Teammates Patrick Reed and Harold Varner III shared the lead at 5-under-par 67 after the first round of the LIV Golf Dallas on Friday in Carrollton, Texas.
Jon Rahm of Spain was one shot behind and Mexico’s Abraham Ancer two back on the par-72 layout at Maridoe Golf Club.
Starting at the 10th hole, Reed made the turn at 1 under, but then chipped in for an eagle on the 655-yard, par-5 second. He birdied Nos. 7 and 8 and recorded 32 on the front nine.
Varner blistered his first nine, making the turn at 4 under, with birdies on Nos. 13, 15, 17 and 18. He continued to play clean golf, then birdied six and seven to reach 6 under, but gave one stroke back on ninth hole to finish the round.
Varner enjoyed playing in the same group as his 4Aces GC teammate.
“For sure. I want to beat him, even though he’s a teammate,” Varner said. “It’s a lot of fun. It got awkward when he chipped in on the par-5 and I made par. That’s when I knew it was going to be fun. Yeah, that’s what you want, and I guess we get to do it again tomorrow.”
Together, they lifted 4Aces to a score of 9 under for the day and a six-shot lead over Crushers GC.
“I mean, I felt like I was behind him all day and really just kind of trying to feed off of him,” Reed said about his teammate. “Harold is out there playing some solid golf, hitting some quality golf shots. It’s always nice when you’re seeing that because you can feed off of it.”
Starting on the third hole, Rahm quickly got to 3 under after recording an eagle 2 at the sixth and backing that up with a birdie at the seventh. He bogeyed Nos. 9 and 10, but got those errors back with birdies on Nos. 14 and 17 and closed with a birdie on the second hole.
Ancer’s play was more erratic, as he seven birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey on the par-3 third, which was his final hole of the day.
“Yeah, very solid round, very happy the way I hit it off the tee,” Ancer said. “I think I only missed two fairways that led to two bogeys. The rough is no joke out there. But I love golf courses like that that you have to be in the fairway. Definitely hurts to finish the way I finished with a double bogey, obviously. Just felt like I just lost a little bit of concentration on that par-3.”
–Field Level Media
