Swede Söderberg birdied eight of his first 10 holes over the Old Course at St Andrews to set the pace, signing for a 64 that would be matched by American Uihlein over the same layout.

Dubai-based Spaniard Arnaus was four shots off the lead with five to play at Carnoustie Golf Links but eagled the 14th before finishing birdie-birdie to join them at eight-under with a 64 of his own and make it a three-way tie.

Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts, fresh off his heroics as a vice-captain in last week’s European Ryder Cup victory, was then part of a six-way tie for second at seven-under alongside local favourite Grant Forrest, Dane Marcus Helligkilde, American Billy Horschel and South African duo Zander Lombard and Wilco Nienaber.

On a cold and wet day on Scotland’s east coast, Soderberg turned in 29 and Ross Fisher’s St Andrews course record was looking under threat when he made another birdie on the 10th.

Six consecutive pars ended those hopes, however, and the 33-year-old bogeyed the 17th before a closing birdie ensured he would finish the day on top.

“It was quite easy the first 10 holes or so,” he said. “Then you kind of turn around going into the wind and it rained a little bit more.

“I thought I played pretty good the last eight holes as well. I just didn’t get close enough, didn’t really hole the putts but it felt good to finish with a birdie.

“I’ve had one or two or three really good rounds for a while, I feel like. There’s just always been one or two bad rounds every week. So the weekends, they haven’t been what I wanted in the last two months or so.

“I feel like there’s a lot of good golf in me so I just have to try to clean up the bad golf a little more and try to get around a little better.”

Arnaus has finished in the top 25 at this event for the past two seasons and his bogey-free round represented a stunning start at the course regarded as the most difficult of the three being played this week.

“At times it felt easy but this course definitely can show its teeth and you’ve got to be really careful,” he said.

“We continued to play quite good and then we rolled a few putts. A brilliant start, I would say.

“It actually started quite calm and it came around with wind and rain as well. That’s really what you are going to expect here so you’ve just got to embrace the challenge.”

LIV Golf’s Uihlein was the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year in 2013, the year he lost out in a play-off at this event, while he also achieved a top 10 last season.

“I’ve had good success here,” he said after his bogey-free effort. “I just love it, the golf is pure over here and I like when it gets windy and challenging, it’s just a lot of fun, really. You get to be creative and it’s just something that I enjoy doing.

“I was close here in 2013 when David Howell beat me in a play-off. Looking back on it, it would have been a really special one to win around here.

“I’ve always enjoyed coming back and hopefully I can string together three more good days and see what happens.”

Soderberg’s remarkable start came thanks to some dialled-in iron play, as he put approaches inside 15 feet on seven of his first 10 holes. A three-putt at the Road Hole then brought the only bogey of the day before he holed an 18-footer for birdie on the last.

Arnaus started his round with three gains but had to wait until the par-five 12th for another before he holed from 12 feet for an eagle on the 14th. Another birdie came at the 17th and he put his approach to 12 feet on the last.

Uihlein also put on an excellent display of approach play as he made birdies on the first, third, fourth, fifth, ninth, 10th and 12th before holing from nearly 50 feet on the 14th.

Horschel turned in 29 at Carnoustie en route to his 65, while Colsaerts, Helligkilde, Lombard and Nienaber all played at St Andrews, and Forrest went round Kingsbarns.

There was then a group of 13 players at six-under including defending champion Ryan Fox.

Main image: St Andrews. Dunhill Links Championship

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Peter Uihlein has withdrawn his name from the LIV Golf lawsuit against the PGA Tour, leaving just two of the original 11 players attached to the legal battle.

In a 105-page complaint filed in early August of 2022, Uihlein joined Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford, Matt Jones, Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz, Ian Poulter, Pat Perez and Jason Kokrak in challenging their suspensions by the PGA Tour for joining LIV Golf. However, in a filing with the United States District Court in San Jose Thursday, Uihlein was granted voluntary dismissal as a plaintiff.

Nine of the players have now dropped out, most citing LIV’s entrance as an interested party in the case in late August as the impetus. The organisation is claiming it has had to start its league in the face of reduced access to players with super-competitive costs. LIV Golf wants “punitive damages for the PGA Tour’s bad faith and egregious interference with LIV Golf’s contractual and perspective business relationships”.

With Uihlein’s departure, only DeChambeau and Jones remain on the suit. DeChambeau said last autumn he remains on the lawsuit because the tour owes him money for making its Player Impact Programme, but added: “It’s not about the money; it’s about the principle. It’s the way you deal with situations.”

The tour is adamant it has the legal authority to issue disciplinary measures and filed a countersuit last September, accusing the LIV-backed lawsuit as a “cynical effort to avoid competition and to freeride off of the tour’s investment in the development of professional golf.”

Uihlein, 33, was a highly touted amateur that made 126 career starts on tour, his best finish a third place at the 2021 team-centric Zurich Classic. Since moving to LIV, Uihlein has found more success, finishing third in the individual standings during LIV’s inaugural season and is currently second in individual points this year.

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Peter Uihlein not only ranks as one of LIV Golf’s top performers, he’s also the son of Wally Uihlein, the retired president and CEO of the Acushnet Company that counts Titleist — makers of the ultra-popular Pro VI golf ball — as one of its brands.

That provides the younger Uihlein with a unique platform to speak about this week’s announced proposal by the USGA and the R&A to rollback the golf ball in order to curtail hitting distances by elite competitors.

