Tom McKibbin continued his good start to life on the LIV Golf tour with a two-under-par round at LIV Adelaide at The Grange Golf Club.
McKibbin, who earned just north of $1 million on his debut in Riyadh last week, began on the 8th hole down under and after an uncomfortable start where he bogeyed the 9th and 12th holes he recovered well to lie in 11th place, four shots behind Sam Horsfield.
The 22-year-old rallied with a birdie on 16 and an eagle on the par-4 18th where he drove it to ten feet from 377 yards and holed the putt, while he also finished strong with two birdies on the 2nd and 7th and a bogey on the 5th.
Patrick Reed set off an early celebration in Friday’s opening round at LIV Golf Adelaide. Majesticks GC’s Sam Horsfield and a couple of Torque GC teammates then followed with the lowest scores on a challenging day.
Horsfield moved atop the individual leaderboard with a 6-under 66, while Torque took the team lead at 8 under thanks to a pair of 67s by captain Joaquin Niemann and Carlos Ortiz.
Meanwhile, defending champion Ripper GC received massive support from their Australian fans but struggled to generate many fireworks and now must play catch-up this weekend. They’ll start Saturday’s second round 11 shots behind Torque.
It was Reed who produced the day’s biggest shot, making a hole-in-one at the Watering Hole less than 20 minutes after the shotgun start. His 8-iron at the 151-yard par 3 set off a scene reminiscent of two years ago when Chase Koepka delivered LIV Golf’s first ace at the famous party hole. Reed’s ace is the ninth in league history.
“It’s awesome to give the fans what they want,” said Reed, making his fifth competitive ace (and sixth overall) of his career. “That’s why we want to be out here: Golf, but louder.”
Reed’s hole-in-one was one of the few highlights of his 1-over 73; the rest of the day belonged to a variety of other competitors, among them multiple major winners Dustin Johnson (68), Bryson DeChambeau (68) and Brooks Koepka (69), each inside the top 10 of the leaderboard.
But it was Horsfield who emerged with the solo lead, thanks to shooting the only bogey-free round of the day. In fact, Horsfield has made just one bogey in his last 60 holes going back to last week’s LIV Golf Riyadh, in which he tied for 12th. He’ll enter this weekend in search of his first LIV Golf title.
“I feel like I’m playing really, really good,” said the English-born Horsfield. “Played solid last week. It’s just nice to see that momentum from last week carry over and be able to put a low one out there today and try to do more of the same this weekend.”
Ortiz had the solo lead until a couple of late bogeys, and his captain Niemann also shared the lead temporarily until suffering his only bogey of the day on his next-to-last hole. Still, it was a productive afternoon for both players, who combined to win three individual titles a year ago.
“It’s unbelievable,” Ortiz said of the atmosphere in Adelaide. “The people here are great. The music is even better. This is probably my favorite tournament I’ve ever played on.”
Niemann tied for third in Adelaide a year ago, and in 2023, he won the Australian Open. He said the enthusiastic Australian golf fans are definitely a factor in how well he performs down under.
“The Australian crowd is really good. They kind of like me a little bit, I think, and you can feel the energy,” Niemann said. “There’s a few guys following around, really energized, enjoying my shots, enjoying when I was making a putt. So that gets me going.”
DeChambeau was 4 under through his first nine holes but two poor swings resulted in a double-bogey 7 at the par-5 ninth. Thanks to a hot putter, though, he battled back down the stretch to stay close to the leaders and give himself a shot at his first individual LIV Golf title since 2023.
“Certainly, this is one of the best LIV events if not the best LIV event on our schedule, and it’s a joy coming back here with the fans and the people and the atmosphere,” DeChambeau said. “This is what LIV Golf is about.”
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