Rd. 1 News and Notes: UK fans show impressive home crowd support

ROCESTER, England – Jon Rahm holds a two-shot lead entering the weekend at LIV Golf UK by JCB while Legion XIII tops the team leaderboard. Here are some news and notes from Round 1 at JCB Golf & Country Club.

RELATED: Rahm and his Legion XIII red hot at LIV Golf UK by JCB

HOME CROWD SUPPORT: Of the six English-born players in this week’s field, four are inside the top 20 of the leaderboard after Friday’s opening round.

Legion XIII’s Tyrrell Hatton (66) is tied for fourth, Majesticks GC’s Sam Horsfield (67) and Crushers GC’s Paul Casey (67) are tied for sixth, and Cleeks GC’s Richard Bland (69) is tied for 19th.

The English players certainly received the biggest cheers from the sellout crowd at JCB Golf and Country Club, which is hosting the first LIV Golf event played in the Midlands.

“Playing in front of English fans, they were quite vocal out there today, which was nice,” Hatton said. “It really felt like you're playing a big tournament, which is great. I think all the players would have enjoyed that today.”

Horsfield, who practices at JCB and lives just five minutes away, played his first round with Majesticks Co-Captains Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood in an all-English threesome on Friday.

“The English crowds really brought the energy today,” Horsfield said. “There were so many people watching us all day. Even when we were up there on 6 and 7, sort of the back end of the course there, there was a bunch of people out there supporting us.”

RAHM AND THE PAR-5 HOLES: Jon Rahm shot an 8-under 63 despite failing to make a birdie on any of the three par 5s. It continues a recent trend in which he tied for seventh at last week’s Open Championship despite being unable to birdie any of the par 5s at Royal Troon.

“It's funny,” Rahm said. “I don't mean to be laughing. Recently, I feel like I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm not making bad swings. I don't feel like I'm making terrible decisions, but it's just I've got a little streak of bad luck on the par 5s. Didn't birdie any of them at The Open. Didn't birdie any of them today. I don't feel like I did anything terribly wrong.”

OGLETREE’S SWING ADJUSTMENT: HyFlyers GC’s Andy Ogletree has battled bone spurs and tendinitis in his wrist and will likely need offseason surgery. Forced to adjust his swing, he said only recently has he started to see some positive results.

“With the new swing, it's taken a little time,” said Ogletree, whose opening 6-under 65 has him tied for second. “Learning different shot shapes, learning different tendencies, learning tendencies under pressure, learning different lies and how far the ball is going to fly and all these different things with the different move I'm trying to put on it to alleviate some pain. 

“So, it's taken a little while, but I feel like I've been trending in the right direction for a few weeks now.”

Ogletree, who earned his LIV Golf spot this year after finishing atop the 2023 International Series standings, entered this week ranked 38th in the season-long points standings. The top 24 at the end of the regular season are guaranteed spots next year.

ROUND 1 STATS LEADERS

Driving accuracy: Graeme McDowell, Kevin Na, 92.86% (13 of 14 fairways hit)Driving distance: Matthew Wolff, 320.2 yards avg.Longest drive: Matthew Wolff, 327.7 yards, 10th holeGreens in regulation: Richard Bland, 88.89% (16 of 18 greens)Scrambling: Kevin Na (8 of 8), Jon Rahm (3 of 3), 100%Putting: Abraham Ancer, 1.28 putts per holeBogey-free rounds: Jon Rahm (63), Kevin Na (70)