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“I look at it from a business standpoint,” the 4 Aces team member said on the eve of this week’s LIV Golf Tucson.

The proposal, he feared, may negatively impact the pocketbooks of top professional golfers due to the trickle-down effect of developing a new golf ball that won’t appeal to recreational players, thus forcing companies to contemplate budget cuts.

Let him explain.

“I think Callaway puts like $70 million into their R&D department. Titleist puts like $55 million,” said Uihlein, who has three runner-up finishes in his last four LIV Golf regular-season starts dating back to last year. “You’re then going to be asking these companies to make a product for players that they won’t sell to the public.

“If I’m running a company and I’ve now got to put in, say, $20 million to make these products for the pros, well, you’re going to have to find a place to potentially budget cut. If I was running a company, the first place I would look to for budget cuts are the players.

“All of a sudden, now instead of paying JT, Jon Rahm, whatever they’re paying them — slash that. And you’re slashing other things, you’re slashing other players, you’re slashing ball/shoe/glove guys, just to make up for that loss.

“I don’t think the USGA really understands that you’re affecting players’ pockets when you’re making these changes. Companies need to make money. Titleist isn’t out there to lose money. That’s not what their job is. If they need to spend X amount on making a product that they can’t sell to the public, then all of the sudden you’re going to have to make that up somewhere else. In my opinion, that’s the route I would go. I would go players.”

Uihlein noted that supporters of the proposal are citing Major League Baseball as an example of a sports league that uses different equipment at the amateur and college levels than in the pro game. But he said it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.

“Major League Baseball provides teams with baseballs, they provide teams with bats, unless you’re a guy who outsources and pays for his own bats. MLB provides these teams with that, so they spend that money,” Uihlein said. “If you’re using baseball as an example, then OK, here’s the example. If the USGA and R&A want guys to use a different ball, then they should pay for it.”

If the golf ball rollback proposal is adopted, it would not go into effect until January 1, 2026. Uihlein believes the nearly three-year window gives the governing bodies plenty of time to save face if widespread criticism continues.

“I haven’t really seen any positive feedback on it,” Uihlein said. “They’ve given themselves a buffer. If the players fight back, if the PGA Tour fights back, LIV fights back, European Tour fights back, then it’s: ‘Oh, well.’

“The funniest thing to me is the USGA is acting like equipment companies have taken advantage of a system that they [governing bodies] have put in place. These were regulations that they established. It’s not the equipment companies’ fault for trying to innovate. That’s the way the world works. You try to innovate.

“These were problems that they put in place. They weren’t smart enough to basically put a cap on it 20-30 years ago. They didn’t have the wherewithal. But that’s not a secret to anybody. They’ve always been a little bit inept.”

Now that the proposal is public, Uihlein isn’t sure the USGA and R&A will be quick to walk away.

“From what I’ve heard with [R&A’s] Martin Slumbers and what I’ve heard with [USGA’s] Mike Whan, it feels like this is a legacy move for them,” Uihlein said. “This is how they want to leave their name in the game of golf by doing this. So be it.”

Having heard a near-universal negative reaction across multiple tours from the game’s professional players – including fellow LIV Golf League member Bryson DeChambeau, who called the proposal “atrocious” – Uihlein offered one more thought.

“It’s funny,” he said. “There’s nothing that brings the tours together like everyone’s hatred for the USGA. It’s been interesting.”

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Both players have made great impressions for their new teams through the first 36 holes. Now paired in the final group on Sunday, they’ll battle for an individual trophy. Will the outcome answer the question of whether the RangeGoats or the 4 Aces got the better end of the transfers?

“No, not week 1 out of 14 events,” Uihlein laughed.

“I think we need a little bit of a bigger sample size,” Gooch added.

Still, said Uihlein: “It’s funny how sometimes those play out, don’t they?”

Tomorrow is shaping up to be an epic finale ?#LIVGolf pic.twitter.com/btpbh92Zgk

— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) February 26, 2023

Meanwhile, Uihlein’s 4 Aces and Gooch’s RangeGoats are both playing catch-up in the team competition. Crushers (14-under) will take a two-stroke over the 4 Aces (12-under), with Fireballs GC (10-under) and the RangeGoats (7-under) also lurking.

It’s the first time the Crushers have taken a lead into any LIV Golf round — and they’ve done so through the first two rounds without captain Bryson DeChambeau contributing a counting score.

“It shows the crazy nature of golf, number one,” said Charles Howell III, the leading Crushers player who is in solo third, one shot behind the co-leaders. “Number two, I know Bryson has a low one in him. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him shoot a low one tomorrow.”

As for Uihlein and Gooch, both are former Oklahoma State players (as is Howell) and both are good friends. They’ve chatted about the transfers, how it happened that both were involved. Gooch wanted to play with his good friend Harold Varner III. Uihlein felt like he was joining the Yankees when he got the nod from 4 Aces Captain Dustin Johnson, whose team won four regular-season events and the Team Championship last year.

“I’ve told Talor a lot that I think he’s handled this as well as anybody could have since joining (LIV Golf) and being on the Aces and then obviously switching teams,” Uihlein said. “Just the way the team stuff works out, with the finances and stuff, he’s done it incredibly well. I have a lot of respect for him.”

Said Gooch: “Once I knew what was going to happen and I was going to Bubba’s team, Peter was one of the first guys I called. Like, hey, we might be needing a fourth, don’t go signing anywhere, don’t do anything.”

