Three tied at top in Hong Kong; Torque leads after Rd. 2

HONG KONG – Peter Uihlein grabbed a share of the lead Saturday at LIV Golf Hong Kong thanks to a rollercoaster 6-under 64. Ultimately, that up-and-down round was a good thing for the rest of the field.

The RangeGoats GC star produced one eagle and eight birdies but suffered four bogeys to finish at 11 under and keep the competition tight. He’ll enter Sunday’s final round at Hong Kong Golf Club tied with Crushers GC’s Paul Casey and Fireballs GC Captain Sergio Garcia for the lead, three shots ahead of their nearest chasers.

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“I just watched the Peter Uihlein show today,” said Casey, who shot a 66 on Saturday and has yet to make a bogey this week. “It was impressive stuff. I'm very happy that I'm sitting here tied for the lead. … If Pete had not made a bogey today, he’d be about five shots ahead because of his firepower,”

“I kind of just view it as entertainment,” said Uihlein. “Obviously I don't like making bogeys, but I guess the adversity that kind of comes with it, I enjoy that. I enjoy the moment.”

Torque GC’s Mito Pereira also enjoyed a moment Saturday, recording the 10th hole-in-one in LIV Golf history, at the 149-yard second hole. Pereira shot a 64 to lead his team to the top of the leaderboard at 25 under, two strokes ahead of Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII and Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC.

Torque and Legion XIII have won multiple LIV Golf tournaments, but the HyFlyers have yet to break through as a team. Mickelson also has a chance at an individual title; he’s tied for fourth with two Torque players, Pereira and Sebastián Muñoz.

The last time Mickelson won a tournament, he made history, winning the 2021 PGA Championship at age 51 to become the oldest golfer to win a men’s major. While he would love to win the LIV Golf individual title, he says a team victory Sunday would be even more special.

“The experience of sharing it with teammates … I think that would probably mean a little more, which is very unusual to say in a game that's such an individual sport,” Mickelson said.

Like Mickelson, Uihlein and Casey are each seeking their first LIV Golf individual title. Unlike Mickelson, both have celebrated multiple LIV Golf wins from a team standpoint. But Uihlein is tired of knocking on the individual door.

“I've had four runners-up, so getting that first win would be awesome,” said Uihlein, a two-time winner on The International Series. “I think that's kind of the goal at the start of every year is to get a win. To get a team win would be nice as well, but an individual win would be fantastic.”

Casey, who has won 21 titles in 13 different countries in his career and came close last year at LIV Golf Hong Kong when he reached a three-man playoff, was asked what a win on Sunday might mean.

“Every win is special, from the most recent to the very first that I ever had,” he said. “Hopefully, I can answer that again tomorrow.”

Garcia’s Fireballs won the most recent LIV Golf tournament in Adelaide. Last year at LIV Golf Andalucía, Garcia won the individual title and was part of the team win on his favorite course, Valderrama. He matched Uihlein’s 64 on Saturday but did it with less stress, going bogey-free.

“It's an ideal kind of golf course,” Garcia said of Hong Kong Golf Club. “It's an old-style, traditional kind of style, which I love. It's a similar course to what you might see in like Valderrama or something like that that I've always enjoyed. Very happy to be here and playing and doing well. We'll give it another shot tomorrow.”

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 results and scores for each team after Saturday's Rd. 2 of LIV Golf Hong Kong.

1. TORQUE GC -25 (Pereira 64, Muñoz 67, Niemann 68, Ortiz 68; Rd. 2 score: -13)

T2. LEGION XIII -23 (Surratt 62, Rahm 64, McKibbin 66, Hatton 67; Rd. 2 score: -21)

T2. HYFLYERS GC -23 (Tringale 64, Mickelson 65, Ogletree 67, Steele 70; Rd. 2 score: -14)

4. FIREBALLS GC -22 (Garcia 64, Ancer 65, Puig 67, Masaveu 73; Rd. 2 score: -11)

5. CRUSHERS GC -20 (Casey 66, Lahiri 66, DeChambeau 67, Howell III 73; Rd. 2 score: -8)

6. STINGER GC -19 (Oosthuizen 65, Grace 66, Burmester 67, Schwartzel 67; Rd. 2 score: -15)

7. RANGEGOATS GC -18 (Uihlein 64, Campbell 68, Watson 68, Wolff 69; Rd. 2 score: -11)

8. RIPPER GC -16 (Herbert 66, Leishman 66, Smith 68, Jones 69; Rd. 2 score: -11)

9. SMASH GC -12 (McDowell 65, Koepka 65, Kokrak 65, Gooch 70; Rd. 2 score: -15)

T10. CLEEKS GC -10 (Meronk 67, Bland 68, Kaymer 68, Kjettrup 69; Rd. 2 score: -8)

