun Start as a professional, meaning that the practice areas were filled with 54 players, each trying to fine tune their games to be ready to hit the ground running at exactly the same time. The first time he was playing a competitive round under floodlights. The first time he was playing with DJ-provided soundtrack to accompany. And the first time he was playing as part of a four-man strokeplay team where each player’s score counted for the entire unit.
And after a team-leading seven-under that saw him end the day tied for third, it’s safe to say he settled into his new environment very nicely.
“Yeah, it was obviously very different, the warm-up. I’ve never experienced before. It was definitely a different experience,” he said when he joined team captain Jon Rahm for post-round press duties.
“I wouldn’t really say I was too nervous. I was probably more anxious and not sure about how it was going to go, especially with playing at night, something that none of us have never really experienced.
“But I think sort of being able to get that out of the way today and know what’s coming for the next couple of days is good. As I said, it was something very different but very pleased that it didn’t affect me too much.”
Only Legion XIII teammate Caleb Surratt is younger than McKibbin in the LIV stables, so the ‘Golf, but Louder’ tagline – something clearly aimed as a depart from the traditional, more reserved style of the game – could well play into their hands and it was the sound of tunes pumping around Riyadh Golf Club that the Holywood man admitted he’d enjoyed most – apart from his five birdies and an eagle, of course.
“I really liked the music,” he admitted. “I think the music was super cool, and then that halftime show standing on the fourth tee – watching that was pretty awesome. I think all of us in the group really, really enjoyed that.”
Now resident in Dubai, he had an opportunity to prepare for night golf and he took full advantage of it in the period between his last DP World Tour start in Ras Al Khaimah.
“Yeah, where I play back in Dubai at Trump, there’s a fully night golf course, and it hangs under the lights,” he explained. “So last week I pretty much spent every day up there playing under the lights, trying to get used to what it would maybe feel like this week.”
Thanks in no small measure to McKibbin, Legion XIII hold a seven-stroke advantage in the team competition in Riyadh, though that can change quickly and we’ll see volatility over the leaderboard in the coming rounds, but Rahm certainly seems to think he’s found a bargain in the 22-year-old.
“Yeah,” he replied when he was asked if he was surprised that he didn’t face stiff competition to land McKibbin’s signature. “He expressed his interest to join LIV, and as far as I know, there wasn’t any teams trying to out-bid anybody. I don’t know if that was the case or if it was him saying I don’t want to go anywhere else or what the situation [was], but I thought he would be a prize player. I’m happy we got him.”
Looking ahead to rounds two and three of the 54-hole event, McKibbin is determined to take it one hole at a time and knows that each and every stroke could prove crucial for the team, not just for him alone. But he couldn’t be drawn on who he thought would present the stiffest challenge to Legion XIII.
“We’ve only played one round — I’ve only ever played one round of team golf like this, and something that I thought was pretty cool, and always trying to shoot the best score possible. Looking at the leaderboard and seeing the guys going well, as well, definitely motivated me to go lower,” he said.
“Yeah, as to who, I think we’ll be close — I don’t know who else is up there so I’m not too sure, but I feel like any of those teams can go out and have a day like we have had today. I think we’ll have to try and keep making more birdies and no bogeys.”
Rahm very much concurred, adding that the team element is one of the primary motivating factors for LIV players.
“I think a very large number of players that are playing LIV Golf, it’s because of the team aspect of things,” he said. “That’s what I’ve found the most enticing and the most entertaining. I think being part of a team almost my whole life, even including in golf, I thought it was really fun. Some of my most fond memories in golf were related to a team sport and not always necessarily related to a win. It was something that for me was very special, and it has been so far last year and so far this beginning of the year, which is only going to get better once Tom gets to know all of us and we get to know him a little bit better.
“Then the opposition, it’s always hard to say. It’s very early. We had a fantastic day today. I hope we can keep this level of golf. But anybody out there can be a danger, and I think I could start naming off almost every team and give you a reason why I think they’re really, really going to be a challenge. I’m not going to name any names right now, but I would think anybody has a chance to win any given day.”
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