No surprise that Niemann, who has won every event this season on even-numbered weeks, is among the leaders on the 10th event of the 2025 schedule. He birdied his third hole of the day, the par-5 fourth, and made par on his other 14 holes – the only player without a bogey Friday.
Westwood, who last week won a final qualifying tournament to earn exemption into next week’s Open, was the early leader after birdies in four of his first seven holes. A double bogey derailed his momentum, but he finished the day with four consecutive pars.
Gooch has good vibes at Valderrama, having won LIV Golf Andalucía in 2023 en route to the Individual Championship. He endured a rollercoaster seven-hole stretch that included three birdies and three bogeys, then ended his round by knocking his approach shot to 2 feet at the par-4 10th to end with a birdie.
Grace, battling the potential of relegation for the second consecutive season, is on pace for his best first-round position this season. He was a bogey-free 1 under through his first 10 holes and then responded to his two bogeys with two birdies.
Smith was bogey-free through his first 13 holes and leading by three shots at 4 under. It was one of his best stretches of golf this year, but it ended with a double bogey and bogey before play ended.
“It’s easy to feel frustrated, particularly when I doubled 15 and then bogeyed 16 as well,” Smith said. “I was trotting along pretty good before that.
“But it’s golf. Golf isn’t fair, at the end of the day. Were the conditions fair? Probably not for a little bit, but it is what it is. We’ll get on with it. I’m sure we’ll make a good tournament out of it.”
TEAM SCORES
LIV Golf’s new scoring format this season now involves all four scores now counting in every round in the team competition. (Click here for more on the new format). Here are the partial scores with play suspended late in Friday’s Rd. 1 of LIV Golf Andalucía:
T1. SMASH GC +5 (Gooch -1, Kokrak +1, McDowell +2, Koepka +3)
T1. CRUSHERS GC +5 (DeChambeau E, Casey +1, Howell III +2, Lahiri +2)
T1. LEGION XIII +5 (Rahm E, Hatton +1, Surratt +1, McKibbin +3)
4. 4ACES GC +8 (Reed +1, Johnson +2, Pieters +2, Varner III +3)
T5. HYFLYERS GC +9 (Mickelson +1, Tringale +2, Ogletree +3, Steele +3)
T5. MAJESTICKS GC +9 (Westwood -1, Poulter +1, Horsfield +4, Stenson +5)
7. CLEEKS GC +10 (Bland +1, Meronk +1, Kaymer +4, Kjettrup +4)
T8. RIPPER GC +11 (Smith -1, Jones +2, Leishman +4, Herbert +6)
T8. RANGEGOATS GC +11 (Watson +1, Campbell +2, Uihlein +3, Masaveu +5)
T8. FIREBALLS GC +11 (Ancer +2, Garcia +2, Ballester +3, Puig +4)
11. TORQUE GC +14 (Niemann +1, Muñoz +3, Pereira +4, Ortiz +8)
12. STINGER GC +15 (Grace -1, Oosthuizen +5, Schwartzel +5, Burmester +6)
13. IRON HEADS GC +16 (Kozuma +2, Na +2, Jang +5, Lee +7)
Wild Cards: C. Lee +2, Kim +6
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