A year ago, Uihlein finished third in the Individual Champion race, with Johnson capturing the title. Gooch finished 11th. Neither lofted an individual trophy. It might change for one of them on Sunday.

“Pete played great last year,” Gooch said. “He beat me last year. … The Aces didn’t falter whenever they got Pete. They’re a great team and they’re going to continue to play well. Hopefully we can start playing like the Aces.

“Come the end of the season, I think they’re going to be some good battles.”

Charles Howell III is making his 14th professional start at El Camaleon Mayakoba, having played annually here from 2009-21. So while this is a new venue for the LIV Golf League, it’s familiar territory for the 43-year-old member of Crushers.

He’s never won at Mayakoba but he has a chance on Sunday. At 8-under through two rounds, he’ll start just one stroke off the lead and in the final group with co-leaders Peter Uihlein and Talor Gooch. All three played collegiately at Oklahoma State — and they were in the same group for Friday’s opening round.

“I really enjoyed playing with them,” Howell said. “They’re obviously two really great players that have played unbelievable golf on LIV. It’s a comfortable pairing.”

Of course, neither of the leaders can match Howell’s experience at Mayakoba. Uihlein had never seen the course until this week. Gooch had made three previous starts. In fact, no one else in the 48-man field has competed at Mayakoba as many times as Howell.

So is all that experience helping this week?

“Sometimes that experience can hurt you because you’ve seen yourself do everything on every hole,” Howell said. “But I think it has (helped). It’s nice to have a return venue, so when you’re practicing and playing, you have an idea of what’s going on. You’re not trying to learn something new.

“I think any of the guys that have played here before maybe have a slight bit of an advantage. But now that all the guys have seen it, it’s more about who can actually drive the ball the best, get the thing in the fairway, get it in play.”

El Camaleon is a course that offers low scores but also high danger, especially with jungle lining both sides of many holes.

“There’s 18 bridgeable holes and there’s 18 hard holes,” Howell said. “You never get comfortable out here. I think that’s a big deal in that when you’re playing a final round in the wind — which it will be on this golf course — it’s about surviving.”

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Peter Uihlein was on the practice green at LIV Golf Bangkok last October, hoping to get a feel for the greens at Stonehill, a brand-new course unfamiliar to nearly every golfer in the field that week. Suddenly, he was approached by Dustin Johnson. This was no friendly chit-chat. Consider it a business meeting.

“Hey,” DJ said, “don’t sign anything. We may have a spot for you next year.”

By then, Uihlein was well aware of the rumors circulating among the players, that Talor Gooch might leave Johnson’s wildly successful 4 Aces and transfer to Bubba Watson’s team. Uihlein, then a member of Smash, had decided to wait until after the season before committing to a team for the 2023 LIV Golf League.

Uihlein certainly enjoyed playing for Smash, captained by his friend and former roommate Brooks Koepka. He was grateful to have found a home after bouncing around a few teams early in the season. His game, in fact, had never been better. And although he didn’t know it at the time, Uihlein would find himself battling Koepka in a playoff the following week for the individual title at LIV Golf Jeddah, with Smash winning the team title. The two would finish the week at Jeddah on the podium at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club.

But Uihlein also knew that Koepka wanted to add Matthew Wolff to the Smash roster in 2023. Meanwhile, Uihlein was undeniably intrigued by the potential of joining the 4 Aces, who had entered Bangkok with four consecutive team wins. With DJ and Patrick Reed leading the way, they appeared unbeatable, LIV Golf’s first budding dynasty. They would eventually end the season winning the Miami Team Championship and its $16 million first prize.

Who wouldn’t want to at least explore the opportunity?

“Brooks’ team obviously was very successful. We had a win and a good Miami week,” Uihlein explained in a recent interview. “But the 4 Aces are the 4 Aces.”

Uihlein, who grew up in New England, then offered up this analogy to describe the allure of playing for the 4 Aces.

“It pains me to say this, being a Red Sox fan, but the [4 Aces] are like the Yankees, right? And when the Yankees call, you answer,” he said.

And so the 2023 season begins this week at LIV Golf Mayakoba with Uihlein playing for 4 Aces, Gooch on Watson’s rebranded RangeGoats and Wolff jumping to Smash. That’s three of LIV Golf’s most intriguing talents — all former Oklahoma State golfers — each taking full advantage of LIV’s unique transfer opportunity that reflects the player movement found in other team sports.

It also could have a significant impact on how the team competition will shake out this season with the full 14-tournament schedule in place and rosters stabilised throughout the season. Consider this: All three players finished last year ranked inside the top 11 in individual points — Uihlein third (and winner of the $4 million bonus), Wolff sixth and Gooch 11th. Now they’re on different teams, creating different dynamics within their respective rosters.

The same goes for all the teams with fresh line-ups. Just three rosters from last season’s Miami Team Championship are being carried over to Mayakoba — Majesticks, Fireballs and Crushers. The other nine have made at least one change. But it’s the Uihlein-Gooch-Wolff transfers that are making the most noise.

FROM ACE TO RANGEGOAT

Talor Gooch. LIV Golf

Perhaps you don’t remember: Talor Gooch wasn’t an original member of the 4Aces. In fact, he was the captain of Torque at the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational event in London last June.

