Fresh off his victory at LIV’s last event, LIV Greenbrier, five time major winner Brooks Koepka picked up where he left off as he holds a commanding lead after the first day of play at LIV Chicago.
Seemingly at ease within the beautiful surroundings of the Bolingbrook Golf Club, Koepka holds a four shot lead over Paul Casey as he tries to wrap up a third LIV title of the season.
With Koepka looking to cement his position at the top of the leaderboard even further today, all eyes will continue to be on the race between Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemann.
The two are guaranteed to finish as the top two players in the individual standings but who ends up on top and bags themselves the $18 million bonus remains very much up in the air. As it stands it is Niemann who would end the year as LIV’s overall champion, but his lead to Rahm is just one stroke and the two will try to outdo the other once
play resumes.
Here is a recap of the day’s main talking points.
Koepka dominates and cements his credentials as one of the world’s best players
Brooks Koepka is an enigma. A born winner, Koepka seems to struggle with the humdrum of regular season golf.
Driven by the majors, as he knows that is where legacies are built, there seems to have been a major seachange in the five time major winner over the last two months as Koepka has been majestic.
Surprisingly this season Koepka has struggled in the majors, usually a consistent name at the top of the leaderboards, he has barely been a footnote this year and he seems to be determined to remind everyone of his qualities.
With much of the LIV spotlight shining on Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, Koepka has been able to remind everyone of the huge talent he possesses and has underlined that he is a name that can’t be overlooked.
Edging out Rahm in a playoff to take the Greenbrier title, he looks in pole position to land a third title of the season and his sixth in total. Standing at the top of the LIV standings when it comes to overall wins, Koepka is making a claim for being the breakaway Tour’s best player.
Although his late season form has come too late when it comes to winning this year’s individual crown, he is setting himself up nicely for a real crack at victory next year.
Flawless yesterday, particularly on the back nine, Koepka will look to build on his opening round 62 today and stretch his overall lead out even further.
Paul Casey finally arrives at the LIV party
Since defecting to LIV from the PGA Tour, Paul Casey hasn’t quite been able to have the impact he would have wanted.
A classy player, Casey is a three time PGA Tour winner and has also notched up fifteen wins on the European Tour. Now playing in his second full season, the Englishman is yet to taste LIV success with his best finish coming over in Hong Kong where he finished second.
Looking to remind the golfing world that he is still a player capable of competing against some of the best players in the work, Casey trails Koepka by four strokes but holds a two shot cushion over the chasing pack.
With nothing to lose, expect Casey to swing the club freely today as he bids to win his first ever LIV crown.
Niemann edges out Rahm in race for outright glory
Eyes will be everywhere today as the battle to be crowned the individual LIV champion looks set to go down to the wire.
For months it has looked like the battle between Joaquin Niemann and Jon Rahm would go right down to the wire and through the first eighteen holes that looks to still be the case.
Through much of the pre tournament buildup the feeling was that Rahm’s experience should just give him the edge over Niemann but surprisingly it was the Chilean who looked more comfortable through the first eighteen holes.
For Niemann, the assignment is simple, if he is to win the individual championship he has to finish ahead of the Spainaird and so far that is exactly what he is doing.
Able to post a first round 68, he currently finds himself six strokes off the lead held by Koepka but more importantly one shot ahead of Rahm.
A slow and steady front nine which yielded one birdie was in stark contrast in comparison to his back nine. With three birdies on his first five holes, Niemann was starting to apply the pressure to Rahm but that positive momentum would be thrown away with a costly double bogey on the par 4 15th.
Many would haven’t blamed Niemann if his round had fallen apart but the Chilean deserves enormous credit for bouncing back with a birdie on the 17th before he ended his day with a solid par.
Hoping to exert more pressure on Rahm today, Niemann is going to throw down a serious challenge right up to the last.
For Rahm it was a surprisingly scruffy round but he would have been delighted that it ended with him lying just one behind Niemann.
Unable to get anything going on the greens, Rahm would be happy how he scrambled for pars and didn’t let the Chilean get too far out of his sight. His opening 69 contained just two birdies and one bogey. Hoping to step it up a gear today, look for Rahm to make his move. He and his fans will hope it turns out to be decisive.
LIV Chicago Round 2 Betting
If you fancy placing a bet ahead of the second round of action here is how the top five currently looks.
Brooks Koepka - Evens
Bryson DeChambeau - 7/1
Paul Casey - 9/1
Jon Rahm - 9/1
Joaquin Niemann - 10/1
Jack Hartman
A keen golfer and huge fan of the game, Jack has been covering golf for the last five years. Bringing you all the latest coverage and news from the PGA, LIV, LPGA and DP World Tours, never before has golf been so popular and Jack can’t wait to bring all the excitement to his readers.
