LIV Golf: After shooting 71 and three bogeys in his final four holes, Paul Casey is three strokes behind the leaders after two rounds. Phil Mickelson was 14 shots back.
In what appears to be an Oklahoma State alumni reunion, Talor Gooch holed a 4-foot birdie putt on his final hole to equal Peter Uihlein for the lead in the LIV Golf season opener at Mayakoba.
At El Camaleon, Uihlein held the lead for the majority of the day on Saturday before a bogey-birdie-bogey finish resulted in a 5-under 66. Gooch completed his round without making a bogey by hitting an approach shot to close range on the opening par-4 hole.
They played on the same Oklahoma State squad; Gooch was a freshman, while Uihlein was a junior who had just won the U.S. Amateur at Chambers Bay.
They were one shot ahead of Charles Howell III, a Cowboys player from more than ten years prior, at 9-under 133. Howell started out strong with three consecutive birdies and finished with one for a 66.
👏👏 Another good round by @TalorGooch has him T1 on the individual leaderboard going in to Sunday. His strong play and @Thomas_Pieters 68 helped RangeGoats climb up to 4th in team completion. pic.twitter.com/kKWrDyPMya
— rangegoatsgc (@RangeGoatsGC) February 25, 2023
Paul Casey and Branden Grace were tied for first place until Casey made three bogeys in his final four holes to finish with a 71 and fall three strokes behind (68).
Uihlein was drafted to join the 4 Aces team captained by Dustin Johnson after Gooch finished third on the points list in LIV’s first season. Uihlein took Gooch’s place. Before settling into a string of pars leading up to his erratic finish, he finished the front nine with five birdies in a six-hole run.
“Just tough on the back nine. The greens developed some crust,” added Uihlein. All you can really do around here is keep the ball in play, which is what I did.
Howell’s performance in the team competition helped the Crushers to a two-shot victory over 4 Aces.
A PGA Tour event was staged at Mayakoba from 2007 till last November. With 13 appearances in that competition and three top-10 finishes, Howell’s best finish was a tie for fourth in 2018.
“I frequently play on this golf course. You simply never feel at ease with it,” Howell declared. “You can play it if you drive it well. Thus, we face a challenging day.”
After making a double bogey late in his round, Johnson was forced to settle for a 71 and fell six strokes behind the leader.
After two rounds, Phil Mickelson trailed by 14 strokes and had only hit one birdie throughout his 75-point performance. Sunday is the day of the third and final round.
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