ADELAIDE (AP) – Talor Gooch upstaged the more-fancied names on the LIV Golf tour by shooting a 10-under 62 yesterday to take a four-stroke lead after the first round of the inaugural Australian tournament at The Grange.
The 31-year-old American started with a par on his opening hole in the shotgun-start format – the par-3 12th – but then had 10 birdies, including five in a row.
Two more players in the unfancied category – Richard Bland and Dean Burmester – shot 66s and were tied for second. Five players were tied for fourth, including Danny Lee, who won the second LIV event in Arizona in mid-March.
“If anyone says they’re not surprised at 10-under, they’re lying,” Gooch said. “It’s the day that you work hard for … it was one of those rounds where I was hitting it close and making a lot of putts, so it was fun.”
The higher-profile names in the 48-player field were further behind on the leaderboard.
Sergio Garcia shot 68 and British Open champion Cameron Smith and Brooks Koepka had 69s. Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson had 70s and Patrick Reed and Dustin Johnson shot 71. Bryson DeChambeau had a 73.
LIV Golf and local organisers said there was a sellout crowd of 35,000 for the first day.