Smash set hot pace at LIV Golf Greenbrier as Gooch shows some missing form 

Talor Gooch hit the front running on day one of LIV Golf Greenbrier in West Virginia as his Smash GC also topped the team leaderboard on Friday, the 2023 individual topper finally showing signs of form that he has been searching for through a difficult season.

Gooch shot a bogey-free 7 under par 63 to share the first day lead with by Smash teammate Jason Kokrak and Torque GC’s Sebastián Muñoz. In the team standings, Smash on 20 under led Ripper GC and Legion XIII by four shots, their Friday score matching the lowest counting score by a team this season in either of the first two rounds.

Also showing some desperately needed firm was Smash skipper Brooks Koepka, who opened with a blemish-free 6 under 64 to share fourth place with four others one stroke back on a day play was suspended for 80 minutes due to a rain storm.

“This year has not been great,” said Koepka afterwards. “This year has been actually very disappointing. I haven't played anywhere what I want to play. Played absolutely horrible in all the majors and only won once out here, so that's not anywhere where I want it.”

Behind them, current leader and Torque GC captain Joaquin Niemann opened with a 3-under 67 in his quest to seal the 2024 individual title this week, holding a share of 20th place while closest challenger, Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm, was in the group sharing fourth place.
 
Victory for Niemann at While Sulphur Springs this week means Rahm will have to finish second to keep the race alive entering the final week of the regular season in Chicago. Rahm, who won LIV Golf’s previous tournament in UK, is focusing on simply winning a second consecutive event.
 
“Still a long way to go before thinking of the individual championship,” the Spaniard noted.
 
Last year, Bryson DeChambeau shot an opening 2-under 68 at Greenbrier. He followed with a  historic 61-58 weekend to win his first LIV Golf individual title. On Friday, the Crushers GC captain duplicated his first-round score with a 68 on Friday, leaving him tied for 24th on the leaderboard. He was tied for 25th after his opening round last year.

For his part, Gooch won three tournaments last season en route to the championship. His best finish this season was shared second at Las Vegas. “It's always good to have a day where golf is easy,” said Gooch, who hit all 18 greens in regulation while holing out for eagle at the par-4 fifth. 

“Golf hasn't been as easy this year as it was last year, so hopefully we can have a couple more easy days coming up.” While out of the 2024 race, Gooch still has a chance of playing his way into the lucrative top three having entered the week in 11th place.

“It's been a bit of a disappointing year, but you're just trying to get better,” Gooch said. “You're trying to capture the good golf and make it last as long as possible. We haven't been able to capture much good golf this year, but that's why you've got to put the work in and just know that it's going to pay off.”
 
Five-time major winner Koepka took the LIV Golf Singapore title in May for a league-topping fourth career LIV title but has been nowhere at any of the majors this year. He is 10th in the standings and still could finish in the top three like his team mate Gooch, and also push Smash into contention for an opening round bye at the team championship in Dallas.

“These are the types of days you wish you could have more of,” Gooch said later. “Hopefully we can have another couple easy days this weekend.”

On Friday, Smash GC and Ripper GC dropped just one shot each as Greenbrier yielded some low scores despite the rain break. Gooch (64), Koepka (64) and John Catlin (66) had bogey-free rounds while Jason Kokrak (63) recorded the team’s only bogey.
 
Rippers’ Matt Jones (64), Lucas Herbert (65) and Marc Leishman (65) played bogey-free golf in the same group, with captain Cameron Smith (66) dropping their only shot. Leishman was returning to action after withdrawing at LIV Golf UK by JCB due to appendicitis.
 
In all, 11 players recorded bogey-free rounds on Friday while just nine players finished with rounds over par.