Joaquin Niemann Headlines 5-Way Tie at LIV Golf Andalucía Before Round 1 Delay

SAN ROQUE, Spain – On a blustery day in Spain with winds howling at 33 mph and lightning-fast greens, Valderrama delivered one of the toughest rounds golf fans will witness this season. At 5:07 p.m. local time, conditions were deemed unplayable at LIV Golf Andalucía, as the balls would no longer stay on the greens due to the high winds.

Round 1 will resume at 8 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET) on Saturday, with Round 2 scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. local time (4:30 a.m. ET).

When play was suspended, there was a 5-way tie at the top of the leaderboard with Torque GCCaptain Joaquin Niemann, Ripper GC Captain Cameron Smith, Majesticks GC Co-Captain Lee Westwood, Stinger GC's Branden Grace and Smash GC's Talor Gooch all at 1-under par.

"Just keep doing what I'm doing," Smith said. "I hit a lot of drives today that felt like good shots and didn't quite catch the fairway. Just seemed like one of those days where if you got a bit of a gust, it was just going to take your ball anyway ... Did a good job with staying patient. Made a lot of birdies, and like I said, just keep doing what I'm doing. Hopefully I find some more fairways and make some more putts."

Niemann, who has won four times this season, is bogey free on his round with two holes to play. The only player to have a bogey-free round at Valderrama on LIV Golf was Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau in 2023 (Rd. 2).

Fireballs GC Captain Sergio Garcia got off to an up-and-down start in his title defense. The Spaniard, who has won four times in his career at Valderrama, made two birdies and four bogeys to sit at 2-over par for his round, but only three shots off the lead.

A handful of stars, including Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm (E), Crushers GC's Paul Casey (+1),