British golfer Paul Casey and American Harold Varner III took the lead in the LIV Golf Las Vegas tournament on Thursday, with Jon Rahm trailing by five strokes. This is the first stop in the United States for the controversial Saudi circuit in 2024. Casey and Varner III both scored a -7 with 63 strokes each.
Rahm had less fortune, settling for a -2 with three birdies and a bogey. His fellow countryman David Puig was the highest-performing Spanish player with a score of -3. Eugenio Chacarra matched Rahm with a -2, while Sergio Garcia finished the first day with a -1.
Garcia came in second place in the first LIV Golf event of 2024, the Mayakoba in Mexico last week. He narrowly lost in an exciting playoff against Chilean Joaquín Niemann, who scored a -2 in the opening round in Las Vegas.
In terms of team standings, RangeGoats GC, led by American Bubba Watson, holds the top position with a total score of -15. This LIV Golf tournament will continue until Saturday in Las Vegas, just one day before the casino mecca hosts the Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers.
After participating in the US Open, Jon Rahm turned professional, which made him ineligible for the 2016 British Open. In his first tournament as a professional, the Quicken Loans National, he led or tied for the lead after the first two rounds. Ultimately, he finished in third place, four strokes behind the winner Billy Hurley III.
This performance granted him a qualification spot for the British Open once again, as the Quicken Loans National was one of the qualifying tournaments. He then secured a second-place finish at the RBC Canadian Open, earning a special temporary membership status on the PGA Tour for the rest of the season.
Furthermore, he accumulated enough points as a non-member to obtain a PGA Tour card for the 2017 season. On January 29, 2017, he achieved victory at the Farmers Insurance Open with a 60-foot putt for eagle on the final hole. A few weeks later, he announced his intention to also compete on the European Tour.
In March, he participated in his first World Golf Championships events, finishing in third place at the WGC-Mexico Championship and in second place at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, where he was defeated in the final by the world number one, American Dustin Johnson.
He secured his second title of the year, and his first on the European Tour, at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open with a six-shot lead over the runners-up. In July 2018, he triumphed in the Ryder Cup with the European team in his inaugural appearance, contributing 1 point against Tiger Woods.
According to the Source tennisworldusa.org