SA's Burmester shares lead at first LIV Golf event in Hong Kong

LIV Golf made its debut in Hong Kong on Friday with a dragon dance on the first tee and electronic music thumping, but after 18 holes it was Dean Burmester and Abraham Ancer who shut out the noise to top a stacked leaderboard.

Leaderboard

The South African and Mexican both shot seven-under par rounds of 63 to be a stroke clear of a six-way tie for second.

After 18 holes, 25 of the 54-player field were within four strokes of the lead.

Hong Kong Golf Club celebrates its 135th anniversary in 2024 but has never witnessed anything like Friday's "golf but louder", the slogan of Saudi-backed LIV, the game's brashest new circuit.

Big galleries lapped up the action from the 54-player field.

Talk about getting hot ??‍??@BurmyGolf fires a 7-under 63 to co-lead after Round 1 ??#LIVGolf @stingergc_ pic.twitter.com/bmYPvOl9ij

Around the "party hole", the par-four 10th, spectators became more boisterous as the afternoon wore on.

Large video screens adorned the classic layout, giving a new look to a course that has hosted the Hong Kong Open continuously for more than 60 years.

Drones buzzed overhead as players bounced down the fairway in shorts flanked by TV cameramen as the action unfolded quickly.

Flawless round from @Abraham_Ancer ??

He co-leads after firing a 7-under 63 ??#LIVGolf @fireballsgc_ pic.twitter.com/w3HRCTEC8k

On the course, players took advantage of benign conditions with winds forecast to increase over the weekend.

"It was really solid," said Ancer after his bogey-free round.

"I feel like I did pretty much everything really good. I felt very comfortable out here off the tee, which you need to be. If you're in the fairway, you have a lot of chances to make birdies."

Dream stretch

Burmester picked up six shots in a dream five-hole