If it wasn’t for tequila-producing Abe Ancer, Thursday’s first round at the Saudi International would have been, well, not a great day for the Band Of Defectors who have shown up at the Royal Greens Golf Club.
The King Of The 54-Hole Follies (aka Dustin Johnson) never made it to the first tee for round one. Seems D.J. tweaked his back, sat out the pro-am then gave it the old WD. Will he have to return his hefty appearance fee?
Youthful Defector Abraham Ancer, is sitting atop this Asian Tour event’s leader-board. Abe fashioned a seven-under par 63 on Thursday to lead this renegade-infused event that was dropped from the DP World Tour schedule.
D.J. didn’t have much to say, which is typical. Probably mumbled something about his back. D.J.’s “people” put out a statement, it was brief, just like their guy — it mentioned the tweaking of the back.
So it’s back to Jupiter for D.J. where he can get some treatment and do some more fishing — the weather is absolutely wonderful this time of year in Palm Beach County. It will also give D.J. an excuse to skip practice time, which is fine with D.J. — he’d rather be fishing than playing golf.
Anyway, back to those who didn’t tweak their backs.
It was a pretty good day for Abe, who went to LIV for a pay-day, one that can help keep his cash-gobbling tequila company in business. To date it’s eaten somewhere in the neighborhood of $44 million. No doubt Abe’s found out how expensive it is to compete for market share against the Don Julios and Patrons of the world. Note to Abe from his tequila partners: “Win more money, Abe! We don’t want to go back to Mark Wahlberg for more cash.”
A shot behind Abe was soon-to-be-former PGA Tour member Sebastian Munoz. Reliable reports have Sebass jumping to LIV — another huge loss from the PGA Tour — Munoz has one win and was pretty much a member of the PGA Tour’s “supporting cast.”
The Shaky Return Of Bubba Watson:
The PGA Tour’s former Whiner-In-Chief, and that would be Bubba Watson, was back in action after knee surgery and Bubba, who joined the Band Of Defectors, showed off his eroding skill-set with a nice, six-over par 76. Good work Bubba, you’re tied for 112th.
Bryson DeChambeau has had his own set of physical issues and that is an underlying theme with a lot of LIV Defectors. Bryson had wrist surgery then found himself staggering around with a case of vertigo. It took some nasal surgery to fix that. Somewhere along the line, Bryson The Basher has had the epiphany that maybe he should be trying to weight in at 240 and swinging harder than an angry wife with a frying pan going after her cheating husband. Well, the new Bryson worked his way to a two-over par 72 that left him tied for 76th.
Phil Still Can’t Break Par:
The Defector-In-Chief (aka Phil Mickelson) showed up this week showing off his slimmed-down carcass and telling everyone that he “was embarrassed” by his performance, or should we say lack-thereof, last season at the LIV Circus. Somewhere, deep in his royal palace, The Crown Prince (aka Mohammed bin Salman, aka MBS), picked up his cell phone and placed a call to one Yasir bin Othman Al-Rumayyan (aka boss of the LIV) and said: “Hey Al — why in the hell did we pay this clown (aka Lefty), $200 million?”
Good news is that Lefty didn’t shoot over par. Bad news is that he didn’t shoot under par at Royal Greens. An even par 70 put Lefty in a tie for 40th.
World’s No. 4 Signed For Ugly 75:
No doubt another recipient of a hefty appearance fee — and that would be world No. 4 Cam Smith — was among those riding the Desert Struggle Bus. The Champion Golfer Of 2022 signed for a five-over par 75 that left him tied for 90th.
Defending champion and LIV defector Harold Varner III, found himself tied for 29th with moody Brooks Koepka. Both managed to get into red numbers with one-under rounds of 69.
So yes, the Defection Gang’s here for the most part. Minus back-tweaking D.J.
And hey, look on the bright side — there are world ranking points available this week.
Oh, and a quick side note to the Defection Gang: there’s a cut after 36-holes.
Not that it matters.
Saudi International Scoreboard:
Friday Update: Ancer and Young were fighting it out for the 36-hole lead but it was Ancer who stayed on top through two rounds. He added a 66 to that opening 63 and was in at 12-under. Young was a shot back after a second straight 65. The 36-hole cut came at even par. Bubba Watson (76-66) left early as did Cam Smith (73-69). Bryson DeChambeau was awful, following up on his opening 72 with a five-over par 75 on Friday. Defector-In-Chief (aka Phil Mickelson) won’t be around either for the final two days. He shot 71 on Friday and was a stroke too high to stick around. The cut is something “The Defectors” are not used to on their jolly LIV circus/exhibition.
