Rd. 1 News and Notes: Niemann vs. Rahm heads to weekend in Chicago
BOLINGBROOK, Ill. – Brooks Koepka raced out to the early lead at LIV Golf Chicago with a blistering-hot 62, but there were plenty more news, notes and stats from the first round at Bolingbrook Golf Club, including the latest update on the race for the season-long individual title.
RELATED: Koepka leads by four; Niemann, Rahm in tight race for Individual Championship
NIEMANN PROJECTED TO OVERTAKE RAHM: Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann bounced back from a double bogey late in Friday’s opening round to shoot a 2-over 68, leaving him tied for fourth on the individual leaderboard.
More important, it left him one shot better than Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm, who suffered his only bogey of the day on the 16th hole to shoot a 69 and drop into a tie for 11th.
With the one-shot difference, Niemann is now projected to finish with 205.62 points while Rahm is projected with 199.92 points. The player with the most points after Sunday will become the 2024 Individual Champion.
For Niemann to win the title, he has to finish ahead of Rahm and hope that their difference on the final leaderboard has enough separation. Rahm, meanwhile, merely needs to finish ahead or tied with Niemann.
Niemann will also be hoping to claim his third tournament title of the season. He won two of the first three tournaments and led the points standings until Rahm overtook him last month in Greenbrier.
“It all depends how the weekend goes,” said Niemann, whose round was highlighted with a hole-out from 31 yards at the par-4 eighth. “If I'm in a position where I can win the tournament, I'm going to try to be aggressive and try to chase that.”
Rahm was a bogey-free 2 under through 15 holes until finding trouble with his chip shot from just off the 16th green, leading to his only bogey.
“I think it’s one of those days where my score is better than how I played today,” Rahm said. “It wasn’t my best by any stretch. … It’s a tricky golf course, and with the wind added, it’s not the easiest to shoot low when you’re not feeling your best.”
LOCK ZONE PROJECTIONS: Ripper GC’s Lucas Herbert is tied for fourth at 2 under and is now projected to climb into the Lock Zone, the top 24 in points who will have guaranteed spots in the 2025 LIV Golf League. Herbert is projected to 23rd.
Projected to drop out of the Lock Zone is HyFlyers GC’s Brendan Steele, the winner earlier this year in Adelaide. Steele shot a 3-over 73 and is projected to 25th.
DROP ZONE PROJECTIONS: Players ranked 49th and below in points after Sunday will be relegated out of the league and must earn their way back in during the offseason.
The players who started this week in the Drop Zone remain projected to stay there after the first round. That includes Stinger GC veteran Branden Grace and RangeGoats GC Captain Bubba Watson.
COURSE ADJUSTMENTS: Bolingbrook Golf Club, hosting its first LIV Golf tournament, played differently on Friday than it did during the practice rounds.
That change contributed to challenging scoring conditions, as the greens firmed up and the winds switched.
“I’m trying to get around this golf course relatively unscathed,” said Crushers GC’s Paul Casey, in solo second at 4 under. “If you can get off there with not too many wounds, that’s what it feels like. It’s sort of like Monty Python getting hacked to pieces, losing an arm here and there.”
Casey said having an experienced caddie can be key in those circumstances. He has one in John McLaren, and tournament leader Brooks Koepka has another in Ricky Elliott.
“That was my first time seeing the back nine today,” Koepka said. “More just leaning on Rick trying to figure out what’s going on with this place.”
EXPLANATION OF BLAND ONE-STROKE PENALTY: In round one, the group of Charl Schwartzel, Patrick Reed and Richard Bland were officially warned by a rules official after their fifth hole of the day (hole 10), where the group was out of position on the golf course as well as behind in relation to time par. After their seventh hole of the day (hole 12) the group, who had further lost position on the course, was officially timed by a rules official. In accordance with the LIV Golf League’s Pace of Play Policy, “A player has 40 seconds to play each stroke, with an additional 10 seconds if they are the first to play any stroke in the group”.
On the 12th hole, Bland’s second stroke was timed exceeding the allotted time per policy. Bland was immediately notified by an official and assessed a one-stroke penalty as well as fined $10,000. Bland’s score for the par-5 14th hole, including the one-stroke penalty, resulted in a score of 5.
ROUND 1 STATS LEADERS
Driving accuracy: Patrick Reed, Andy Ogletree, 78.57% (11 of 14 fairways hit)
Driving distance: Dustin Johnson, 382.4 yards avg.
Longest drive: Dustin Johnson, 396.7 yards, 1st hole
Greens in regulation: Patrick Reed, 77.78% (14 of 18 greens)
Scrambling: Brooks Koepka (6 of 6), 100%
Putting: Ian Poulter, 1.17 putts per hole
Bogey-free rounds: Brooks Koepka (62)