LIV GOLF MIAMI: GOOCH, GARCIA, UIHLEIN TIED FOR LEAD; RANGEGOATS LEAD BY 5

MIAMI – A year ago last April, Talor Gooch started his hot streak that led to the season-long LIV Golf Individual Championship. It looks like he may be heating up again, as the Smash GC star shot a 5-under 67 at LIV Golf Miami to share the first-round lead with Sergio Garcia and Peter Uihlein.

RELATED: LONG-HITTING RANGEGOATS LEAD IN MIAMI

Meanwhile, Gooch’s former team, RangeGoats GC, opened up a five-stroke lead over Legion XIII thanks to Uihlein’s 67 and a couple of 66s from captain Bubba Watson and Matthew Wolff.

Gooch entered this week ranked sixth in points through the first four events, but he had yet to match the kind of performance he produced on a consistent basis in 2023 when he won three times, including his first LIV Golf victory in Adelaide last April. He said Friday’s round on the Blue Monster at Trump National Doral was the first time his ball-striking was up to his standards.

“This felt a little reminiscent of some of those deep rounds I had last year around this time of year,” said Gooch, who was traded from the RangeGoats to Brooks Koepka’s Smash team during the offseason. “Hopefully we can catch some of that fire we had this time last year and get it going.”

Garcia, the Fireballs GC captain, crafted the only bogey-free round of the day, thanks in large part to hitting 16 of 18 greens in regulation, the best performance by any player in the field Friday. He also had a terrific up-and-down on the par-3 13th to keep his scorecard clean.

“I wasn’t hitting it super-close most of the time, but I was hitting a lot of greens,” said Garcia, who has been part of two of the seven playoffs in LIV Golf history but is still seeking his first LIV individual win. “My lag putting was good. I didn’t put myself under a lot of stress. That obviously helped.”

Uihlein has been one of LIV Golf’s most consistent performers but is also seeking his first individual win. He’s won team trophies with two different teams, and after being traded to the RangeGoats in the offseason, he could join Gooch as the only LIV players to win titles with three different teams. Gooch won team trophies with 4Aces GC in 2022 and the RangeGoats last year, and his Smash team won earlier this season in Las Vegas.

One of LIV Golf’s longest hitters, Uihlein has also emerged as one of its leading putters. He led the field Friday in that category, needing just 23 putts.  “Played really well, putted nice and just kind of felt like I was plotting my way around there, which was good,” Uihlein said.

His teammates Wolff and Watson are the closest pursuers, along with Stinger GC’s Dean Burmester and Iron Heads GC’s Scott Vincent. Six more players are tied for eighth, including Koepka and Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm.

Saturday’s second round is set for a shotgun start at 1:15 p.m. ET.

TEAM COUNTING SCORES

Standings and counting scores for Friday’s opening round of the team competition at LIV Golf Miami. The three best scores from each team count in the first two rounds while all four scores count in the final round. The team with the lowest cumulative score after three rounds wins the team title.

1. RANGEGOATS GC -13 (Uihlein 67, Wolff 68, Watson 68)

2. LEGION XIII -8 (Rahm 69, Surratt 69, Hatton 70)

3. 4ACES GC -7 (Reed 69, Johnson 70, Varner III 70)

4. SMASH GC -6 (Gooch 67, Koepka 69, McDowell 74)

5. STINGER GC -5 (Burmester 68, Oosthuizen 70, Schwartzel 73)

6. FIREBALLS GC -3 (Garcia 67, Ancer 73, Chacarra 73)

T7. IRONHEADS GC -2 (Vincent 68, Na 70, Lee 76)

T7. CLEEKS GC -2 (Bland 71, Samooja 71, Kaymer 72)

T7. TORQUE GC -2 (Pereira 69, Niemann 71, Muñoz 74)

T7. CRUSHERS GC -2 (DeChambeau 71, Casey 71, Lahiri 72)

11. RIPPER GC +1 (Leishman 70, Herbert 73, Jones 74)

12. HYFLYERS GC +2 (Steele 69, Tringale 73, Mickelson 76)

13. MAJESTICKS GC +4 (Poulter 72, Stenson 73, Westwood 75)