But when Johnson’s team finished fifth at Centurion Club, 18 strokes behind the winning Stinger side, DJ went for a complete roster overhaul. That meant bringing in Gooch to add to new LIV Golf signees Patrick Reed and Pat Perez.

The result was immediate — four consecutive wins starting in Portland.

For Gooch, the move not only meant trophy celebrations but a significant bump in prize earnings. Of his $10,374,500 in winnings last year, 68 per cent of it came from his share of the team bonuses won by the 4Aces. It was well-earned, as Gooch supplied several timely low rounds, including a second-round 64 in Bedminster, and a 63-65 start the next week in Boston. He and Perez also paired to win their foursomes match in the semi-finals in Miami.

But as financially fruitful as it was to be an Ace, Gooch has a close friend on another team — Harold Varner III. They first met as college rivals, and immediately hit it off. Gooch has since leaned on Varner’s advice to help guide him on some professional decisions. And they use the same agent.

The chance to share the LIV Golf team experience with his good buddy was a huge factor as Gooch weighed his next steps.

“Obviously, we [4 Aces] had a great year and had a bunch of success and I was happy with how things were going,” Gooch said. “It wasn’t an easy decision that was made overnight. But for me, it was a cool and unique opportunity to team up with one of your good buddies and play team golf together.”

Varner was the key member of Watson’s team last year. But as captain, Watson has the final say on personnel moves. Given Gooch’s credentials, and the fact that his team finished last in regular-season points in 2022, the chance to upgrade the roster seemed like an easy call on paper.

But Watson didn’t know Gooch all that well, and wanted to make sure the fit would be good, chemistry-wise. The same from Gooch’s perspective.

“I sat down with Talor and he asked me what I was about, what I wanted to do, where I see this going and why did I want to be a part of LIV,” recalled Watson, who is back to active duty after missing last season following knee surgery. “He asked great questions and I answered them to the best of my ability.

“One of the things that I did say to him is: ‘Man, I just want you to be happy. I don’t care whose team you’re on.’ Talor Gooch is better for the league on anybody’s team rather than not having Talor in the league at all, if that makes sense.”

Watson asked about Gooch’s charity initiatives in his native Oklahoma. Watson then spoke about his own charities, and how working together in a team environment could help raise awareness for all their off-course efforts.

“Our ideas lined up,” Watson said. “Who he wants to be, who I want to be. We just kind of connected on that level. It wasn’t anything about: ‘Our team’s gonna win championships.’ We were talking the other stuff, that stuff that comes with being a professional golfer or part of a team. And that’s really what gave him the idea to come to us.”

Well, that, and one other factor.

“Who doesn’t want to play with Harold Varner?” Watson laughed. “As soon as you say Harold’s on the team, everybody’s like, hold on for a second, I want to be on that team because Harold is so fun and loving and caring. Obviously, Talor was drawn to that as well.”

With the decision made, Gooch had one other thing to do. Tell DJ.

“It’s almost like telling your girlfriend: ‘Hey, I think we’re going to have to part ways,’” Gooch said with a laugh. “But at the end of the day, he understood. It was not a fun conversation but it went smooth, and DJ took it well.”

THE AUDITION WENT WELL

Peter Uihlein and Brooks Koepka. LIV Golf

Like Gooch, Uihlein was a team captain in London — and a successful one. He led the Crushers to a second-place finish, albeit 14 strokes behind the winning Stingers. Meanwhile, Uihlein finished tied for third on the individual leaderboard.

When Bryson DeChambeau joined LIV Golf and became the Crushers captain starting in Portland, Uihlein stayed on the roster. But as DeChambeau began to fine-tune his line-up, Uihlein moved to the pre-Bubba Niblicks team. During the off-week prior to Boston, Uihlein and Koepka were at the northern end of Medalist Golf Club in South Florida. Koepka asked him about his plans. Uihlein was honest.

“I didn’t have any,” he recalled. “I just didn’t want to keep bouncing around. I wanted to do something, be a part of something for the rest of the year.”

Koepka was also honest. He said that Wolff -— who had become the most productive player for Mickelson’s HyFlyers — remained on his radar as a potential Smash player for 2023. Uihlein was fine with that. He jumped to Smash for the rest of the season.

“In my opinion, it was a win-win,” Uihlein said. “If we played well as a team, that’s great. You play well, you make more. Then if I played well, I was on the radar for other teams.”

He indeed played well. At Chicago, he tied for second with Johnson, three strokes behind Cameron Smith. Just as important, he played in the final group with those two major winners and held his own; at one point, he was within a shot of Smith. “That was big for me. Huge,” Uihlein said.

Johnson’s radar was now pinging.

The next event was LIV Golf Bangkok. After Johnson made his interest known on the putting green, Uihlein was flattered but now felt the pressure to perform. At Bangkok, he tied for 20th at 8-under, same as Gooch. Good, but not eye-popping.

Then at Jeddah in the regular-season finale, Uihlein opened with a 5-under 65. So did 4 Aces star Reed. That meant they were paired for the second round.

Uihlein and Reed have competed against each other for many years, going back to their college days. “He smoked me twice at nationals in back-to-back years,” Uihlein remembered. He wanted to make a better impression in Jeddah.

They started on the second hole. Uihlein opened with four consecutive birdies en route to a 7-under 63 that moved him atop the leaderboard. Reed shot a 69.

