Kennedy marches on as he chases LIV card

Max Kennedy is one step closer to securing LIV Golf status for next month after he produced another impressive performance to book his spot in this weekend’s 36-hole shootout at LIV Promotions in Florida.

Kennedy eased through the second round at Black Diamond Ranch with a bogey-free 67 as he finished in a tie for fifth place as the top-10 and ties qualified for the final two rounds after this 18-hole day.

The Royal Dublin man is in fine form having dropped just one shot in 36 holes and he looked the part on day two with birdies on the fourth, sixth and thirteenth to finish two shots inside the top-20 and two shots shy of leading qualifier, Korea’s Jeunghun Wang, who shot 65 to top the leaderboard by a shot from Canada’s Richard T. Lee, Sweden’s Bjorn Hellgren and Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana.

The 24-year-old is making his third appearance at the LIV qualifier but this week he is playing with house money as he has a HotelPlanner Tour card for this year.

The top-3 after this weekend’s 36-hole shootout will secure LIV wildcards while the top-10 will clinch International Series exemptions which is the elevated events on the Asian Tour.

“I’d love the opportunity to play out there,” Kennedy said of Asia after making it to the final stage of LIV Promotions for the first time. “But the reason we come here is to play on LIV, not just the International Series. The plan is to get the LIV Tour card.”

There is also the added bonus of a $200,000 payday for the winner of the event, $150,000 for second and $100,000 for third so this could be a career defining moment for Kennedy should he qualify as the average earnings for one season on LIV eclipse $4million.

“Yeah, it would be fantastic,” he said of the possibility of qualifying for LIV Golf where he would join fellow Irishmen Tom McKibbin and Graeme McDowell.

“Yeah, that’s what I came here to do, so that’s the plan.”

Also through to the final two rounds where the scores will be reset ahead of the 36 hole shootout is Anthony Kim.

“Anything can happen in 36 holes,” Kim said. “I also know that I can make a lot of birdies. I think I have as good a chance as anybody to make it through, and I’ll get some good rest, and I’ll be ready for the weekend.”