Carlos Ortiz leads Dustin Johnson with a single shot after the first round at Live Portland
Catch all the action as Dustin Johnson and Carlos Ortiz take center stage in the final round of the second LIV Golf event.
Johnson made an eight-bird card in a round of 68 at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club in Portland, Oregon yesterday as the former World No. 1 looks to grab the £3.25 million grand prize. Ortiz, one of the newest Saudi-backed dissident recruits, shot 69 targets to ensure he joins Johnson at the top of the leaderboard in eighth place. Their closest competitor comes in the form of Branden Grace, who shoots with two strokes. His South African teammate Justin Harding starts one shot at a distance of five below par, while Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed are still in outside fortunes as they start four shots off the lead.
There is certainly one man not ready to be charged and that is Phil Mickelson, who suffered another scorching week after his disastrous performance at the US Open. The 52-year-old is six times as old, but he’ll be back in action because LIV Golf events don’t have a cut. In the team event, 4 Aces GC, led by Johnson, leads at -15. The Stingers GC team from South Africa, who won the Centurion Club last month, starts in second place. Follow all the procedures below:
Tom KershawJuly 2, 2022 22:48
Life Golf Portland
Few have seen Matthew Wolf decline after such an exciting start to his PGA Tour career, with his top-five claiming the US Open and the PGA Championship in 2020. He has slipped to nearly 50 places in the world rankings but his impressive serving style The ninth as a reminder of his talent. That’s the flick to make it a succession bird for the 23-year-old. It is now at -3.
Tom KershawJul 2, 2022 22:43
Life Golf Portland
4th Ortiz birds too! The Mexican is three-under through four holes, and after seeing that shot fall, Johnson misses a short one of his own par. Ortiz now has four shots ahead of Harding. Johnson returns to -6 where Reed and Grace join him.
Tom KershawJul 2, 2022 22:34
Life Golf Portland
Patrick Reed entered the competition with back-to-back finches at 5 and 6. He’s now at -6, four shots over Ortiz’s lead.
Ortiz had only one win on the PGA Tour before splitting to LIV. By a great deal of fate, on that occasion at the Houston Open in 2020, Dustin Johnson was the runner-up.
Tom KershawJuly 2, 2022 22:29
Life Golf Portland
It was a great start for Carlos Ortiz. He hits a fine approach at 211 yards 3 par 3 leaving an uphill birdie hit. Confidently twist it to go to -10. Johnson can only level out while Grace, having chosen to step away from the sidelines and take a cliff, sees his momentum halted by a ghost.
Tom KershawJul 2, 2022 22:19
Life Golf Portland
Johnson couldn’t get up and down the second after this wayward approach and slipped again to -7. There are no such problems for Branden Grace, though, who is draining a baby bird to join Johnson in that tag. Ortiz has a nervous shot to save the ball but punches it to ensure he is now ahead with two shots.
Tom KershawJuly 2, 2022 22:10
Life Golf Portland
Koepka puts in a great third place performance. His shot stopped at the edge of the bunker, letting an embarrassing chip fall right down the hill. Opening his face, he swung confidently toward him, and the ball bounced in front of him by no more than two feet, rolled down and almost caught her lip. He made holes in the slope to stay at -5.
Tom KershawJuly 2, 2022 22:02
Life Golf Portland
Johnson and Ortiz were both off the tee per second, pulling their engines to the left and leaving themselves blind approaches.
Ortiz has 172 yards on the inside and finds the middle of the green but it will be long from there.
Johnson is on the ramp up to get out of the rough area and fly out for a long time out of the green. That would be up and down.
Tom KershawJul 2, 2022 21:55
Life Golf Portland
Ortiz rolls on that short birdie hit in the first. He played the hole to perfection and is now completely in the lead, with Johnson having to settle on a par.
Justin Harding made a great start to his run with consecutive sparrows and is at -7, two shots back.
Tom KershawJul 2, 2022 21:46
Life Golf Portland
Oosthuizen couldn’t take advantage of the par-5 1st but a good approach on the second leaves him with a good look at Birdie.
Yuki Inamori, ranked 73 in the world, hits a fine style with 3 woodcuts to green 18 and will have nothing more than tapping to move into the red zone of the tournament.
Tom KershawJul 2, 2022 21:42
