LIV Golf Houston: leads to four shares; Fireballs ahead of 4

HUMBLE, Texas – In a stacked LIV Golf Houston leaderboard in which a dozen players are three shots off the lead, only one of them lives close enough to the course to commute from his Houston-area home.

Patrick Reed has never won a professional event in front of his hometown fans, but the 4Aces GC star has a chance to lift the trophy and enjoy a champagne celebration if he can come out of what promises to be a Texas shootout Sunday at the Golf Club of Houston.

RELATED: RD. 2 NEWS AND NOTES: CASEY’S CADDY SWITCH

“Having all this support and being able to stay home, it means a lot,” Reed said. “I hope we go out there and…give them a show tomorrow and hopefully hoist that trophy.”

First, he’ll have to get past a quartet of leaders, two of whom have already had success in Houston.

Paul Casey of Crushers GC, Adrian Meronk of Cleeks GC, Carlos Ortiz of Torque GC and David Puig of Fireballs GC are each at 10 under, with Reed in solo fifth at 9 under. Casey won the Houston Open at this course in 2009, while Ortiz won the same tournament in 2020 after moving to Memorial Park.

Captain Joaquin Niemann of Torque GC and Matthew Wolff of RangeGoats GC are tied for sixth at 8 under, with five other players at 7 under. Of those 12 players, only Niemann has won a LIV golf tournament – ​​two victories in fact earlier this year in Mayakoba and Jeddah.

Fueled by 6-under 66s from Puig and Abraham Ancer, the Fireballs lead the team competition at 26-under, four shots ahead of Torque. Three teams – Crushers, 4Aces and Cleeks – are in third place again.

Casey, who shot his second straight 67 on Saturday, isn’t sure how much of an impact his success 15 years ago will have on the final result. He is one of five players in the field to have won the Houston Open on this course.

“I know what it takes, but it doesn’t necessarily make it easier,” Casey said. “It has always been a difficult test for golf. … This golf course has some teeth, and just because I won doesn’t mean anything.

Ortiz, who made four straight birdies Saturday en route to a 68, doesn’t plan to take advantage of his experience. On the other hand, he admits to having a certain level of comfort here.

“I love the golf course and the people,” Ortiz said. “I guess maybe it’s the confidence. I don’t know, but I played really well and I think it’s just a reflection now.

Meronk was one of three co-leaders in the first round with captain Martin Kaymer and young Legion XIII player Caleb Surratt. While those two fell in the leaderboard, Meronk bounced back from a rough start that included two bogeys in his first five holes to shoot a 69.

“I played pretty solid,” said Meronk, who joined LIV Golf just before the start of this season. “It could have been much lower. I missed a few putts down the stretch. But I’m still quite satisfied with my round and my position before Sunday.

Puig, meanwhile, started this week by earning medalist honors in the 36-hole U.S. Open qualifier in Northern California on Monday to earn a spot in next week’s major. He brought that momentum to Houston, opening with a 68, then shooting a 66 in which he finished with five birdies in his final seven holes.

“It definitely gave me a little bit of confidence,” Puig said of his performance earlier this week, “and I’m glad it’s paying off.”

COUNTING TEAM SCORES

Standings and scorekeeping for Saturday’s second round of team competition at LIV Golf Houston. Each team’s three best scores count in the first two rounds while the four scores count in the final round. The team with the lowest cumulative score after three rounds wins the team title.

1. GC-26 FIREBALLS (Ancer 66, Puig 66, Garcia 70; Rd. 2 score: -14)

2. TORQUE GC-22 (Ortiz 68, Niemann 97, Muñoz 71; Rd. 2 score: -8)

T3. GC-21 CRUSHERS (Casey 67, Lahiri 69, Catlin 70; Rd. 2 score: -10)

T3. 4ACESGC-21 (Perez 68, Reed 68, Johnson 71; Rd. 2 score: -9)

T3. GC-21 KEYS (Meronk 69, Bland 71, Kaymer 72; Rd. 2 score: -4)

T6. SMASH GC-17 (Kokrak 66, McDowell 68, Gooch 71; Rd. 2 score: -11)

T6. RIPPER GC-17 (Herbert 68, Smith 69, Jones 74; Rd. 2 score: -5)

8. HYFLYERS GC-13 (Mickelson 69, Tringale 69, Steele 70; Rd. 2 score: -8)

T9. RANGEGOATS GC-12 (Wolff 67, Pieters 68, Watson 72; Rd. 2 score: -9)

T9. MAJESTICKS GC-12 (Stenson 70, Poulter 72, Westwood 72; Rd. 2 score: -2)

T9. LEGION XIII -12 (Hatton 70, Vincent 70, Surratt 76; Rd. 2 score: E)

12. IRON HEADS -9 (Lee 72, Na 72, Kozuma 73; Rd. 2 score: +1)

13. STINGER GC-5 (Burmester 69, Schwartzel 72, Ormsby 73; Rd. 2 score: -2)