“In my mind, that was an audition,” Uihlein said. “I wanted to play well in front of him … That’s how I approached that day, and it obviously worked out well.”

The decision was made: Uihlein would join the 4 Aces for 2023. Considering Koepka had been transparent about wanting Wolff, it was an easy conversation for Uihlein to explain his move. “No animosity, no tension, nothing,” Uihlein said. “It’s just business is business.”

Uihlein and Wolff are tight. They’ve shared many practice rounds at their home bases in South Florida. They’ve often talked about being teammates on LIV Golf, especially since their careers did not cross at Oklahoma State.

“We wanted to try to play together, but there were no spots,” Uihlein said. “I think ultimately we both ended up in the right spots for us.”

As for joining the 4 Aces?

“I’m joining a team that arguably has one of the top three players in my generation of all time. And then an unbelievable Ryder Cup player, major winner in Patrick Reed. And then a 20-year veteran in Pat Perez,” Uihlein said. “In my mind, I’m going to a situation where I know they’re going to help me get better. And whatever I can do to help them and help the 4Aces win, that’s great.

“The reality is, it all starts with DJ and Patrick Reed.”

FINDING THE RIGHT FIT

Matthew Wolff. LIV Golf

Matthew Wolff became engaged in the off-season. He popped the question to his girlfriend Kim Lloyd at a hotel in her family’s hometown of Philadelphia. They were standing outside on a balcony on one of the high floors when he knelt down and proposed.

It was approximately 6 degrees Fahrenheit.

“Absolutely freezing,” Wolff said. “Luckily the wind wasn’t gusting up there or it probably would’ve been unbearable.”

Wolff looks forward to being married, to start the next chapter of his life. But he’s still just 23 years old. Kids may be in the future, but not now.

Now compare that to his former HyFlyers captain. Phil Mickelson is 52, has three grown kids and has been married to wife Amy since 1996. The other former HyFlyers teammates were also well into their 30s, with much more life experience than Wolff.

So when the opportunity to join a Smash team led by the 32-year-old Koepka, along with younger brother Chase (age 29) and veteran Jason Kokrak (37), it just seemed a better fit to Wolff.

“One of the biggest reasons I went over to LIV in the first place was that you’re going to be spending a lot of time with your team, talk to them, get close with them,” Wolff explained. “I think it’s hard for me, because of my age, to relate to someone because they might be a little older or at a different stage in life.”

There’s something to be said about getting close with the players on your team.

In essence, he just wanted to have more in common with his teammates. Nothing wrong with that, and no knock against the HyFlyers, the only team with a World Golf Hall of Famer on its roster. When Mickelson first approached Wolff about joining LIV Golf last year, the young star couldn’t resist.

“It’s Phil, right?” Wolff said. “Obviously I respect his game and the player he is and what he’s done. And he taught me a lot. Great guy. He really cared about us, wanted us to win.”

But with Wolff and the Koepka brothers all living in close proximity to each other in Florida, the team camaraderie could be a year-round thing.

“We’ve been playing a lot, practising, kind of spending time together,” Wolff said. “I think there’s something to be said about getting close with the players on your team. Obviously, you want to win as a team, but it gives you a little extra when you know them a little bit more personally.”

The team environment is especially important for Wolff, who didn’t really enjoy the, ahem, lone wolf lifestyle so prevalent on most professional tours. He loves hanging out and competing with his buddies, knowing others on the course have his back.

“We talked about it being the most fun he’s ever had playing golf,” said Uihlein. “And this is coming from a kid who finished second in the US Open (in 2020). You’d think that would be a good time. But golf can be very lonely. It can be very difficult. We just have more fun playing now.”

Uihlein also believes that Smash is the perfect landing spot for Wolff. “I know Brooks will look after him, which is good,” Uihlein said. “I think that’s what Wolffie needs.”

It was less than four years ago that the big-hitting Wolff won the 2019 NCAA Division I championship as a sophomore at Oklahoma State. He then turned pro, and in his third start captured his first pro win. A year later, he tied for fourth at the PGA Championship before that runner-up finish to Bryson DeChambeau at the 2020 US Open, which Wolff led after 54 holes. Stardom was just around the corner.

But 2021 turned into a lost season, and Wolff was left searching for a spark. He found it after joining LIV Golf. A tie for eighth in his first start in Portland. A tie for second at Bedminster. Then he recorded LIV’s first (and still only) ace in Boston. He ended the regular season tied for fifth in Jeddah.

He had found a home. The team concept works for him.

“In the past, it was a grind,” Wolff said. “I didn’t really have anyone. I was hotel room to hotel room. I just got lonely out there. But now I’m enjoying it again. I’m just having fun.”

Perhaps the only part that wasn’t fun was telling Mickelson that he was leaving the HyFlyers to play for a new team.

“He took it fine,” Wolff said. “At the end of the day, once you get into this team stuff, you start realising how much more it means, and the emotion that goes along with playing for more than just yourself. I just thought I had to do what is best for me, and he understood that.

“Phil’s a good guy. He definitely wants me to continue to play well and continue to be good. He thinks I’m a young guy with a big future in golf. So kudos to him to make sure that my future is in good hands.”

MODEL OF THE FUTURE

Talor Gooch with the 4 Aces. LIV Golf

So who’s the real winner in this three-player transfer?

Is it the 4 Aces, who lost a terrific contributor but added the third-best player from the 2022 season?

