The team was five under after 12 holes in rainy and windy conditions—well behind the Kuchars at the top of the leaderboard—when Charlie, 14, carried the ball 320 yards with it rolling just off the back of the green.

321 yards? No problem.

Charlie Woods just drove it OVER the green. ?

pic.twitter.com/DfzND47rDI

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) December 16, 2023

Tiger and Charlie both putted from the position and missed the eagle attempt, but converted on the easy birdie to get to six under with five holes remaining.

Image: Mike Mulholland

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“I didn’t know anything about the LIV Promotions until I got told the Monday after I won,” said the Kiwi, “and now I’m here and I’ve made it to the second day, which everything is on.”

Mountcastle is one of 29 players who finished inside the top 20 and ties to advance out of the 60 competitors playing the first round. Those 29 will be joined by 13 exempt players for a 42-man field for Saturday’s second round, with scores reset.

Round of the day so far goes to Kiwi's Kerry Mountcastle – eight under par round the National Course ?‍?#LIVGolf pic.twitter.com/c0fBDNchZ0

— Golf Digest ME (@GolfDigestME) December 8, 2023

The top 20 (with playoffs breaking ties) will move on to Sunday’s 36-hole day, with the top three finishers earning lucrative spots in the 2024 LIV Golf League.

His closest pursuer on the opening day was American Seungsu Han, who carded a six under 66.

Seven players finished at 5 under, including Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen, who claimed a hole-in-one at the par-3 15th with an eight iron.

“I felt like it was a little bit too much club,” Pulkkanen said, “but my caddie said it’s perfect, and I trusted him, and it went in. Thanks for him.”

The real drama was the cutline number at two under.

Of the 12 players who advanced on the number, seven needed birdies on the last hole, the par-5 18th: Settee Prakongvech, Zach Murray, Chonlatit Chuenboonngam, Braden Thornberry, Luis Carrera, Bio Kim and Lucas Bjerregaard. Two others were at two under entering the 18th and bogeyed the hole – Guntaek Koh and Chris Stroud.

Three amateurs played Friday, and one advanced – Ireland’s Max Kennedy, who shot a bogey-free five under 67. LIV Golf Promotions is just the second professional tournament he’s competed in. His game plan for Saturday is simple.

“Just make birdies,” he said. “That’s all it takes.”

Irish Amateur Max Kennedy is safely through to round two after a bogey-free five under par

We followed him over his closing holes – the stones on him!

Plus his caddy is the ultimate hype man!@amateur_info #LIVGolf @livgolf_league @ADGolfClub pic.twitter.com/osr1NjhqZS

— Golf Digest ME (@GolfDigestME) December 8, 2023

PLAYERS ADVANCING TO ROUND TWO

Kerry Mountcastle, New Zealand (-8) – Recently won the Gippsland Super 6 on the PGA Tour of Australasia

Seungsu Han, USA (-6) – Won the Asian Tour’s Korean Open Golf Championship in June

Junghwan Lee, Korea (-5) – Has three runner-up finishes on the Korean Tour this season

Jinichiro Kozuma, Japan (-5) – Made three starts in the 2022 LIV Golf Invitational Series, finishing 29th in points

Taichi Kho, Hong Kong (-5) – Won the Asian Tour’s World City Championship in his native Hong Kong in March

Max Kennedy, Ireland (-5) – One of four amateurs in the field this week

Tapio Pulkkanen, Finland (-5) – Played this season on the DP World Tour

Poom Saksansin, Thailand (-5) – Won the Asian Tour’s Yeangder TPC in September

Sadom Kaewkanjana, Thailand (-5) – Played full-time on the 2022 LIV Golf Invitational Series

Jaco Ahlers, South Africa (-4) – Won the Asian Tour’s Mercuries Taiwan Masters in October

Jeongwoo Ham, Korea (-4) – Has one win and five other top-5 finishes in his last six starts on the Korean Tour

Steve Lewton, England (-4) – Finished 22nd on the International Series standings in 2023

