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Jason Kokrak and Paul Casey tie in the first round of the inaugural tournament of LIV Golf’s second season, three shots ahead of Dustin Johnson in Mexico
Jason Kokrak and England’s Paul Casey are tied for the first-round lead at LIV Golf Mayakoba after shooting 65-under-par rounds on Friday in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
The tournament kicked off the second season of LIV Golf at El Camaleon, a course designed by LIV CEO Greg Norman. It is LIV’s first foray into Mexico and the first time it has hosted a tournament on a course that has hosted PGA Tour events.
Kokrak and Casey lead by two shots over Peter Uihlein, Talor Gooch and Carlos Ortiz, who shot 4-under 67.
England’s Paul Casey started well on Friday at the first LIV Golf event of the year in Mexico
Casey and Jason Kokrak were tied for the lead with rounds of a six-under-par 65 in the first round.
Kokrak and Casey shot their 65s in very different ways. Kokrak scored six birdies, including a chip-in, and stayed bogey-free.
“With my type of game, I don’t always get a chance to have a bogey-free round,” Kokrak said.
Meanwhile, Casey began his round with a birdie on the par-4 sixth and was five under before hitting a double bogey on the par-4 second hole. He bounced back by finishing his round with three straight birdies at numbers 3-5.
Gooch was the only other player not bogeyed on Friday.
Dustin Johnson, last season’s singles champion and captain of the defending champion 4Aces team, is tied for sixth on a 3-under 68 with Charles Howell III, England’s Ian Poulter, Australia’s Marc Leishman and South Africa’s Branden Grace. .
LIV’s highest-ranked player, World No. 5 Cameron Smith of Australia, is only 11th on a two-under-par 69.
Casey and Howell helped Crushers take the team lead at 10-under in one round. Anirban Lahiri from India contributed 1 under 70.
The top three scores for each four-man team count toward each round of team scoring. Crushers captain Bryson DeChambeau was the outsider to his team after opening with a 1-for-72 run that included a double bogey-bogey-bogey stretch.
Crushers has a three-shot lead over Johnson’s 4Aces and Brooks Koepka’s Smash, each at 7-under. 4Aces saw contributions from Johnson, Uihlein and Pat Perez (par 71), and Smash featured Kokrak, Koepka (even) and Matthew Wolff (1 bass).
The duo was three shots ahead of Dustin Johnson after the first round in Mexico.