Talor Gooch backed up his Australian LIV win with an eagle on the par-5 18th after a rain delay to shoot a 7-under 64 on Friday and take a one-stroke lead at the tour’s Singapore event.
Gooch leads four players at the Sentosa course: Open champion Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka, Sergio Garcia and Cameron Tringale.
Phil Mickelson, Louis Oosthuizen and Bryson DeChambeau were another stroke back in a tie for sixth after 66s.
Gooch, Smith and Mickelson were in a featured group that began on the first tee in the shotgun-start format of the LIV Tour’s 54-hole tournaments.
“It was really solid today,” Smith said. “Talor said everyone played well in the group, and I felt like we kept ourselves going there after the rain delay. Everyone was getting a little bit tired, I think. It was a good day all in all.”
Gooch had a bogey-free Friday, recording five birdies and an eagle. He said he hopes to put together three strong rounds after struggling in the final round on his way to the win at Adelaide.
“There’s no pixie dust I’ve thrown on the clubs the last couple weeks,” Gooch said. “It’s just the game comes and goes in waves, and hopefully we can continue to ride this wave for as long as we can and play a bunch of good golf.”
Leading the team event after the first round are HyFlyers GC. Tringale posted the team’s best score with his 65, with captain Mickelson (66) and James Piot (70) contributing to the 12-under cumulative score.
Singer GC stand one back with Oosthuizen (66), Charl Schwartzel (69) and Dean Burmester (69).
Starting times for Saturday and Sunday were moved up with more severe weather in the forecast.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.