Lahiri third on LIV Chicago leaderboard, Crushers GC head the team race

Anirban Lahiri showed a welcome return to form with a steady round in firm conditions and gusting winds on day one of LIV Golf Chicago that gave him third place five strokes behind leaderboard topper Brooks Koepka at the Bolingbrook Golf Club on Friday.

Lahiri’s Crushers GC team mate Paul Casey was second four shots adrift of Smash GC captain Koepka, who has twice won the season-ending event already and fired an error-free 62 to set a hot pace for the field at the last event in the individual LIV Golf calendar ahead of the team championship in Dallas next week. Casey was on 4 under 66 while Lahiri had a 3 under 67. 

Combined with their captain Bryson DeChambeau’s 68, the Crushers led the team event with a 9 under total, four shots ahead of the 4Aces of Dustin Johnson and Smash, who were tied for second on 5 under totals.

At the top in the individual event, Koepka is well placed to chase a third consecutive win on the weekend at Chicago which could also earn him the final podium spot in the season-long individual championship. He had the day’s only bogey-free round and in a way underlined the steadiness of Lahiri’s outing that contained four birdies against one dropped shot. Koepka’s four-shot lead was also just one shy of the LIV Golf record for biggest lead after the opening round.
 
“A good player gets hot and they can shoot 62 pretty easy,” said Koepka. “There’s a bunch of guys out here than can do that. When it’s your day, it’s your day.”

There was also plenty of attention on season leaders Jon Rahm and Joaquin Neimann as the individual title will be decided on Sunday with the latter trailing by less than three points in the overall standings. On Friday, Neimann, who is also the captain of Torque GC, bounced back from a late double bogey to card a 2 under 68 and tie for fourth on the leaderboard.
 
It was one stroke better than his playing partner and Legion XIII captain Rahm, who suffered his only setback of the day on the 16th hole to shoot a 69 and drop into a tie for 11th. Niemann is now projected to finish with 205.62 points against 199.92 for Rahm but with 36 holes to go, the Chilean star is taking nothing for granted.

“Look, there's a lot of golf to play,” Niemann said. “It's a good start, yes, but there's still a nice long weekend to come, so looking forward to that. It all depends how the weekend goes. If I'm in a position where I can win the tournament, I'm going to try to be aggressive and try to chase that.”
 
Rahm was a bogey-free and 2 under after 15 holes until trouble with his chip shot from just off the 16th green led to his only bogey. “I think it’s one of those days where my score is better than how I played today,” he said. “It wasn’t my best by any stretch. … It’s a tricky golf course, and with the wind added, it’s not the easiest to shoot low when you’re not feeling your best.”

“We’ve got two more days. Hopefully we’ll keep it going and get a little better every day.”

Koepka arrived in Chicago with good momentum, having won last month’s LIV Golf Greenbrier for his second victory of the year and a record fifth of his LIV Golf career. That result has also given him a chance to reach the bonus-earning third place in the season-long points race behind the two front-runners.
 
Tyrrell Hatton is currently third, but Koepka can overtake the Legion XIII star with a win, provided Hatton finishes below third. Hatton left the door open after an opening 3-over 73 dropped him into a tie for 38th. At last year’s finale in Jeddah, Koepka successfully defended his title by beating Talor Gooch in a playoff to also finish third in the individual championship. He was not aware of the stakes then, but knows the stakes this time round, though his first focus is still the win at Chicago.
 
“I basically have to win to even have a chance,” he said, “so that’s what I’ve got to go do.”
On Friday, Koepka led the field in scrambling, converting all six chances, and his putter was on song, particularly over the closing six holes when he made five birdies. He called it the best putting day he’s had “in a long time.”
 
“It was a bit of an odd day,” he said. “The first seven, eight holes, I hit it absolutely terrible. I know what it feels like to be Cameron Smith. I think I made every putt I looked at, so it was nice to be like him for a day.”
 
Also at Chicago, players ranked 49th and below after Sunday will be relegated out of the league and must earn their way back in during the offseason. Those who started this week in the Drop Zone remain projected to stay there after the first round including Stinger GC veteran Branden Grace and RangeGoats GC captain Bubba Watson.