4Aces dominate day one at LIV Golf Dallas as Lahiri leads for the Crushers 

Crushers GC and India star Anirban Lahiri fired a team-leading 2 under par 70 on day one of LIV Golf Dallas presented by Aramco at the Maridoe Golf Club in Carrollton but it was the 4Aces duo of Patrick Reed and Harold Varner III who led the field after Friday’s first round.

Lahiri balanced four birdies against two dropped shots, a late bogey dropping him out of the top four. As things stand, he sits three shots off the lead alongside 4Aces captain Dustin Johnson, Graeme McDowell of Smash GC, Fireballs’ David Puig and Richard Bland of the Cleeks.

On the team leaderboard, 4Aces were on a 9 under total with the Crushers second, six shots off the pace. The two were the only ones with sub-par scores on the testing Maridoe track with bottom-placed Torque GC on an unusual 17 over par for the opening day.

As much as the event itself, the Dallas result will also decide one final entrant from the LIV Golf stable into the upcoming Open Championship next month and current favourite Sergio Garcia managed to keep his nose ahead of his nearest challengers.

The Fireballs GC captain shot a 2 over 74 but remains in pole position for the final exemption in the Open field at Royal Portrush while his teammate David Puig climbed into sixth overall in points after a solid 2-over 70.  Another Fireballs player, Abraham Ancer, also has a shot at the exemption but must win and hope others drop in the standings. An opening 3 under 69 at least gives Ancer a chance.

“Ever since they announced the exemptions, it's been in my mind,” Ancer said. “You're always trying to perform the best and be obviously at the highest you can on the leaderboard, on the points list. 

“I would love to do well the next two rounds and hopefully have a chance for that spot. I know it will be tough, but mathematically it's a possibility. I'm going to give it my all and see where it takes me.”   

Reed and Varner combined to make it a good day for the 4Aces, who are looking for a return to the kind of performance that saw them dominate the inaugural 2022 LIV Golf season when they won four consecutive regular-season tournaments, then claimed the season-ending Team Championship.

The 4Aces have won twice since then but nothing between 2024 and now, and their only individual title was Johnson’s victory last year. Friday’s start has given them a chance to reinforce their status as one of the league’s big guns.

“The biggest thing is to keep the throttle down,” said Reed later.“Even though we have a lead now, start tomorrow as if everyone is even par and try to go win the day as a team and build on the lead.

“Harold is out there playing some solid golf, hitting some quality golf shots. It’s always nice when you’re seeing that because you can feed off of it.”

Added Varner, who has six top-20 finishes this year, “I’ve been hitting it unbelievable this whole year and I just happened to make a couple of putts today. I don’t think there’s like a genie in a bottle or anything like that. But I felt like I was going to play well.”

Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm was the closest to the two co-leaders on 4 under 68 included an eagle on the par-4 sixth hole with Ancer in solo fourth, also in the shared lead until a double bogey on his final hole. Ancer’s seven birdies led the field.

“Definitely hurts to finish the way I finished with a double bogey, obviously,” the Mexican star said later. “Just felt like I just lost a little bit of concentration on that par 3. … Other than that, I felt great.”

Friday also saw all three LIV Golf reserves called into action due to injuries. Prior to the start, DLF Open winner Ollie Schniederjans replaced RangeGoats GC’s Matthew Wolff, while Max Rottluff replaced Cleeks GC’s Frederik Kjettrup. After eight holes, Smash GC captain Brooks Koepka departed with an illness and was replaced by Luis Carrera.

 If Koepka’s health improves, he could return to action this week but only to contribute to his team’s score.