Is it the RangeGoats, who have significantly upgraded their roster with a key component from last year’s top team?

Is it Smash, who brings in a young talent loaded with potential greatness, a player who can overpower any course when he’s on his game?

From the perspective of the players making the moves, all three consider the changes as ultra-positive ones. From each team’s perspective, the additions are vital since three scores will be counted in each round. From a fan perspective, it just adds a layer of intrigue that previously had not existed in golf, but that has certainly been prevalent in team sports.

“This is what’s going to happen now,” said Crushers captain DeChambeau, an interested observer whose roster remained the same in the off-season. “You’re going to have trades happen every single year. It’s going to be unique and different. We’re going to flip-flop.

“I can’t wait to see what’s going to come from this model. You’re going to have the individual medal play for the title, but then you’ve got the added team component. How can that not be good? You look at the counting scores and no matter if you’re in dead last, you’re still fighting for your team. Can you give me one reason what that isn’t good for the sport?

“That’s the frustrating part, some people looking at it and going, is this really a better entertainment product? Well, yeah, it is.”

The post Gooch, Uihlein, Wolff switched teams ahead of LIV Golf League 2023: How and why it happened appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Just two days after LIV Golf’s season finale at Doral, ESPN reported a pretty shake-up with the newly crowned team champions. That’s right, the juggernaut 4 Aces are already breaking up. Say it ain’t so!

According to ESPN, Peter Uihlein will be joining Dustin Johnson’s squad, while Talor Gooch is going to Bubba Watson’s team. Or, rather, he’s leaving for a team to be named later, because Bubba’s franchise is planning on changing its name from Niblicks. That’s great news if you’re a Niblicks fan, but bad news if you own a Niblicks jersey.

OK, so it’s not exactly LeBron’s ‘The Decision’. That being said, Uihlein is a bit of an unexpected commodity after finishing third on the regular season points list in LIV’s debut year to earn a $4 million bonus, which matched his career PGA Tour earnings in over a decade as a pro.

According to Sports Illustrated’s Alex Miceli, Uihlein entered the season with only a two-year contract to play on the LIV Golf circuit, but his high finish earned him another year. And while some players are locked into franchises as captains, there’s freedom for others to move about.

Peter Uihlein had suprising success playing on the LIV Golf circuit in 2022, making him attractive for other LIV teams to try to sign ahead of the 2023 season. Jonathan Ferrey/LIV Golf

“It’s a good problem to have, I’ve got some obviously incredible captains talking to me,” Uihlein told Miceli last week.

Gooch helped the 4 Aces emerge as the top LIV squad in 2022 as the squad claimed the $16 million prize on Sunday at Doral. He has also been one of the league’s more vocal players in the ongoing battle with the PGA Tour. Did he become ‘too big’ for the 4 Aces locker room? One can only wonder.

Patrick Reed and Pat Perez, who exacted some revenge on his critics by contributing to the 4 Aces big win in Doral, are expected to remain with the reigning champs.

Sweeping changes — particularly to those initial team names — were to be expected. But while there are jokes to be made — How could DJ mess with years, sorry, months of team chemistry?! — there’s no denying that being more like other pro team sports differentiates LIV Golf from other pro tours.

Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean golf fans are going to care. Some like golf how it is and have no interest in it becoming a team sport filled with contracts and roster moves. And some are already tired of keeping up with their favourite teams’ transactions — especially if those are bad teams making bad transactions.

In any event, the only free agency golf fans used to be able to get worked up for was when a TV guy like David Feherty changed networks or a top player switched equipment companies. Whether you like it or not, that’s no longer the case.

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The floodlights came on in Jeddah and the three-day finale to the inaugural individual LIV Golf season served up a cracker as two Smash teammates slugged it out long past the scheduled final bell to find out who would join the likes of Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith and Henrik Stenson as individual tournament winners over the seven competitions.

Brooks Koepka and Peter Uihlein had spent most of Saturday going toe-to-toe, responding to one slug with another before Uihlein’s eagle-birdie finish gave him a one-stroke advantage going into the final round at Royal Greens.

However, the American was on the ropes early on Sunday, dropping to the canvas with dropped shots — three in the opening three holes — but each time he picked himself up and picked off other hopefuls such as Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey, Matthew Wolff and 2022 LIV Golf title holder DJ himself to emerge as the last man standing against Smash teammate and captain Koepka to go into a captivating showdown against his longtime friend and former roommate.

Ahead of the Team Championship in Miami at Trump National Doral from October 28-30 where the teams — rather than the players themselves — show what they are worth in the groundbreaking $50 million event, this was an extra-time duel under the lights at Royal Greens.

Brooks Koepka defeated Smash teammate Peter Uihlein on the third playoff hole at Jeddah. LIV Golf

The curtain finally came down in the dusk at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club on the third playoff hole when skipper Koepka birdied to capture his first LIV Golf individual title and his first worldwide win in 20 months. In addition, his Smash team, also including Brooks’ brother Chase and Jason Kokrak, won their first team title of the season by six strokes over Fireballs, last week’s winner in Bangkok, something that could prove vital ahead of Miami.

Despite the $4.75 million pay day that came with the win, skipper Koepka was looking to Doral to help Smash to the Team Championship title.

“Honestly, to me the big thing today was getting the team win,” said an exhausted-looking Koepka, who shot a final-round 69 to finish regulation at 12-under with Uihlein. “I told my brother [Chase] I’d buy him a Lambo if we won the team thing, so I’ve got to go by one.”

