LIV Golf Invitational Valderrama Leaderboard and Odds - How Things Stand After Day 1

UK: 18+ USA: 21+ | Begambleaware.org | T&Cs apply | Play Responsibly

The 8th LIV Golf tournament of the season is underway at The Real Club in Valderrama and the course has played more difficult than most people expected heading into the event. While most LIV events are low-scoring events, the leaders after day one in Spain are only on -4.

After the first day of action in Andalucia, Dustin Johnson sits on top of the leaderboard after an impressive round opening round of 67. The American, who is looking to become the first player in LIV history to win three separate events this week, has set the pace in pace but is joined on -4 with Jason Kokrak who enjoyed his best round of the season in Spain.

LIV Golf Andalucia Leaderboard – Day one

Contents

1 LIV Golf Andalucia Leaderboard – Day one
2 Round one individual summary
3 Round one team summary
- 3.1 Crushers lead the way
- 3.2 Stingers struggling
4 LIV Golf Andalucia latest odds

Position	Player	Score
T-1	Dustin Johnson (USA)	-4 (67)
T-1	Jason Kokrak (USA)	-4 (67)
3	Anirban Lahiri (IND)	-3 (68)
T-4	Cameron Smith (AUS)	-2 (69)
T-4	Talor Gooch (USA)	-2 (69)
T-4	Kevin Na (USA)	-2 (69)
T-7	Sergio Garcia (ESP)	-1 (70)

Round one individual summary

Johnson shines

Dustin Johnson is no stranger to being on top of a golf leaderboard – the 39-year-old has 24 wins on the PGA Tour throughout his career and a further two on the LIV Golf Series. Johnson has been threatening his best form in recent months and he was once again in exceptional form on Friday around the Real Club in Valderrama.

The American started his round on the fourth hole and set the tone for his round on his second hole of the day when he birdied the par four fifth. Although he immediately gave it back on the sixth, he hit top gear across holes 9-11 which put him into the lead. Johnson will now look to kick on tomorrow and extend his lead before the final round on Sunday.

Dustin Johnson is tied for the lead in Valderrama at 4 under. pic.twitter.com/hR6lgw9Iep
— LIV Golf Latest (@LIVGolfLatest) June 30, 2023

Gooch keeps the pace

Heading into this weekend, Talor Gooch was the man that everyone else in LIV was looking to hunt down in the overall standings. Gooch has had a brilliant season and is currently top of the standings by ten points and he went about his business nicely on day one in Spain despite the pressure on him.

The LIV leader controversially missed out on the US Open last month when he failed to qualify but the month off from competitive golf has seemingly served him well as he opened up with a round of 69 to put himself in contention for a third win of the season.

Garcia plays well on home turf

All eyes were on Sergio Garcia on Friday just as they always are whenever the Spaniard picks up a golf club on home turf. As predicted though, Garcia didn’t disappoint his home fans, as he kicked his weekend off with a round of 70 which currently has his three shots off Johnson and Kokrak at the top of the leaderboard.

Garcia scored exchanged three birdies with two bogeys on day one and will look to iron out a couple of silly mistakes heading into day two. As someone who is still searching for their first LIV victory, what better place to get it than on home turf?

Round one team summary

Crushers lead the way

After round one at LIV Andalucia, Crushers GC have the lead in the team standings, despite Charles Howell III carding a +6 round of 77. Thankfully for Crushers, Lahiri, DeChambeau and Casey all played well on the opening day with the trio combining for a score of – 4.

Lahiri was the pick of the bunch with the 36-year-old carding a round of 68 which has him just one shot adrift in the individual standings. On day two, Crushers will likely need a better performance from Howell III as they go searching for their second win of the season.

Stingers struggling

Heading into this weekend, 4Aces GC led Stingers GC by 16 points in the overall team standings. However, after the leaders slumped to a mediocre opening combined round of even-par the door was ajar for Stingers GC to close the gap at the top of the standings.

Unfortunately for the South African team, which is comprised of Dean Burmester, Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen, they had an even worse day on the course and are currently tied for 9th with a score of +2. Grace, in particular, will want to put the opening day behind him after he carded a round of 77.