Patrick Reed dominates day one as he pursues his first LIV Golf Miami victory

After one day of golf at LIV Miami, Patrick Reed looks like he is playing a different course than everyone else, posting a five under and leading the pack by two. The 4Aces GC player and 2018 Masters champion played close to a flawless round of golf until his last hole, recording seven birdies, one double bogey and ten pars.

It was a windy day for the beginning of LIV Golf’s fourth consecutive tournament at Trump Doral’s Blue Monster golf course and many of LIV’s top current players struggled.

Coming into the tournament, Torque GC captain Joaquin Niemann topped the individual standings with 84.66 points and two tournament wins this season, but he had a brutal day, finishing six over, tied for 43.

John Rahm, the captain of Legion XII, is second in individual rankings with 66.70 points and has finished in the top six of every tournament so far this season. His day ended much better than Niemann, but not up to his normal standards, finishing one over and tied for 16.

Last year’s Miami champion and Stinger GC player Dean Burmester also struggled defending his title. After finishing 11 under at the end of last year’s tournament, Burmester, who is currently ranked fifth, finished even and tied for 10.

Instead of these top players, Reed, who is tied for 29th in LIV’s individual standings, dominated the day. Last year at Miami, Reed finished tied for 30th but he started LIV’s first tournament of the season in the U.S. red hot.

“It was just steady golf. I was driving it well, felt like I had pretty good control of my irons, and really at the end of the day, the putter was working,” Reed said. “Not having to chip around this place makes it easy, so I felt like I had a lot of control of the golf ball and was able to get up-and-down anytime I did miss a green.”

His first hole ended in a birdie, and he kept that momentum throughout the front nine, finishing four under. He stayed consistent through the back nine, adding three more birdies, bringing him to seven under walking up to his final hole.

Faced with a par three over water, Reed finally looked human for the first time of the day. He took three shots to get on the green then two putted from there to finish with a double bogey. It was the one flaw in Reed’s round and is the only reason he isn’t running away with the tournament.

“I had the worst yardage possible. I felt like if I hit hybrid, it’s too much, but then if I hit 4-iron I’d have to start it almost over the water and try to hook it back,” Reed said, when describing what happened on the final hole. “It was just one bad swing that put me in a really bad lie, in a bad spot, and it happens. Now it’s just about bouncing back from it going into tomorrow.”

So far this season, Reed has had been subpar compared to previous seasons. After finishing 20 in the final rankings last year and 6 the year before that, he has only one top 20 finish so far this year, tying for 10 in Hong Kong.

Reed is also looking to get his first ever LIV golf tournament win and he has set himself up perfectly to do so after his first day, but he still isn’t brimming with confidence. He knows how challenging the course can be.

“I know how hard this place can get. When the wind blows here, it’s nerve-racking,” Reed said. “It seems like the wind kind of switches directions a couple times while you’re out there. You just have to stay committed to what you’re doing, hit quality golf shots and hit the ball solid.”

Reed’s 4Aces teammate and captain, Dustin Johnson, along with Crushers captain Bryson Dechambeau and HyFlyers Captain Phil Mickelson, all finished tied for second at three under.

The Crushers were also the only team to shoot under par for the day, finishing at two under and in the lead. The 4Aces came in second, finishing even despite two of their four players posting the best scores for the round. The top three was rounded out by Fireballs GC who finished way behind the other two at five over.

Day two of LIV Golf Miami kicks off at 11:15 a.m. Saturday morning at Trump Doral Golf course. It can be stream on the FOX sports app and will be broadcast on FS1.