Dean Burmester of South Africa and Mexico’s Abraham Ancer turned in opening rounds of 63 to share the lead at LIV Golf Invitational Hong Kong on Friday.
At 7-under par, they are a shot ahead of six others: Australia’s Matt Jones, Spain’s Eugenio Chacarra, Harold Varner III, Charles Howell III, Germany’s Martin Kaymer and South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen.
Another stroke back are defending champion Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.
In all, 44 of the 54 players in the field shot par or better at the Fanling Course at Hong Kong Golf Club, and at one point, 12 players sat in a tie for the lead at 5-under par.
The results of the round surprised Ancer.
“I didn’t think there was going to be that many low numbers, but I don’t know, I guess it’s just playing perfect,” added Ancer, who was one of seven players to card a bogey-free round. “The greens are really good. There’s just a lot of guys that are playing really good at this time.”
Howell said the low scores were a surprise.
“It’s crazy, right? Crazy,” said Howell, who also played without a bogey. “Never thought that, how low the scores are with this golf course. It’s a testament to the strength of field and how good these guys are really are.”
The performance was one to remember for Ancer, who took a share of the lead for the first time after any round on the LIV circuit. The course was well-suited for him, even though he didn’t let himself think that.
“I feel like sometimes when I show up to a golf course that stat-wise I should be very good at, sometimes I don’t have a really good tournament,” he said. “I feel like I put expectations and things don’t go my way, I try to be too perfect and stuff like that.
“I just said, I’m going to go with a fresh mindset, I’m going to go and think this golf course is the worst for me and I’ve got to figure it out and be on point in every single shot, and I think I did a good job with that. I didn’t really get too caught up on ‘I need to play really good here because it suits my game.’ I just went out there and had a good time and played some good golf.”
Phil Mickelson was in last place after shooting a 10-over 80 that included three double bogeys.
In the team competition, the low rounds by Burmester and Oosthuizen led Stinger GC to a first-round lead at 16-under. Crushers GC, captained by DeChambeau, is a stroke back, followed by Fireballs GC and Cleeks GC at 12-under.
–Field Level Media