T10. MAJESTICKS GC -10 (Westwood 67, Poulter 70, Stenson 70, Horsfield 71; Rd. 2 score: -2)

12. 4ACES GC -7 (Reed 65, Varner III 68, Pieters 69, Johnson 72; Rd. 2 score: -6)

13. IRON HEADS GC -6 (Na 67, Schniederjans 70, D. Lee 71, Jang 75; Rd. 2 score: +3)

Wild Cards: C. Lee 69, Kim 68

ROUND 2 NOTES

PHIL IN CONTENTION: HyFlyers GC Captain Phil Mickelson, LIV Golf’s most decorated player with 57 career wins and a place in the World Golf Hall of Fame, enters the final round tied for fourth on the individual leaderboard. That’s his best position after any LIV Golf round.

Mickelson’s opening round Friday was a 3-under 67 that included seven birdies and four bogeys. Saturday’s 65 included seven birdies and two bogeys. From Mickelson’s perspective, the math is simple as he chases his first individual LIV Golf title.

“Tomorrow I've got to make seven birdies and have no bogeys, and I've got a shot at winning this tournament,” Mickelson said. “Minimizing the mistakes allows me to not have to make as many birdies and to play a much easier style of game. I should say less stressful style. That's what I'm looking at doing.”

At age 54, Mickelson admits he can no longer go toe-to-toe with the game’s biggest hitters and thus must find a different way to win. The 6,711-yard Hong Kong Golf Club layout is well-suited for his new approach.

“I've been fighting it the last three years trying to play the way I've always played, and as the courses get longer and the players get longer and I'm not staying with it,” he said. “I just have to find another way to play golf courses.”

LEGION’S BIG DAY: Legion XIII moved into a tie for second on the team leaderboard after starting the second round tied for 10th. Their 21-under total as a team is the league’s best second-round performance this season.

Even more impressive, of the 72 holes played by Legion XIII on Saturday, the only bogey suffered was by Captain Jon Rahm on the par-4 ninth en route to shooting a 6-under 64. The team’s best player Saturday was its youngest one, 20-year-old Caleb Surratt, who bounced back from an opening 75 to shoot an 8-under 62.

Tom McKibbin shot 66 and Tyrrell Hatton a 67 to round out the team’s big day. They will seek their second title of the season, having won the season opener in Riyadh.

NEW PUTTERS: Mickelson and Sergio Garcia are among the 11 players who switched putters since the last LIV Golf tournament in Adelaide. Both veterans have gone back to familiar putters that have worked for them in the past.

Garcia is using a blade putter that he last used six years ago, finding that his putts were more consistent than with the other putter that had served him well for the past year. “Obviously, it’s always a little bit of a gamble,” Garcia said, “but it’s nice to see that it’s working, and I feel very comfortable with it.”

Mickelson is using a blade putter this week but says he will switch putters on any given week depending on the course or the golf ball he’s playing. He said the blade allows him to putt more instinctively “because that’s what I grew up on. I like putting more instinctively rather than scientifically."

MITO’S ACE: Torque GC’s Mito Pereira’s hole-in-one at the second hole is the 10th in LIV Golf history. He joins his captain Joaquin Niemann, who recorded an ace last year in Hong Kong at the eighth hole. Former Cleeks GC member Kalle Samooja also had a hole-in-one last year in Hong Kong.

It’s the second ace on LIV Golf this season after Patrick Reed’s hole-in-one on the Watering Hole 12th in Adelaide.

Pereira’s ace is his third in competition and fourth overall as a golfer.

PERFECT BRYSON: Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau hit all 14 fairways during the second round. He’s the only player in the first five LIV Golf rounds played at Hong Kong Golf Club (including last season) to hit every fairway in a single round.

RAHM’S STREAKS: Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm shot his 17th consecutive LIV Golf round under par with a 6-under 64. The LIV Golf record is 20 by Bryson DeChambeau. Rahm will start the final round tied for seventh at 7 under, four shots off the lead. Rahm has never finished outside the top 10 in any of the 14 LIV Golf regular season tournaments that he’s completed.

ROUND 2 STATS LEADERS

Driving accuracy: Bryson DeChambeau, 100% (14 of 14 fairways hit)

Driving distance: Yubin Jang, 340.2 yards avg.

Longest drive: Yubin Jang, 343.6 yards, 13th hole

Greens in regulation: Jon Rahm, 94.44% (17 of 18 greens)

Scrambling: 8 players at 100%, led by Mito Pereira, 6 of 6

Putting: Peter Uihlein 1.33 putts per hole

Bogey-free rounds: Caleb Surratt (62), Sergio Garcia (64), Mito Pereira (64), Jason Kokrak (65), Paul Casey (66), Branden Grace (66), Tom McKibbin (66), Tyrrell Hatton (67)