Ancer and Burmester shoot 63 to take first-round lead at LIV Golf tournament in Hong Kong
Captain Joaquín Niemann of Torque GC hits his shot from the 15th tee during the first round of LIV Golf Jeddah at the Royal Greens Golf & Country Club on Friday, March 1, 2024, in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia. Credit: AP/Charles Laberge
HONG KONG — Abraham Ancer and Dean Burmester shot 7-under 63s Friday to share the first-round lead at the inaugural LIV Golf tournament in Hong Kong.
Both players had strings of five consecutive birdies on the relatively short 6,710-yard Hong Kong Golf Club course.
They led by one stroke over a group that included Martin Kaymer and Louis Oosthuizen.
Burmester didn't practice earlier in the week because of an illness. The same thing happened in December and he ended up winning the South African Open Championship.
“Seems to be every time I get ill, I seem to play OK, so that's great news," Burmester said.
Ancer was one of seven players who had a bogey-free round.
“I didn't think there was going to be that many low numbers, but I don't know, I guess it's just playing perfect,” he said. “The greens are really good. There's just a lot of guys that are playing really good at this time.”
Joaquin Niemann, who won the Jeddah tournament in Saudi Arabia last week for his second LIV victory in three starts, shot 67, as did Jon Rahm.
Anthony Kim, who is making his second straight start after a 12-year layoff and finished 33 shots behind Niemann last week in Saudi Arabia, shot 76.
The Hong Kong tournament is the second of three LIV Golf events that are part of the Asian swing, with the third in early May in Singapore. The week before Singapore, the LIV series will be in the Pacific region with a second consecutive tournament at The Grange in Adelaide, Australia from April 26-28.
The next LIV tournament will be in Miami from April 5-7.
