Five share individual lead, Stinger tops team standings at LIV Golf Chicago

SUGAR GROVE: Ripper GC’s Jediah Morgan, fighting to retain his spot in the LIV Golf League for next season, opened with a 5-under 66 to share the first-round lead on Friday at LIV Golf Chicago.

Morgan is tied with Fireballs GC Captain Sergio Garcia, Stinger GC Captain Louis Oosthuizen, Crusher GC’s Anirban Lahiri and Torque GC’s Sebastian Munoz on a packed leaderboard in which 19 other players ­are within two shots of the lead.

Among those pursuers are team captains Brooks Koepka (Smash GC), Dustin Johnson (4Aces GC) and Bryson DeChambeau (Crushers), who each shot 68, and Joaquin Niemann (Torque), who shot 67.

While the four other co-leaders are assured of returning in 2024, the 23-year-old Morgan is one of four players currently in the drop zone who face relegation at the end of the season. He ranks 46th with just three points but a big result this week at Rich Harvest Farms could move him above the drop zone.

Non-captains ranked 45th or worse will be relegated but have a chance to play their way back in later this year at the promotion tournament.

“I know where I am and everyone keeps reminding me where I am, so it’s pretty hard to get away from it,” said Morgan, who posted the low round in the field on Sunday at the previous LIV Golf event in Bedminster last month. “So, there’s no point in me trying to act like it’s not there in my head. It’s obviously there.

“But I know if I play well enough, put myself in the position I think to make putts for birdie, then that’s really all you can do.”

The South African Stinger team, which has finished third in each of the past three tournaments, top the team leaderboard at 13 under, with Charl Schwartzel and Dean Burmester contributing 67s to support Oosthuizen’s score. A