American Patrick Reed scored a hole-in-one to spark a wild beer-fuelled crowd celebration on LIV Golf’s Adelaide leg on Friday, as Britain’s Sam Horsfield fired a six-under-par 66 for a one-shot first-round lead.
Former Masters winner Reed aced the “watering hole” par-three 12th at the Grange Golf Club, crammed with thousands of excitable fans fuelled by alcohol and pumping music.
Hundreds of plastic cups and their contents rained down on Reed and his group as he soaked up the moment.
Patrick Reed ACE!!!!! At the Watering Hole! My Oh My! pic.twitter.com/Ne01N1K0xi
— LIV’r & Onions! (@LIVRandONIONS) February 14, 2025
The day belonged to three-time DP Tour winner Horsfield, however, who drained his sixth birdie of the day on the last to secure a one-stroke lead from Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz and Chile’s Joaquin Niemann.
Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau and Abraham Ancer were all a shot further back.
“I feel like my game has been trending a lot recently,” said Horsfield, who is chasing a maiden LIV title. “I played solid last week, finished 12th, So, yeah, obviously just try to do the same things over the weekend and see where that leads.”
Despite his ace, Reed slumped to a 73.
Under LIV’s shotgun start format, where 18 groups of three players tee off simultaneously on different holes, Ortiz took the early initiative.
He went to the turn as the outright leader after five birdies on the front nines gave him a one-shot lead from Johnson and DeChambeau.
But while Ortiz sank nine birdies overall, he also made four bogeys, including three in his last four holes, to open the door to Niemann and Horsfield.
“It was a good round. I played pretty good,” said Ortiz. “I obviously made some really good putts, that always helps here. But I thought it was pretty solid. I kept it in the fairway, pretty much on the greens all day, and I did pretty much everything I needed to do.”
South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel shared seventh after a 69 that included four birdies and a bogey, with Stinger SC teammate and countryman Dean Burmester a further stroke behind. The other team members, Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen, each carded 72.
The LIV Tour’s 14-stop 2025 campaign teed off last week in Riyadh, where Adrian Meronk won the individual title and Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII the team crown.
© Agence France-Presse
Photo: LIV Golf