The Smash team celebrate in Jeddah. LIV Golf

With the win, Smash GC finish fifth in the season-long team standings. While the top four will receive day-one byes at the Miami Team Championship, Smash get to choose their opponent for the first day of match play.

“I kept thinking about it all week,” Koepka said. “Being able to pick who we are going to play is going to be important. We’re excited for Miami.”

More: How the LIV Team finale in Miami works

Sunday’s playoff was the second of the inaugural LIV Golf season, with Dustin Johnson winning in dramatic fashion in Boston with an eagle on the first playoff hole. It took three playoff holes, all at the par-5 18th, to determine the winner in Jeddah.

After Koepka and Uihlein each birdied the 18th in regulation — eliminating the hopes of Sergio and Joaquin Niemann, who had finished at 11-under — they each produced birdies in the first two playoff holes. Uihlein, in particular, showed off some skillful wedge play to set up his tap-in birdie putts in the humid Jeddah heat.

But on the third playoff hole, Uihlein’s luck ran out, as his third shot from a greenside bunker flew past the pin and rolled into the water. After Uihlein missed his chip for par, Koepka rolled in his birdie putt with the skies darkening further.

“It’s always fun battling against your friends, and I think it’s special,” Koepka said of Uihlein. “Pete is knocking on the door.”

Financially, it was a bittersweet result for Uihlein. A victory would have given him not only the $4 million tournament prize but also second place in the season-long Individual Champion final standings, with the bonus prize of $8 million. Instead, he won (just!) $2.125 million for finishing second, and $4 million for finishing third in the season-long race (in addition to his $750,000 share of the $3 million team victory).

“Consolation,” said Uihlein, “Still a good chunk of change.”

In keeping with the team camaraderie that makes LIV Golf so unique, pals and teammates Koepka and Uihlein were first to congratulate each other on the 18^th (fourth time around on Sunday) and celebrate a team win.

“It is pretty cool,” Koepka said. “We’ve known each other for so long. That’s what you want to do, right? You want to compete with some of your very good friends, go toe-to-toe. This team thing has revived me.”

Final team standings

• The top four teams in points receive day-one byes and will select their opponents on day two.
• 4 Aces GC, 152 points
• Crushers GC, 96 points
• Fireballs GC, 93 points
• Stinger GC, 72 points
• Teams finishing 5th through 8th will select, in order of finish, their opponents for day one.
• Smash GC, 62 points
• Majesticks GC, 61 points
• Torque GC, 38 points
• Hy Flyers GC, 37 points
• Iron Heads GC, 32 points
• Cleeks GC, 21 points
• Punch GC, 16 points
• Niblicks GC, 13 points

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The post Captain Brooks Koepka performs playoff Smash-and-grab to claim LIV Golf Jeddah title from teammate and longtime pal Peter Uihlein appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Uihlein leads by one on 12-under from Koepka, and they are paired with South Africa’s London champ Charl Schwartzel (-9), who is looking to become the first two-time LIV winner.

Sergio Garcia, Abraham Ancer and Paul Casey also go off from Hole 1 11 minutes earlier at 12.01pm in this quasi-shotgun start.

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Captain Koepka and Uilhein traded blows all day — Uilhein starting on hole 2 and Koepka on 1 in the shotgun start at Royal Greens. Uilhein got off to a flying start to draw level with his team skipper and then they went round in almost identical scoring, both even making a double-bogey on 13.

It was a decisive eagle-birdie finish on 18 and 1 for Uihlein that allowed him to break the deadlock and take a one-stroke lead into the final round on Sunday.

Setting up to take the lead…@PeterUihlein

WATCH LIVE https://t.co/HImdruaIYe#LIVGolf #LIVGolfJeddah pic.twitter.com/XAfOefk8Tw

— LIV Golf (@LIVGolfInv) October 15, 2022

After the ding-dong battle, Koepka was thrilled for his teammate and was relishing playing alongside him in the final pairing for the first time on Sunday.

Speaking to the media together after the round, the camaraderie between the two was clear to be seen

“I don’t think we’ve played together in a tournament, have we?” asked Uilhein.

Koepka replied: “Yeah, I don’t think so. I can think all the way back to Challenge Tour days, and I don’t remember anything. When you play with a teammate, it’s always fun, and then competing for the team thing and the individual thing, I think it’ll be exciting. I haven’t been in this position, so it’s exciting. Got the juices flowing, and it’s always good.”

And so it went on when they discussed the double-bogeys.
Uihlein: “Yeah, I fatted it in the water.”
Koepka: “Yeah, I watched that.”
Uilhein: “I drove it quite well other than one hole [13]. I was on the wrong hole. Yeah, that was left. That was an accident.”
Koepka: “I thought it was on purpose.”

On a more serious note, Uilhein is hoping to finally converting getting into a good position on Sunday into a victory.

“This will be the third time I’m in the final group in these LIV events, so just trying to keep getting comfortable, keep putting myself in these situations to have a chance to win,” he said.

“Obviously I’ve got a world-class player [Koepka] over here, one of the best out here chasing me down, so it should be fun. That’s the stuff you want.”

The team element is also playing on their mind as a win in Jeddah will help their seeding for the Team Championship in Miami at the end of the month.

