Lahiri fires opening 65 at LIV Golf Adelaide to sit two shots behind leader

Off-colour for much of the past few months that even saw him miss the cut at the Indian Open last month, Anirban Lahiri rediscovered his mojo – and some much-needed form – to fire a bogey-free opening round at LIV Golf Adelaide on Friday.

Clean ball striking off the tees and fairways, and most importantly, on-point putting saw the India star sit two shots behind early event leader Jinichiro Kozuma in tied fourth place with a 7 under par 65 at the Grange Golf Club in South Australia’s capital city. Last year, the Dubai-based Lahiri finished a strong second behind event winner Talor Gooch.

Lahiri’s score on the day also helped the Crushers into a handy fourth place in the team standings with England’s Paul Casey adding a 5 under 67 and team captain Bryson DeChambeau a 4 under 68 to the counting total. The Crushers won the season-ending team title in 2023 and currently the overall standings with two wins in 2024 so far.

The Indian opened from hole 11 under the shotgun format with three straight pars and picked up two shots before the turn. On the front nine, he added a further five birdies – and almost had an eagle on a par-5 hole – including one to close out his round. Lahiri also led the field off the tee at 92.86 accuracy from 13 of 14 fairways hit. He also shared top spot in scrambling, with three from three to successfully avert blots on his scorecard.

At the top, series rookie Kozuma, shot a bogey-free 9 under 63 for the lead and the Iron Heads player later credited his putter for the performance. The 29-year-old from Japan was 8 under after his first 11 holes at the Grange Golf Club and never surrendered the lead.

Kozuma leads team mate Danny Lee and Carlos Ortis of Torque GC by a stroke with a group of four including Lahiri, Torque’s Mito Pereira and Peter Uihlein of the Ranga Goats and another series rookie Andy Ogletree of the HyFlyers tied for fourth a further shot back.

Home favourites Ripper GC, the all-Australian team led by 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith were 15 under on Friday and fifth in the team standings. “I think we came in a little more relaxed this year,” team member Matt Jones, who shot a team-best 6 under 66 on Friday, said later.

“I know last year we all wanted to play well, and we didn't, and I think this year we're a little more relaxed and just let the golf course come to us and not try and push anything and just play our game.” Added Marc Leishman, who contributed a 5 under 67, “I changed my course management a little bit this year compared to last year. I was a bit too conservative, I think, and changed that because there are so many birdies out there.”

Torque held the team lead on 20 under, the lowest first-round counting score by any team this year. Besides Ortiz and Pereira, captain Joaquin Niemann – who leads the individual championship standings this season thanks to two individual wins – contributed a 67. Iron Heads GC were one shot back in second, while the HyFlyers were third on 17 under.

Kozuma, who’s in his first full year in LIV Golf after earning his way into the series at the Promotions tournament in Abu Dhabu in the offseason, is leading for the first time in his nine LIV Golf starts. His family is also in Adelaide this week to watch him play.

“I wanted to play really well in front of my family and impress all the family,” said Kozuma later. “I guess I got to do that, and I'm really happy about that.”

Teammates other than captain were clubbed together on Friday, and Kozuma and Lee will play alongside again on Saturday. “Whatever I was doing today and whatever Jinny was doing today worked out pretty good,” said Lee, the winner last year in Tucson. “We're going to just enjoy each other's company and keep our head down, keep making putts.”

For Kozuma and Lee, the focus over the weekend is not points but building on the momentum of Friday’s start. “You can't get too caught up in that kind of stuff,” said Lee. “I feel like that's only putting a lot of pressure on yourself, so you've just got to let it go and keep your head down and just keep doing what we've been doing.”

Round one scores

1. Torque GC -20 (Ortiz 64, Pereira 65, Niemann 67)

2. Iron Heads GC -19 (Kozuma 63, Lee 64, Vincent 70)

3. HyFlyers GC -17 (Ogletree 65, Steele 66, Tringale 68)

4. Crushers GC -16 (Lahiri 65, Casey 67, DeChambeau 68)

5. Ripper GC -15 (Jones 66, Leishman 67, Smith 68)

T6. RangeGoats GC -12 (Uihlein 65, Pieters 69, Watson 70)

T6. Stinger GC -12 (Burmester 67, Oosthuizen 68, Schwartzel 69)

8. Legion XIII -11 (Rahm 67, Surratt 68, Hatton 70)

T9. 4Aces GC -8 (Reed 67, Perez 69, Varner III 72)

T9. Cleeks GC -8 (Bland 68, Samooja 69, Kaymer 71)

11. Fireballs GC -4 (Ancer 69, Garcia 71, Puig 72)

T12. Smash GC -3 (Gooch 68, Koepka 70, Kokrak 75)

T12. Majesticks GC -3 (Westwood 70, Horsfield 71, Poulter 72)