Brooks Koepka sparks into life at Royal Greens to secure early lead at LIV Golf event in Jeddah

Brooks Koepka found form on the opening day of the LIV Golf event in Jeddah to establish a lead over the field. The four-time major winner was a huge signing for LIV, being a player in his early 30s and with theoretically lots of good golf still in him. Ad But his previous performances in LIV events this year were poor, with a ninth-placed finish in Bangkok his best effort from five starts.

Ryder Cup'I am here because of that' — Seve's Ryder Cup heroics set Rahm on path to golfing greatness4 HOURS AGO The Bangkok event was the most recent, finishing last Sunday, and he carried the form from Thailand to the Royal Greens in Saudi Arabia. Hip and knee injuries have hampered Koepka since winning the PGA Championship in 2019, but he looked on excellent terms on Friday to get to eight-under. “I played great and am really happy,” Koepka said.

“Very solid today and very pleased. «I didn't drive it that well but ball striking was good and been working on that a lot with Claude (Harmon, coach).» After a par on his opening hole, the 15th, he produced a superb tee shot on the difficult 16th and rolled in the birdie putt to get his round moving. 'I am here because of that' — Seve's Ryder Cup heroics set Rahm on path to golfing greatness Fowler shows old sparkle to take share of lead at halfway stage of ZOZO Championship A further birdie followed one hole later, before going on a run of five birdies in the space of seven holes.

Scoring was easy in hot conditions, 40 of the 48 players finished even-par or better, but Koepka was the only one of the field to make it look simple. On what is a par-70 layout, a birdie on his 14th raised talk of a 59 being posted. But he went a little cold on the closing holes as he signed for a 62.