COMPANIES

No Data Found

NEWS

No Data Found
Advertisement
Patrick Reed, Crushers GC tackle testing Doral course to lead at LIV Golf Miami

Patrick Reed, Crushers GC tackle testing Doral course to lead at LIV Golf Miami

On a bruising first day at LIV Golf Miami in Doral, former Masters champion and World Golf Championships winner Patrick Reed led the individual standings with Crushers GC atop the team leaderboard.

Rahul Banerji
  • Updated Apr 6, 2025 3:06 PM IST
Patrick Reed, Crushers GC tackle testing Doral course to lead at LIV Golf MiamiPatrick Reed of 4Aces GC who leads LIV Golf Miami by two shots with a 5 under par 67 in round one on Friday. Image courtesy LIV Golf.

India and Crushers GC star Anirban Lahiri was one of just nine players to shoot par or better on a rough opening day in LIV Golf Miami action at Trump National Doral. However, it was Patrick Reed who led the way on Friday. 

Reed played perfect golf under difficult scoring conditions almost till the end of his round at Doral’s Blue Monster course before being undone on the 18th but did enough to lead the field with a 5 under par 67, the first time he’s held the lead after any round of his 37 career regular-season starts on LIV Golf. On his heels were a trio of equally experienced players who muster 10 major titles between them on 3 under 69s, the pack made up of Crushers skipper Bryson DeChambeau, HyFlyers captain Phil Mickelson and Reed’s 4Aces leader Dustin Johnson. Reed held a five-shot lead till his closing hole but double-bogeyed the par-3 ninth when his tee shot found the rough and the former Masters winner had to scramble out of trouble. Lahiri was on level par 72 alongside five others in a share of 10th place having swapped three birdies for as many bogeys on a day of firm greens and windy conditions with the scoring average being nearly 2.5 strokes over par. 

Advertisement

The 207-yard par-3 ninth and 460-yard par-4 11th allowed no birdies on Friday – and yet neither hole was the most difficult of the day. The par-4 18th ranked as the hardest with a stroke average of 4.648, thanks mostly to eight double bogeys and four triples or worse. The field shot a collective 35 over and there were 49 doubles or worse recorded on Friday. “I believe it’s one of the most challenging golf courses in professional golf, so the cream usually rises to the top,” said DeChambeau. Asked what the one challenge he likes about the Blue Monster, DeChambeau replied: “I don’t like any of it, but it’s a great challenge for next week.” 

Added Reed, who won a World Golf Championships event at Doral in 2014, said, “I know how hard this place can get. When the wind blows here, it’s nerve-wracking. … There’s a reason why it’s called the Blue Monster. It’s a beast. We’ve got a lot of golf left. Thirty-six holes around this place is a freaking eternity.” 

Advertisement

Mickelson, a six-time major winner, said the conditions were as difficult as he’s ever seen them. “I look at what Patrick Reed did and I’m just amazed because although we’ve seen low scores here on this course in the past, we haven’t really seen them under these conditions. That was an exceptional round that he played.”  

There were 19 rounds of 76 or higher, with 12 of the 13 LIV Golf teams suffering at least one of those high scores. Individual leader and Torque GC captain Joaquin Niemann who has won two of the season’s first four events, shot a 78. The only team escaping unharmed were the Crushers, who shot a collective 2 under that included 72s from Lahiri and Paul Casey and a 73 from Charles Howell III to top the team leaderboard/. 

Advertisement

“Love those boys. There’s a reason we won here in 2023,” said DeChambeau. “They like this golf course. They like a tough, challenging golf course where you can strategically play and let everybody else kind of mess up on their own.” 

Winners at Doral in 2022, Johnson’s 4Aces were solo second on level par while Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC were in sole third place on 5 over. “I’d love to go head-to-head against the Aces,” said DeChambeau. “They won in 2022, and they deserve another good showing here this week.” The Aces haven’t won a tournament since 2023, but they entered Miami after posting their first podium result of the season, third place in Singapore. “We played well in Singapore,” said Johnson. “Obviously we had a little bit of a lead going into Sunday and fell a little bit short. But it was a solid week for us, and I think everybody is starting to play pretty well. But still two more rounds." 

Published on: Apr 6, 2025 3:06 PM IST
    Post a comment0