Miguel Tabuena, Philippines (-4) – Won The DGC Open on the Asian Tour in March

Zach Bauchou, USA (-3) – Has two top-5s in his last eight Korn Ferry Tour starts

Kazuki Higa, Japan (-3) – Has 10 professional wins, six on the Japan Golf Tour

Phachara Khongwatmai, Thailand (-3) – Played full-time in the 2022 LIV Golf Invitational Series

Grégory Bourdy, France (-3) – Has 10 professional wins, four on the European Tour

Suteepat Prateeptienchai, Thailand (-2) – Won in his most recent start on the Asian Tour at the Taiwan Glass Taifong Open

Settee Prakongvech, Thailand (-2) – Posted three victories in 23 starts in 2022

Zach Murray, Australia (-2) – Finished 38th in the 2023 International Series standings

Chonlatit Chuenboonngam, Thailand (-2) – Won once and finished runner-up four times in 25 starts in 2022

Suradit Yongcharoenchai, Thailand (-2) – Finished 28th in the 2023 International Series standings

Kevin Yuan, Australia (-2) – Played the inaugural event last season at LIV Golf London Invitational

Braden Thornberry, USA (-2) – Won the 2017 NCAA Division I men’s golf championship while at University of Mississippi

Joel Stalter, France (-2) – Posted his lone DP World Tour win in 2020 in Austria

Luis Carrera, Mexico (-2) – Turned pro this summer after stellar career at University of Central Florida

Bio Kim, Korea (-2) – Has four wins in the last three seasons, including the LX Championship this year on the Korean Tour

Martin Trainer, France (-2) – Won in Puerto Rico on the PGA Tour in 2019

Lucas Bjerregaard, Denmark (-2) – Has six professional wins, including two on the DP World Tour 

13 PLAYERS JOIN FIELD FOR ROUND TWO

Thirteen players who received first-round byes due to their eligibility category will join Friday’s survivors for the second-round at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

Those 13 include five players who ranked 2nd – 8th in the final International Series standings: India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar, New Zealand’s Ben Campbell, Thailand’s Gunn Charoenkul, Australia’s Wade Ormsby and Zimbabwe’s Kieran Vincent.

Three players who were relegated out of the 2023 LIV Golf League will begin their attempt at returning to the league: Australian Jed Morgan and Americans Sihwan Kim and James Piot. In addition, reserve Laurie Canter will also start Saturday.

Amateur Sampson-Yuhne Zheng of China received an invite as the highest-ranking entrant in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

Finland’s Kalle Samooja is eligible as a 2022 winner on the DP World Tour.

Two veteran players accepted invitations to play: 2013 PGA Championship winner Jason Dufner and PGA Tour winner Kevin Chappell, both from the U.S.

“Bypassing the first round is definitely an advantage,” Ormsby said. “It’s one less round you’ve got, one less hurdle to get over.”

“Instead of 80 players fighting for three cards in the first round, we will have less than 40 players fighting for the same number of cards,” Bhullar said. “The probability just gets better.”

The second round will start with a fresh leaderboard after scores are reset. The top 20 finishers on Saturday – playoffs will break ties if necessary – will advance to the final 36-hole finish on Sunday.

Image: LIV Golf

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First, Berkshire, fresh off winning a third World Long Drive title, launched a ball into the night sky. Then he tossed his driver to his buddy and the 2020 U.S. Open champ, who crushed one of his own before giving a salute to the camera. And we’re pretty sure the facility could contain these two long drive legends. Have a look:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Kyle Berkshire (@kyleberkshire)

Pretty impressive. “See ya,” DeChambeau says at the end. Although, again, we hope he’s not referring to someone on the other side of that net needing an ambulance.

Anyway, DeChambeau has had some wild weight swings in certain years, but he looks absolutely jacked in this video. And he’s coming off a strong season that included two LIV victories, a round of 58(!), and a T-4 at the PGA Championship. He’s also involved in a new Drive Shack/Topgolf competitor called UnderPar Life, so maybe he was doing some research. You know, stuff like, how far out does the net need to be if two of the longest hitters on the planet show up?

In any event, those on hand were treated to some fireworks. And hopefully, no one was injured during the show.

