Bryson DeChambeau saved his best for a rainy day.
After a heavy thunderstorm that delayed play for an hour and 47 minutes with five holes remaining, DeChambeau gained four strokes to close his round with a 5-under-par 66 and a share of the lead after the first day of LIV Golf Virginia at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.
“I don’t know,” DeChambeau said, shaking his head. “It’s one of those things — you come back from a rain delay, you usually think you’re, you know, going to try and slowly get into the flow. And I came out hot.”
After play resumed just before 6 p.m., the defending U.S. Open champion gained four strokes on just six shots across holes 14, 15, and 16 to vault into a share of the 18-hole lead with Martin Kaymer, who carded five birdies, including three consecutive on Nos. 5, 6 and 7.
“Just a little bit of luck,” DeChambeau said, noting the greens were still firm after the rain. “I’ve been playing good all day too. It wasn’t like I was saving par all the time. It was just couldn’t get anything going for me. But it was a great round of golf today, so proud of myself.”
After going eagle-birdie on the par-4 14th and 15th, his tee shot on the shortest hole on the course, the 179-yard par-3 17th, missed right of the green. DeChambeau negotiated a hole-high chip out of a deep lie in the rough onto the putting surface, where it bounced and nicked the flagstick on its way into the cup for another birdie. His final putt of the day on No. 18 curled and stopped mere inches from what would have been his fifth birdie of the round.
“Hit a great chip shot [on 14], great drive on 15, great second shot, nice putt,” DeChambeau said. “Then the chip shot to kind of cap it off was pretty lucky.”
Six-time major winner Phil Mickelson, who spoke with reverence upon arriving at RTJ this week, used some muscle memory from playing in past Presidents Cups here to finish at 4-under 67, one off the lead going into Saturday’s second round.
“There were a lot of points throughout the golf course where I recalled certain stories or events that have occurred over those four events, four Presidents Cups,” said Mickelson, who hasn’t played RTJ since its most recent Presidents Cup 20 years ago. “I have a lot of history here, a lot of great moments, great special memories from this place, and it’s fun for me to come back and relive it.”
Mark Leishman, who took an early lead at 3-under after four holes and finished at 4-under, is also in the group of six players tied for third after a six-birdie, two-bogey day. He has been playing well all week in the region after qualifying for next week’s U.S. Open at Woodmont CC in Rockville, earning one of four spots on “golf’s longest day.”
The Bubba Watson-led RangeGoats topped the team standings, carding a collective 9-under-par to lead DeChambeau’s Crushers and 4Aces, led by Dustin Johnson, by two strokes headed into the second of three rounds on Saturday.
• George Gerbo can be reached at ggerbo@washingtontimes.com.
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