Groupings for Friday’s opening round of LIV Golf Adelaide at The Grange Golf Club include a couple of firsts in LIV Golf’s short history:
Captains are playing together in the first four groups for the first time
All other teammates are playing together in the same group for the first time
Although there have been all-captain threesomes at previous LIV Golf events, the 12 captains have never been grouped specifically in four consecutive threesomes. The threesome starting on hole No. 1 on Friday includes Ripper’s Cameron Smith, Smash’s (and LIV Golf Orlando winner) Brooks Koepka, and Majesticks co-captain Ian Poulter.
The other captain-only threesomes include Torque’s Joaquin Niemann, 4 Aces’ Dustin Johnson and RangeGoats’s Bubba Watson starting on No. 2; Stinger’s Louis Oosthuizen, Iron Heads’ Kevin Na and Cleeks’ Martin Kaymer on hole No. 3; and Crushers’ Bryson DeChambeau, Fireballs’s Sergio Garcia and HyFlyers’s Phil Mickelson on hole No. 3.
The shotgun start Friday is set for 11.45am local time.
No threesome in the seven regular-season events of the inaugural 2022 LIV Golf Invitational Series or the first three events of this year’s League season ever included three players from the same team. This first-time approach at Adelaide means that local fans who are supporting the all-Australian Ripper team can choose to either follow Smith in the first group, or his three Ripper teammates — Marc Leishman, Matt Jones and Jediah Morgan — who will tee off in the group on hole No. 18.
While teammates are used to playing practice rounds with each other, the pairings on competition days could provide an additional benefit.
“If there’s any kind of nerves or pressure, it would take that off,” said Smash’s Jason Kokrak, grouped with teammates Matthew Wolff and Chase Koepka on hole No. 11. “We play a lot of practice rounds together. We know each other’s games. I think we’re comfortable with each other. That goes team-wide for everybody, I would think.
“It’s going to be fun. Something different.”
As a team, Smash leads the League in lowest first-round scoring average at 68.3.
Abraham Ancer, who has prior success in Australia — he won the 2018 Australian Open at The Lakes in Sydney — also looks forward to playing with familiar faces. Ancer will play with Fireballs teammates Carlos Ortiz and Eugenio Chacarra starting on the 16th hole.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun but also really motivating for each other to play better,” Ancer said. “Hopefully nobody gets off to a rough start, but we’ll be trying to pick each other up. Hopefully feed off each other, make some birdies and just keep it going. I think that’s the mentality it’s going to be.”
Johnson’s 4Aces, the defending Team Champions from 2022, lead the team standings after three events, having finished second in the first two tournaments and third in Orlando. The threesome of Patrick Reed, Pat Perez and Peter Uihlein start on the 10th hole Friday.
“We’re just trying to get that first win of the season,” Johnson said. “I think it’s looking pretty good for this week.”
Kaymer is making his first start of the 2023 LIV Golf League season after missing the first three events while recovering from off-season wrist surgery.
“We’re excited to have him back,” said Cleeks teammate Graeme McDowell. “Hopefully we can get some continuity going now and start getting ourselves on some leaderboards.”
