{"id":25125,"date":"2025-07-26T13:00:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T13:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/25125\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T13:00:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T13:00:08","slug":"relegation-stress-on-display-at-liv-golf-uk-by-jcb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/25125\/","title":{"rendered":"Relegation stress on display at LIV Golf UK by JCB"},"content":{"rendered":"

ROCESTER, England \u2013 It’s tight at the top after the opening round of LIV Golf UK by JCB, as Joaquin Niemann<\/a>, Branden Grace<\/a> and Adrian Meronk<\/a>share the lead, but there are plenty more news notes and stats from Day 1 at JCB Golf & Country Club.<\/p>\n

Related: Leaderboard<\/a> | Round 1 recap<\/a> | Full Round 1 highlights<\/a>
\nLIV Golf UK by JCB Rd. 1 Notes
\nSTRESS RAMPS UP<\/p>\n

Just three tournaments are left in the regular season, which means some players are vying for positions in the Lock Zone, which guarantee spots for next season, while others are hoping to avoid the Drop Zone, which results in relegation.<\/p>\n

RangeGoats GC<\/a> Captain Bubba Watson<\/a> started the week 31st in points and is safe from relegation but would love to move inside the top 24 Lock Zone for the first time since joining LIV Golf.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s a lot more stress, 100%,\u201d Watson said. \u201c\u2026 Guys are without a contract next year, so there’s people that are stressed. They’re trying to get top 24. They’re trying to stay in the top 48. There’s a lot of movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s a lot of having to step up and hit great golf shots because they know what’s on the line to be in an elite league like this. They want a contract. They want to be able to play here next year, so there’s a lot of stress out there for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The biggest projected movers in the individual standings after Friday\u2019s opening round are Adrian Meronk (23rd to 9th) and Branden Grace (37th to 25th).<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously everyone wants to finish well, at least in the top 24,\u201d Meronk said. \u201cGuys who are outside definitely have more pressure, I would say, to perform well. But I’m happy I’m in a good position and playing finally well and enjoying myself on the course.\u201d<\/p>\n

WESTWOOD\u2019S 3-WOOD<\/p>\n

Among the highlights of Lee Westwood<\/a>\u2019s 5-under 66 was a majestic 3-wood into the par-5 13th, which landed on the green about 10 feet away to set up an eagle opportunity.<\/p>\n

“That 3-wood into there was kind of perfect, 263 to the front, 269 to the pin. I carry it about 260 with the 3-wood. It was straight off the left, so I started it on the left-hand trap and just let it drift in and landed lovely about a yard short and hopped up to there and finished about 8 or 9 feet away,\u201d Westwood said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the positions I’ve been getting in my golf swing, they’re the kind of shots that I feel like I can hit now. I’ve been driving the ball well, driving it longer, so yeah, it’s all moving in the right direction.”<\/p>\n

Unfortunately for Westwood, his eagle putt came up a foot short, despite teammate Sam Horsfield<\/a> and Ian Poulter<\/a>\u2019s caddie Terry Mundy both calling it a \u201cgreat putt\u201d as the ball headed to the hole. \u201cThey owe me a drink for talking that one out,\u201d joked Westwood.<\/p>\n

MERONK RETURNS TO FORM<\/p>\n

The strong start for Adrian Meronk<\/a> is a welcome one for the Polish star, who hasn\u2019t had a top 14 finish since LIV Golf Adelaide in February.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very frustrating,\u201d Meronk said. \u201cWhen you start the season quite well, you have high expectations. You want to keep going, keep having good results, keep shooting good scores. But sometimes it just doesn’t happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut if I look at it now, I changed my coach last year, and I started with my coach in October, so we worked quite hard over the winter just to get ready for the season, and it clicked the first two weeks, but then it kind of dropped. I guess I just needed more time to get used to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

HOW THE ENGLISHMEN FARED<\/p>\n

Six English-born players are playing at home this week. Here\u2019s how they fared Friday:<\/p>\n

Lee Westwood, Majesticks GC \u2013 Shot a bogey-free 5-under 66 and is tied for fourth.<\/p>\n

Tyrrell Hatton, Legion XIII \u2013 Shot a bogey-free 4-under 67 and is tied for seventh.<\/p>\n

Paul Casey, Crushers GC \u2013 Shot a 4-under 67 with six birdies and two bogeys and is tied for seventh.<\/p>\n

Sam Horsfield, Majesticks \u2013 Shot a 3-under 68 with four birdies and one bogey and is tied for 11th.<\/p>\n

Ian Poulter, Majesticks \u2013 Shot an even-par 71 that included four birdies, two bogeys and a double and is tied for 32nd.<\/p>\n

Richard Bland, Cleeks GC \u2013 Shot an even-par 71 that included an eagle at the par-4 12th, along with one birdie and three bogeys.<\/p>\n

WOLFF\u2019S RETURN<\/p>\n

RangeGoats GC<\/a>\u2019s Matthew Wolff<\/a> returned to action after missing the last two tournaments with a back injury. Wolff shot an even-par 71 and is tied for 32nd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ROCESTER, England \u2013 It’s tight at the top after the opening round of LIV Golf UK by JCB,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-25125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}