Much has been made of the LIV golfers at this year’s Masters.
Do they play ‘real’ golf? Will they be rusty having played fewer tournaments? Just how badly affected have they been by missing out on the likes of Riviera, Bay Hill, TPC Sawgrass and Austin Country Club?
Well, as I said earlier in the week, it’s ridiculous to rule them out. Day one saw some of them play badly, which happens to many players in Majors, and some of them play well – especially Brooks Koepka who carded a seven-under-par 65 to tie the round one lead.
Cameron Smith rallied the LIV troops by saying they need to play well, and the Aussie, Champion Golfer of the Year at St Andrews last July, did his part with a two-under-par 70. He is one of six LIVers under par with Reed, Mickelson, Niemann and Johnson all in at one-under.
There were a total of 18 LIV players in the field starting the day, but only 17 finished after Kevin Na withdrew following his front nine due to illness.
Take a look at day one’s LIV Golf leaderboard below to see how they got on…
LIV Players’ scores at the Masters
- -7 Brooks Koepka
- -2 Cameron Smith
- -1 Patrick Reed, Phil Mickelson, Joaquin Niemann, Dustin Johnson
- E Talor Gooch, Abraham Ancer, Harold Varner III
- +1 Jason Kokrak
- +2 Sergio Garcia, Thomas Pieters, Charl Schwartzel, Bryson DeChambeau, Mito Pereira
- +4 Louis Oosthuizen
- +5 Bubba Watson
- WD Kevin Na
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