By Matt Smith
Young Turk Pettit was celebrating more than you would think after a four-under 66 left him four strokes off Brooks Koepka’s Day 1 lead at the LIV Golf Invitational — Jeddah on Friday.

The American 23-year-old revealed after his round in the Saudi heat and humidity that he got engaged on Thursday night to his girlfriend MaKenzie Floyd during dinner on the beach by the Red Sea. While it was a surprise for her, Pettit admitted he had been planning popping the question for a little while now.

Turk Pettit. LIV Golf

“I have been thinking about it for a couple of weeks, maybe three?” he said at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in Jedddah after his first round.

“I thought about doing it in Thailand last week but there wasn’t a good spot and worst case scenario, I just did it on the Red Sea, so did it last night.

“I was pretty positive she was going to say yes,” he added, explaining his simple plan. “Pretty much we were just having dinner on the beach, we were having sushi and I was just going to wait and do it at sunset. Sunset came around and just like: ‘Will you marry me?’

“She actually said: ‘You’re joking! You’re lying!’ like five times, and then she said ‘yes’.”

Back to matters on the course, Pettit was delighted to put in a shift where he can now contend for a title and ensure his spot on the series for 2023.  “Obviously we need a good week to be out here next year, and the experience has just been awesome,” he said. “But we’ve got nothing to lose. There’s no point getting caught up in that.”

The conditions were stifling in Jeddah on Friday, but Pettit still had a spring in his step.

“I would say I like the heat,” he added. “I’m from the (American) south, so I don’t mind it being hot. But yeah, it’s windy. Especially on certain holes, you’ve got to hit some good shots when it’s windy if you want to contend.”

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