“I think the team thing is really cool,” said Koepka, whose brother Chase and Jason Kokrak make up the Smash quartet. “In Chicago I was out of it individually, but when you’re not playing well, you’ve still got to fight for the team and be competitive. It’s one of those things where you have a bad day, you’ve still got two more and try to help the team and do what you can.

“I’ve found myself staring at the leaderboard, seeing how these guys are doing more than anything. I’m a leaderboard watcher. I always look at it, see what’s going on, but I’m always trying to figure out what Pete is doing, what Jay is doing and my brother. It makes it fun and entertaining when you’re out there and you’ve got someone to root for.”

Uilhein added: “We can’t get into the fourth spot that would mean a first-round bye in Miami, but getting into the fifth spot, at least that puts a lot of power in our position that we can kind of choose who we want to play, which is pretty important in that first round.

“We have a lot to play for on Sunday.”

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The post Brooks Koepka and pal Peter Uihlein set for Smashing finale at LIV Golf Invitational Jeddah appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
It went in the water, but it was a good shot is usually a phrase reserved for 15-handicappers who finally make great contact, only for their ball to get wet anyway. On Sunday at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, though, it was a thought that crossed Marc Leishman’s mind after his partner, Cameron Smith, rinsed one from the tee at the drivable par-4 16th at TPC Louisiana.

“I mean, he hit a really good shot,” said Leishman, who wound up hitting the most momentous shot of the entire week soon after Smith found the water. “It sounds silly, but it was the right shot, it just drifted a little in the wind. I wasn’t walking up there thinking I wanted to give him a jab in the ribs or something, I was just concentrating on the next shot.”

That next shot proved to be a decisive one, as Leishman took his drop from just off the green and chipped in for birdie, giving he and Smith a share of the lead at 21 under. From there, a bit of a pillow fight ensued between Team Aussie and Team South Africa—Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel—down in the stretch in the nervy alternate-shot format.

The two duos made matching bogeys at the par-3 17th, then matched with pars at the par-5 18th. Back at the 18th tee for the first hole of sudden death, Oosthuizen’s tee shot found the water, and he and Schwartzel were pretty much dead from there, Smith eventually holing a six-footer for par to capture his second team win in this event, the last coming alongside Jonas Blixt in 2017.

No offence to Blixt, but winning alongside a fellow countryman was extra special for Smith.

“I guess I’m good at picking good partners,” Smith said. “He carried me this week. No, that was really cool. We had such a good week on and off the golf course. We stayed together all week. The boys were with us all week as well. It was just such a cool week. Something I’ll never forget for sure.”

The win, which counts as an official tour victory, is Leishman’s sixth, his first since the 2020 Farmers Insurance Open. Smith now has three, two at the Zurich and one at the 2020 Sony Open.

Four other takeaways from Sunday at the Zurich Classic.

Mike Ehrmann

That was a brutal block cut from Louis Oosthuizen
The man with (arguably) the sweetest swing on the planet, one that often produces a right to left ball flight that makes peons like us salivate, hitting a block cut in sudden death was legitimately shocking to see. That would have been painful enough for Oosthuizen in a regular tournament, but to do it in alternate shot with your fellow South African and buddy Charl Schwartzel is crushing. We’ve all played team golf in some capacity, be it for $5 at your club on Saturday or for millions of dollars on tour, and we all know that incredible sinking feeling of letting down your teammate. Luckily, Oosty is well-accustomed to the runner-up life and won’t lose too much sleep tonight, as long as he has his trusty mattress with him.

Mike Ehrmann

We see you, Peter Uihlein
How’s this for your last five professional starts: second (KFT), T-22 (PGA Tour), MC, Win (KFT), third (PGA Tour). That’s the line right now for Peter Uihlein, who is attempting to get back full status on the PGA Tour. The 31-year-old is running pure right now, and his solo third with Richy Werenski in New Orleans gets him into the field at Valspar, where he can keep trying to rack up FedEx Cup points. The strong result this week vaulted him to 149th in the FEC race, and he’ll need a few more finishes like that to make a push for top 125. He has not made the postseason since 2018.

Mike Ehrmann
Cameron Champ and Tony Finau on Sunday.

Tony Finau avoids the asterisk win
As unfair as it would have been, a team event victory for Tony Finau would have definitely been asterisk-worthy. He and Cameron Champ were in prime position on Sunday, and you know Finau would have fielded endless “Is this the same as a solo win?” and “Do you feel like you’ve actually ended your victory drought?” questions had they won. Again, not fair ones, but that would be the reality.

Welp, shoutout to alternate shot, because it bit Champ and Finau in the butt in the final round and now Finau won’t have to deal with any bogus asterisks. Unless, of course, he goes another full year without a win and wins next year’s Zurich. Entirely possible. We’d set his over/under of top-10s during that span at around 9.5.

That was the best crowd yet
Yes, we know fans have been back for a decent while now, and events like the Players and the WGC-Dell Match Play look and sounded somewhat normal. But give the Zurich Classic crowd credit, they were very loud and very into it on Sunday, making an otherwise forgettable tournament feel big down the stretch. Guess that’s just the New Orleans difference. Between Sunday at Zurich, Saturday night’s full capacity UFC event in Florida, and baseball stadiums starting to fill up as the weather gets warmer, it’s starting to feel like sports truly on their way back, which not a single soul is complaining about.

The post Leishman & Smith hang on, Oosthuizen’s brutal block and Finau avoids the asterisk victory appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.