LIV Golf LIVE: Leaderboard and Day 1 scores as Carlos Ortiz leads the way after the opening round in Portland
Follow all the action from the second event of the Saudi-funded breakaway series
Golf’s newest and most controversial tour, the LIV Golf Series, hosts its second event in Portland, Oregon this week with the action kicking off tonight. The Saudi-backed venture has added more high-profile names to its roster, with America’s Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, and Patrick Reed among the latest players to defect from the PGA Tour, joining the likes of Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson.
The American PGA Tour and European DP World Tour have issued suspensions and fines respectively in a bid to halt the breakaway but players Carlos Ortiz and Matthew Wolff have committed themselves to LIV Golf in the last week alone. Meanwhile Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas, amongst others, have spoken publicly in favour of golf’s two main tours yet the field in Portland is set to be significantly stronger than at LIV Golf’s inaugural event in England last month.
South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel bagged the first winner’s cheque for £3.85m after triumphing at the Centurion Club and another eye-watering £20m prize pot will be on offer in Oregon with the lure of the Saudi-backed rebel series’ riches proving hard to resist for players. The full field of 48 players has been confirmed and the format will continue to be a 54-hole shotgun start played across three days with Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in Portland hosting this week’s event.
Relive all the action from Day 1 of the second event of the controversial tour below:
LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1
Charl Schwartzel seems to have found his range. He flicks his approach on the seventh over the false front of the green and lands it within six feet of the hole! A fine shot.
Brooks Koepka is also starting to make his mark on the round. He’s into the red at (-1) after consecutive birdies on the fifth and the sixth.
LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1
Hudson Swafford - who is a three time winner on the PGA Tour apparantly - might just have got a run going here. Birdies on 11 and 12 see the 34-year-old to two-under thru five and within one shot of the lead.
Hideto Tanihara joins him there after following his two on 12 with a par and a fine birdie putt on the 14th. It’s a very good start now for the Torque GC captain.
LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1
Back on the sixth, Captain America himself Patrick Reed slides a birdie opportunity wide to the right of the hole and has to settle for par.
Just behind on the fifth Brooks Koepka records his first birdie of the round and comes back to evens after his bogey on the first hole.
Both players seem to have settled nicely into their rounds and will be hoping to push on and challenge the leaders.
Shane Lowry welcomes closer ties between Tours in response to LIV Golf threat
Former Open champion Shane Lowry has welcomed the sense of “comfort” given by the strengthening of ties between the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.
In their latest response to the threat posed by the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series, the two circuits announced the next phase of their strategic alliance, which was signed in November 2020.
The aim is to counter what Rory McIlroy describes as the “boatloads of cash” offered by LIV Golf which have succeeded in attracting the likes of Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Patrick Reed to the 54-hole, 48-man events, resulting in their suspension from the PGA Tour.
From 2023 the top 10 finishers on the DP World Tour rankings not already exempt will gain PGA Tour cards, with the US circuit increasing its stake in European Tour Productions from 15 to 40 per cent and that money used to guarantee increases in DP World Tour purses for the next five years.
Shane Lowry welcomes closer ties between Tours in response to LIV Golf threat
The PGA Tour and DP World Tour announced the next phase of their strategic alliance
LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1
Dustin Johnson leaves a birdie putt just short on the second. He stays level par for the round after a birdie on the first cancelled out an opening bogey on 18.
Carlos Ortiz (-3) is back out in front on his own with a two on the par-3 at 12.
Stingers’ captain Louis Oosthuizen is in the red with a birdie of his own on the sixth. He’s one-under thru four.
Team leaderboard update
It’s close at the top of the team leaderboards but Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs lead the way.
1: Fireballs GC (-3)
T2: Hy Flyers GC (-2)
T2: 4 Aces GC (-2)
T2: Majesticks GC (-2)
LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1
Here’s Hideto Tanihara’s birdie from the bunker earlier on:
LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1
There’s about 15 holes left to play for the majority of the fourballs. Carlos Ortiz and Bernd Wiesberger lead the way at two-under.
Pat Perez has dropped at shot on the par-4 sixth. He’s back to -1 thru four holes.
LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1
A huge putt for birdie on the fourth just rolls up next to the hole from Phil Mickelson who is stil level for the round after a couple of early pars.
We’re early on in this second LIV Golf event and some of the negatives from the previous tournament remain.
By far the worst one though is the propaganda espoused from the commentary team.
By their accounts the players have never been happier, the sun has never been warmer and golf has never been better. The fans are also as loud as they can be and the technology at this event is unmatched - especially the microphones on the course which catch the conversations between the players and their caddies.
It’s all eye-rolling stuff that is quite clearly a stretch of the truth - at best.
LIV Golf Portland Invitational: Day 1
Carlos Ortiz’s lead didn’t last long.
Pat Perez and Bernd Wiesberger both join him at two-under after birdies on the fifth and 17th respectively.
Both men have completed three holes with Ortiz still motoring down the 11th which is the third hole for his round.
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