Masters 2023: Why the opening day was a tough one for the LIV Tour – and it might be about to get worse
It wasn’t a knockout. Not yet anyway. But there is a clear early winner in the battle between the LIV Tour rebels and the PGA players at the Masters.
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LIV Golf and its commissioner Greg Norman started the opening day of the US Masters on the receiving end of a legal beating.
They finished it with one player atop the leaderboard but the vast majority out of contention and struggling to make it to the weekend.
When it comes to the fight between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, consider it an early victory for the PGA Tour.
It wasn’t a knockout. Not yet anyway. But the PGA Tour is well ahead on points and LIV need to land some pretty hefty blows in coming days to walk away from the Masters with the win.
While Brooks Koepka finished the opening round in a share of the lead at seven under with Viktor Hovland and Jon Rahm, there was little else for Norman and his LIV acolytes to celebrate.
Koepka was the only LIV player in the top 16 and one of only five who finished the opening round under par – Australian Cameron Smith was at two under while Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed were one under.
Earlier in the day, LIV Golf suffered a setback in Europe when the DP World Tour won its legal case against a dozen rebels who had taken them to court.
It was a devastating blow but there may be a more significant one to come as LIV’s 18 players at the Masters struggle to stay in contention.
If not for Koepka, it would have been a demoralising day given the widely held view that LIV players need to be competitive at the Masters to give the Saudi-backed rebel tour an injection of credibility.
Koepka did his level best to keep them in the battle as he maintained his rich vein of recent form – he won LIV’s most recent event in Orlando.
His opening round at the Masters was not without controversy. His caddie was questioned by tournament officials after an incident at the par five 15th, although he was later cleared of any penalty.
Koepka is a four-time major winner but has wrestled with injury demons in recent years, his challenges featured in the recent Netflix series where he conceded he couldn’t compete with golf’s biggest guns.
“I mean, getting out of bed takes 15 minutes just to even kind of feel right,” Koepka said.
“I wouldn’t even say feel right. Just feeling like you can’t get around for the day isn’t exactly fun. It’s probably the closest I can be to Tiger without his leg.
“I’m not saying it’s anywhere near his, but I understand how painful it is and how just mentally gruelling it is.”
Woods finished his opening round at two over, a whopping nine shots off Koepka. Afterwards, Woods acknowledge he was sore. The pain, he said, was constant.
It felt like the end is nigh for the 15-time major winner when it comes to being competitive with the best of the best.
Even around Augusta National, a place he loves more than any other, he is struggling to keep pace, both on the fairways and the scoreboard.
He limped through the opening day and acknowledged afterwards that pain was a constant playing partner. Asked how his leg felt, Woods simply replied: “Sore.” He was then asked whether the pain was focused or constant.
“It’s constant,” he replied.
Woods scored a fairytale win at Augusta National only four years ago but the chances of that happening again appear somewhere between slim and none.
Woods was lucky to keep his leg after a car accident two years ago but every round is a battle. Nevertheless, he refuses to give up the fight.
“I felt like I drove it good,” Woods said.
“I just didn’t do the job I need to do to get the ball close. Today was the opportune time to get the round under par, and I didn’t do that today.
“Most of the guys are going low today. This was the day to do it. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be a little bit better, a little bit sharper, and kind of inch my way through it.
“This is going to be an interesting finish to the tournament with the weather coming in. If I can just kind of hang in there, maybe kind of inch my way back, hopefully it will be positive towards the end.”
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Originally published as Masters 2023: Why the opening day was a tough one for the LIV Tour – and it might be about to get worse
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