Despite his double bogey on the closed hole, Patrick Reed shot a 5-under 67 on Friday in the first round lead at Liv Golf Miami at Trump National Doral.
The lead began the round on the 10th hole, placing seven birdies on the card and tapped in on par 5 No. 8 to reach 7 under. However, on a par-3 nine he missed a wide green left and put a second shot in the bunker to make the mistake worse.
He still has two shot leads to Bryson Deccanbeau, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson (3-under 69).
“I mean, the first 17 was great,” Reed said. “No, it’s sturdy overall. I hit the ball pretty well off the tee, hit high quality iron shots and made some putts, I think that’s what you have to do in this place.
“…it was just an unfortunate finish, but at the end of the day it’s still a solid round of golf.”
At Liv Golf’s first US event in 2025, it was appropriate that the top four players were all past major champions, with three of them being named at least one green jacket being named Masters a week ahead.
Reed won the Masters in 2018. Mickelson won three green jackets, while Dustin Johnson won the 2020 edition late in November.
Johnson ran three buildings on No. 14-16 to reach 3 under late in the round, but Deccanbo was steady with four birdies and one bogey.
“Obviously, it’s a really great line of being so good or just a little bit, but yeah, I have a lot of confidence in my game right now,” Johnson said.
Dechambeau’s team, Crushers GC, also holds a narrow two-shot lead in the team competition throughout the first round. The four-man team – Deccanbeau, Charles Howell III, British Paul Casey and India’s Annealvan Rahiri, Johnson’s 4 sat in second place equally.