Image: Supplied

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That all changed at the Tiger Woods Invitational earlier this fall when Homa and Woods were tasked with rattling off as many of Woods’ record 82 wins as they could. In the recently surfaced video, which went viral on Monday, you can see Homa’s life flash before his eyes as he begins the quiz with a simple, almost involuntary dagger:

“Not Riviera.”

We would’ve accepted the #HeroWorldChallenge pic.twitter.com/jbFVRwB5qf

— TGR Live (@TGRLiveEvents) November 27, 2023

Only Homa (and maybe JT) would be brave/dumb enough to begin a recitation of Woods’ greatest golf triumphs with one of the most notable gaps on his resume. That takes some giant titanium cojones. Just ask Stephen Ames what happens to guys talk trash to Tiger Woods. It ain’t pretty.

Does a similarly bloody fate await Homa at the Hero World Challenge? With both set to tee it up in the Bahamas, has the bill finally come due? We’ll just have to wait and see. Woods seemed to take the jab in stride, but if this look doesn’t say “keep laughing, I’m reloading,” we don’t know what does.

Images: Supplied

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With all the wear and tear on his body, though, the current version of the Big Cat can’t quite dig it out of the dirt like he used to. He does, however, still make time for “1,000 contacts with a club” when prepping for tournament play, as he explained to a group of college kids during a recent Bridgestone shoot. 

“One of the things that I enforce all juniors, all kids, all pros, is that when I’m getting ready for tournaments, I make sure that each and every day I make 1,000 contacts with a club,” Woods said. 

As he continued, that doesn’t mean just bashing balls at the range for hours on end. That can certainly help, and a former version of Woods probably did have thousand-ball range sessions. But “contacts” with a club come in many different forms. 

“That means possibly hitting 100 balls on the range,” he says. “300 chip shots. 600 putts. Okay. Break it up however you want to break it up to. That develops feel and sensation that never goes away.”

That explains why, despite health issues that have caused him to miss years at a time, Woods’ feel, particularly around the greens, is always there whenever he makes a comeback. He may not ever have the power or the speed that he once had, but his feel will never go away. Well, except for that time it seemingly did in 2015 before he got it back, which is something we don’t discuss enough. 

In the full clip from the Bridgestone shoot, the 15-time major champion surprises a number of students from the Bridgestone collegiate development program on the range, even offering up a few free swing tips that regular people would pay astronomical amounts of money for. He also drops in a few classic Tiger terms like “peeler” and “up shoot spin cut”:

Tiger surprises college golfers during @BridgestoneGolf shoot!@TigerWoods offered insight on how he prepares for a tournament, including 1,000 golf shots EVERY day.

(Presented by @Bridgestone) pic.twitter.com/gltxDOWnup

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) November 27, 2023

Image: Ross Kinnaird

The post ‘1,000 contacts with a club’: Tiger Woods breaks down his typical tournament prep to college kids in fascinating video appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Who's the most famous person in your contacts, excluding golfers?

? @StephenCurry30
? @LandoNorris
@esmuellert_
? @NiallOfficial
? @MichaelJordaan#DPWTC | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/rPD6eAVU7A

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 15, 2023

Whoever’s behind the DP World Tour’s social media account made sure to say EXCLUDING GOLFERS and we’re thrilled he did because this led to some damn good responses.

After a “wee look” through their phones, the pros came up with some big names such as soccer pros Franz Beckenbauer and Thomas Müller, basketball/golf legend Steph Curry, cricketer Shane Warne and musicians like Lewis Capaldi and Niall Horan.

Perhaps this is an American perspective, but Shane Lowry won the contest when he name-dropped Michael Jordan. The two have combined for seven championships (six NBA titles and one Open Championship), and we’d love nothing more than to know what the two of them text about. We know that MJ is a Ryder Cup obsessive, so perhaps some trash talk between the two sides?

No matter what, we hope Lowry has a good grip on his phone, or Jordan may get a text or two from randos asking him if he wants to join some unknown golf foursomes.

Image: Ramsey Cardy

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It had been a long week for the 37-year-old Dutchman, who found himself four over par and well down the leaderboard after a bogey on his eighth hole in the final round at Jurmeirah Golf Estates in Dubai (Nicolai Hojgaard would win the tournament with a 21-under total).

