LECANTO, FLORIDA: The key to advancing beyond Thursday’s opening round of LIV Golf Promotions was simple: break par.
All 29 players who shot better than even-par 70 at Black Diamond Ranch moved on to Friday’s second round, to be joined by 18 exempt players in another 18-hole shootout to determine the weekend field that will compete for three spots in the 2026 LIV Golf League.
Canada’s Richard T. Lee led the first-round field of 60 players with a bogey-free six-under 64, two shots better than his nearest competitors, thanks to a stretch of four birdies in his final six holes.
“It’s the first round, and finishing first is always a great feeling,” said the 35-year-old Lee. “But the scores are going to reset tomorrow for the second round, and hopefully I can put up another good score out there.”
Of the 47 players competing on Friday, the top 20 and ties will advance to the two-day weekend shootout. The top three players after those 36 final holes will earn wild-card spots for the upcoming LIV Golf season.
At last season’s LIV Golf Promotions tournament, Lee was exempt into the second round, then advanced into the weekend. If he earns one of the three spots, he would be the league’s first Canadian player.
“Definitely for everyone out there that’s striving to get the three cards, I think it’s going to be a life-changer to be out there on LIV Golf and performing at the highest level,” Lee said.
Among those advancing comfortably behind Lee with four-under 64s were youngsters Max Kennedy of Ireland and Pablo Ereno of Spain, Korea’s Hongtaek Kim, and Thailand’s Suteepat Prateeptienchai and Sadom Kaewkanjana.
Ereno turned pro last June and is the youngest player in the field, at 22. He is hoping to follow the same path as current LIV Golf players Josele Ballester, David Puig and Luis Masaveu, the three young Spaniards who will be teammates on Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC team this season.
“I’m super close, especially with Josele and Luis Masaveu,” said Ereno, who played collegiately at UCLA. “I’ve only heard good things about it, so that’s why I’m here trying to earn my spot for next year. They’re really happy playing on LIV, and I think I would be, too, in case I play great this week.”
Kennedy was still an amateur in 2023 when he participated in the inaugural LIV Golf Promotions tournament and advanced from the first round.
“Definitely a lot more comfortable,” Kennedy said. “Back then, it was kind of new to me, so I was a little bit more nervous, didn’t know what to expect. Going out there tomorrow, I’ll know how to feel. I know what I’m going to feel.”
Prateeptienchai is one of two players at Black Diamond Ranch who previously advanced to the final 36-hole shootout in each of the previous two Promotions tournaments.
The other, Kieran Vincent, earned a LIV Golf spot in 2023, and Prateeptienchai is hoping for a similar result this week. He previously finished T11 in 2023 and T8 last season.
Provided he advances again after Friday’s second round, he hopes not having to play 36 holes in a single final day, as in the previous Promotions tournaments, will be a positive.
This year, the final two rounds consist of 18 holes on Saturday and 18 more on Sunday. “Just really tired because it’s playing 36 holes in a day,” Prateeptienchai said. “This year, it’s 18 and 18. More happy.”
Kaewkanjana is one of 12 players this week with previous LIV Golf experience. He played in all eight tournaments during the inaugural 2022 season and has been working hard to earn another chance.
“I try to get into LIV Golf this year,” he said, “so that it gets me a great experience to play with the greatest players in the world.”
Eleven players made the top-20-and-ties cut on the number at one-under 69, including Australia’s Cory Crawford, who birdied the difficult par-four 18th to secure his spot.
England’s Joe Pagdin, playing in the final group that started off the 10th tee, bogeyed his next-to-last hole but bounced back with a birdie at the par-five ninth to also advance.
