Richard T. Lee of Canada fired a 6-under-par 64 to lead the LIV Golf Promotions event after one round Thursday at Black Diamond Ranch in Lecanto, Fla.
The top three finishers at the four-round event will be awarded full-season, wild-card spots for the 2026 LIV Golf League season, and each of the top 10 finishers plus ties will be exempt for the 2026 International Series co-sponsored by the Asian Tour.
Lee, 35, is a golfing journeyman seeking to play his way onto the LIV circuit for the first time. Primarily a member of the Asian and Korean tours, Lee also qualified for the RBC Canadian Open on the PGA Tour in 2025 and made the cut with rounds of 67 and 64 before tying for 36th.
Lee was bogey-free on Thursday, with three of his six birdies coming in a row at Nos. 4-6 at Black Diamond Ranch.
“Honestly, it’s a tough course out there,” Lee said. “You’ve got to hit it really well off the tee box. The greens are very undulated out there. I actually found the fairways pretty well and placed my ball on the greens pretty well and made a few putts out there.”
He holds a two-shot lead over five players jockeying for a LIV wild card: Max Kennedy of Ireland, Pablo Ereno of Spain, South Korea’s Hongtaek Kim and Thailand’s Suteepat Prateeptienchai and Sadom Kaewkanjana.
Kennedy recovered from an early bogey by making five birdies, three on the back nine.
Kennedy, 24, said it was his first tournament action in about a month and a half.
“I haven’t played a tournament in quite a while, so didn’t really know what to expect,” he said. “But I kept it tidy out there. Very few mistakes, very few bad shots. I was happy with my round.”
Ereno, who tied for 22nd at the Open de France last year, carded six birdies along with two bogeys. At 22, he is the youngest player in the field, but he pointed to his four-year collegiate career at UCLA as his foundation.
“So I think I’m really prepared to play with these pros,” Ereno said. “It’s still new to me to think that I’m a professional golfer, but yeah, I think I’m really prepared, and my golf is good enough to compete with these guys. I think I’m ready, so yeah.”
Kaewkanjana has three career wins on the Asian Tour, including the Korea Open in 2025. He’s trying to get back on the LIV roster after playing in all eight events of the inaugural 2022 slate.
“I want to get back on LIV Golf because I have a big leap in the world” rankings, Kaewkanjana said. “… I try to get into LIV Golf this year, so that gets me a great experience to play with the greatest players in the world.”
Among those tied three off the pace at 3-under 67 is Chase Koepka, the brother of Brooks Koepka, the five-time major champion who announced last month he was leaving LIV Golf. Chase Koepka played on his brother’s team, Smash GC, in 2022 and 2023 before being relegated.
The top 20 players plus ties will make the cut on Friday and play the weekend.
–Field Level Media
