Rory McIlroy believes Bryson DeChambeau should be welcomed back to the PGA Tour, but it was Patrick Reed who made all the noise by making a hole-in-one in Friday’s opening round at LIV Golf Adelaide.
On a day when Sam Horsfield fired a six-under 66 to top the leaderboard at The Grange, and Tom McKibbin made an eagle two in a 70 that helped Legion XIII share second place in the team competition, Reed sparked wild scenes on the Watering Hole less than 20 minutes after the shotgun start.
His eight-iron at the 151-yard 12th (his second hole of the day) set off a scene reminiscent of two years ago when Chase Koepka delivered LIV Golf’s first ace at the famous party hole.
“It’s awesome to give the fans what they want,” said Reed, who ended up shooting 73 to share 37th with Graeme McDowell in the 54-man field.
“That’s why we want to be out here: Golf, but louder.”
Horsfield led by a shot from Torque’s Joaquin Niemann and Carlos Ortiz, who topped the team standings at the end of day one by two shots on eight under from the Fireballs, the 4Aces and Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII.
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Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Caleb Surrat and McKibbin all shot 70s with the Holywood star mixing three bogeys with three birdies and an eagle two at the ninth to share 11th place.
US Open champion DeChambeau shot 68, and McIlroy believes his return to the PGA Tour fold, should the PIF deal go ahead, could only benefit the US Tour.
“There are guys that were on the PGA Tour that went to play on LIV, and if they still have status, sure, come back, come back and play,” McIlroy said on the eve of the Genesis Invitational, where he goes into tonight’s second round four shots behind Denny McCarthy in a tie for 14th after an opening 72.
“For us, all of us have equity in this tour, so having Bryson DeChambeau come back and play on this tour is good.
“Do I think he should (have equity in the PGA Tour)? I think he should have the ability to earn equity.
“We have been given equity in this tour as a, I guess, quote, unquote, compensation, like for being loyal in some way or staying.
“But I think these guys coming back, I think they should have the opportunity to earn equity, which I think will happen.
“There’s going to be these recurring equity grants every year, so I think they should have the opportunity to earn it, but I don’t think they should be given it right away.”
McIlroy is no fan of the LIV Golf format, but he can see why incorporating LIV players or some of their events into a global schedule could be beneficial.
“We’ll see,” he said. “Do they take up a smaller part of the schedule, maybe? There are certain markets that their product has worked in. Adelaide, for example, this week.
“So, are there certain markets where we try to cherry-pick the best ones that make sense and try to do something with them?
“I honestly don’t know. As I keep saying, that’s above my pay grade.”