The frustration, however, grew more intense when Luiten followed that up with an errant drive on the ninth hole. In response, he angrily threw his driver in the air near a tree as he left the tee box. The problem? The driver never came down.

Joost Luiten puts three of his clubs in a tree – DP World Tour Twitter/ X

OK, no worries. Luiten and his caddie would just toss something else in the tree to rattle the club out. But given the way the week was playing out, perhaps it’s no surprise what happened next.

“I tried to get it out by throwing some other clubs at it and [two] other clubs got stuck up the tree so I couldn’t get them out,” Luiten explained after the round.

The ensuing video shows the high jinks in real time and, well, it is something to behold.

Taking tree trouble to the next level ?@joostluiten threw his driver into a tree and then loses two more clubs trying to retrieve it! #DPWTC | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/uOqUmPyxZm

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 19, 2023

While seemingly laughing things off for a short while, Luiten’s frustration kicks in again at around the :45 second mark. Thankfully, the DP World Tour social-media team made sure the video remained kid friendly.

Eventually, Luiten had to move, playing the rest of the hole with only 11 clubs and making another bogey to fall to five over.

And yet, the story eventually involves a happy ending. A volunteer managed to get Luiten’s clubs out of the tree and get them back to the golfer to have for the back nine—with an assist from Luiten’s wife, Melanie-Jane, who was in attendance despite being eight months pregnant with the couple’s first child.

“It would have been a funny round to finish with 11 clubs,” Luiten said.

Sure enough, Luiten made three straight birdies on the back nine to finish with a one-over 73 and a three-over total.

Images: DP World Tour Twitter / X

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Kipp joins Golf Saudi as an ambassador and alongside him are 10 other players across the Ladies European Tour, Ladies PGA Tour, and LIV Golf.

Diagnosed with a form of cerebral palsy, Spastic diplegia, that affects his lower body and having gone through several surgeries, Kipp is an eight-time winner on the G4D Tour and the Englishman spoke exclusively to Golf Digest Middle East at the recent G4D Tour Season Finale @ DP World Tour Championship, Jumeirah Golf Estates.

.@Golf_Saudi partner with Kipp Popert, the World Number One golfer with a disability

?️“It’s amazing, I want to get as far as I can in the game and having their backing is a great honor” @KpPopert

Full story on https://t.co/6VFDIuncLG pic.twitter.com/OKG55e7ApW

— Golf Digest ME (@GolfDigestME) November 19, 2023

“It’s amazing and I’m really appreciative of their support (Golf Saudi), I want to get as far as I can in the game and having their backing is a great honour.”

Popert’s trophy cabinet spans across some of the globe’s greatest courses; The Belfry, Wentworth Club, Real Club Valderrama and Victoria Golf Club. The 25-year-old even has prior experience in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as he competed on the Asian Development Tour in the 2022 PIF Saudi Open at Riyadh Golf Club against a full field of able-bodied professionals.

“It was my first time playing in an elite tour event and it was an awesome experience. I’m heading back there in a few weeks as well so I’m excited to get going. The facilities down there are awesome and are only going to get better.”

The partnership between Kipp, his fellow ambassadors and Golf Saudi will further improve inclusivity within golf in the region and provide Kipp with the opportunity to give back to the sport that has given him so much.

Image: Golf Saudi

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First up was Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy. Upon meeting McIlroy, Sachin presented him with a signed Indian cricket shirt and stump, with the World Number Two then offering some golfing tips and a signed DP World Tour Championship pin flag in return.

DP World's global cricket ambassador @sachin_rt met up with @McIlroyRory ahead of his opening round in Dubai ?#DPWTC | @DP_World pic.twitter.com/OA7ZF2Y0Jy

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 16, 2023

Tendulkar, who is the highest run scorer in international cricket, then tested his putting skills with Kiwi Ryan Fox, with some surprising results!

Sachin Tendulkar takes a putting lesson from Ryan Fox… and it works! ?#DPWTC | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/ROvSkkTLWP

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) November 16, 2023

How’s that for a first attempt!

Image: DP World

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