KING ADBULLAH ECONOMIC CITY, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Marc Leishman played bogey-free Friday and posted a 5-under 65 to take a one-shot lead over Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka at LIV Golf-Jeddah, the final individual tournament of the season for the LIV Golf League.
Harold Varner III also had a 66 on a warm day in which 21 players from the 48-man league managed to break par.
Cameron Smith leads the points race over Talor Gooch. Both opened with a 70 at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club.
Koepka, the defending champion in Jeddah, is in fifth place. He said he didn’t care about the points race, particularly because the majors do not count. Koepka was a runner-up at the Masters and won the PGA Championship, which helped him land a spot in the Ryder Cup.
“The majors don’t count, so that’s a big stick-to-ya,” Koepka said. “I know they do in the FedEx Cup. On that front, it is kind of disappointing. I feel like that was the biggest win of the year, and it doesn’t count for anything out here.”
Leishman said he has played Royal Greens enough to have a better understanding how to play it, particularly the greens.
“They’re quite tricky greens. I think that’s a big part of success around here is reading the greens and obviously avoiding the trouble,” he said. “There’s a few holes where there’s places you just can’t hit it. Today I avoided those. Hopefully I can avoid them for a couple more days.”
