Dean Burmester was 5 again of Harold Varner III, who has made extra eagles this LIV Golf League season than some other participant, and leads at LIV Golf DC.
Thanks to his two on Friday at LIV Golf DC, Warner now leads for the first time since turning into a member.
LIV Golf heating up
Fueled by eagles at the par-4 ninth and par-5 thirteenth, Varner shot an 8-under 64 at Trump National Washington, D.C., to take a two-stroke benefit over James Piot, with Cameron Smith, Kevin Na, Mito Pereira and reserve Andy Ogletree tied for third at 4 under.
Brooks Koepka, who received the fifth main of his profession ultimately week’s PGA Championship, shot an even-par 72 to offer his Smash GC group with its greatest counting rating, regardless of having little prep work after arriving onsite Thursday afternoon and coping with a cracked driver for greater than half of Friday’s spherical.
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“It felt good just to play golf again, kind of get it out of the way,” stated Koepka after celebrating his fifth main win the previous couple of days at dwelling in South Florida. “Hopefully play a little better the next few days knowing the golf course a little bit more.”
On the group leaderboard, Varner’s RangeGoats GC share the lead with Iron Heads GC at 10 below, with Piot’s HyFlyers GC sitting in a tie for third with Torque GC and 4Aces GC at 8 below.
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Two weeks in the past at LIV Golf’s earlier occasion in Tulsa, Varner tied a League file low by capturing 61, a spherical that included two eagles. His two on Friday got here in his first 10 holes, together with his hole-out on the ninth gap. He now has 10 on the season.
“Holing out never gets old – and it makes it a lot easier,” stated Varner. “… You just want to have eagle looks, honestly. If you do that – I got lucky. I made some long ones in Tulsa, chipped in, but that’s part of it. I feel like I’ve been working on it.”
Stingers GC has some work to do
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Varner had a sluggish begin to the 2023 LIV Golf season, ending exterior the factors (prime 24) in his first two begins. Since then, he’s made regular enchancment with every look – nineteenth in Orlando, seventeenth in Adelaide, ninth in Singapore and 4th in Tulsa, and now the first-round lead in DC.
“The beginning of the year, I was kind of doing other stuff than playing golf,” he stated. “If you just put your head down, I think good things happen. I want to play well. I don’t think I’m terrible at golf.”
The 24-year-old Piot has but to file a points-producing prime 24 end this season. He entered this week forty seventh in the particular person standings and is aware of the prime 24 at the finish of the common season are assured spots for subsequent yr, whereas the backside 4 are topic to relegation.
“Yeah, it’s in the back of your head,” he stated. “Obviously when it’s time to go, you’ve received to go. But at the similar time for me, the objective is hold getting higher, hold enhancing.
“Obviously I would love to play on the LIV tour as long as possible, but for me, as long as I keep improving, that’s really what I want to see right now. That’s my focus. Today was a good start, and hopefully we keep it going.”
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TEAM LEADERBOARD AT LIV GOLF
T1. IRON HEADS GC (-10): Kevin Na 68, Scott Vincent 69, Danny Lee 69
T1. RANGEGOATS GC (-10): Harold Varner III 64, Talor Gooch 70, Thomas Pieters 72
T3. TORQUE GC (-8): Mito Pereira 68, David Puig 70, Sebastián Muñoz 70
T3. 4ACES GC (-8): Dustin Johnson 69, Patrick Reed 69, Peter Uihlein 70
T3. HYFLYERS GC (-8): James Piot 66, Cameron Tringale 69, Brendan Steele 73
6. STINGER GC (-6): Dean Burmester 69, Branden Grace 70, Louis Oosthuizen 71
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