LIV Golf Hong Kong Round 1: Carlos Ortiz Catches Fire for a Career-Low 60

Some rounds sneak up on you. Carlos Ortiz's Thursday at Fanling arrived like a freight train in the second half, and by the time it was done the Torque GC veteran had signed for a 10-under 60, the lowest score of his professional life.

That number gives Ortiz a two-shot lead after the opening round of LIV Golf Hong Kong, the first 72-hole edition of the event at Hong Kong Golf Club. Dean Burmester of Southern Guards GC is alone in second after a 62, and four players share third at 7 under: Sergio Garcia, Talor Gooch, Korean Golf Club's Younghan Song and wild card Scott Vincent. In the team race, Torque GC posted 21 under to lead Smash GC by two.

A Slow Burn, Then a Bonfire

The first half of Ortiz's round gave no warning. He was only 2 under through his first nine holes, he bogeyed the par-4 eighth, and he needed a scrambling up-and-down from beside a cart path at the ninth just to keep the card clean from there.

Then the dam broke. Ortiz birdied the 10th, chipped in at the 11th and birdied the 12th. At the par-5 13th he stuck his second shot to five feet and rolled in the eagle. He kept piling on from there and closed with a tap-in birdie after a 167-yard approach that finished inside two feet. Ortiz took just 22 putts, the fewest in the field and his best putting round on LIV Golf, and plenty of those were barely putts at all.

"I think I hit it very close, like four or five times I just tapped it in," Ortiz said.

The 60 is only the third in LIV Golf history. The only lower rounds belong to Bryson DeChambeau, who shot 58, and Ortiz's own Torque teammates, Joaquin Niemann and Sebastián Muñoz, who each have a 59.

Burmester and the Soft Stuff

Burmester's 62 kept him squarely in range. The South African said his only real mistake came at the ninth, where he chose the wrong club off the tee, and he was candid about why the leaderboard looked the way it did. Rain had softened Fanling, and 28 players shot 67 or better.

"As you can see by the scoring, it's playing softer and a lot easier than it generally is," Burmester said.

A course that usually punishes loose iron play became a target range on Thursday.

Old Friends of Fanling

Nobody likes this golf course more than Garcia. The Fireballs GC captain won here last March with a closing 63, and he opened his title defense with another one, hitting all 18 greens in regulation. Garcia has not made a bogey at Hong Kong Golf Club since his ninth hole of the opening round in 2025, a streak that now stretches across more than three full rounds. He said courses like this one are exactly the kind he feels most comfortable on, and the scorecard backed him up.

Song was nearly as tidy. The Korean Golf Club newcomer hit all 14 fairways on his way to a 63, a start the newly rebranded team will happily take. Vincent's 63 made history of a different kind as the lowest round ever posted by a LIV Golf wild card.

Victor Perez gave Cleeks GC a highlight to remember with a hole-in-one at the 149-yard second, the 13th ace in league history and the first of the 2026 season. Peter Uihlein's record run of 76 straight par-3 holes at par or better ended with a bogey at the fifth.

Anthony Kim, playing for the first time since winning LIV Golf Adelaide, opened with three birdies in his first five holes and looked ready to pick up where he left off. He finished with a 67, though it ended with his approach at the last finding the water and a bogey, his first in 45 holes.

Torque Sets the Team Pace

The 2026 team format counts all four scores on every team in every round, and the lowest 72-hole total wins. Ortiz's 60 led the way, Muñoz added a 65, Niemann shot 66 and Abraham Ancer posted 68 for a 21-under total.

Smash GC is right behind at 19 under. Gooch's 63 anchored the card, with Jason Kokrak at 65, Harold Varner III at 66 and Graeme McDowell at 67. Gooch was part of the hottest group of the day, playing alongside Ortiz and Ripper GC's Lucas Herbert, and the three combined to go 21 under, the second-best group total in league history.

4Aces GC sits third at 13 under after Thomas Detry's 64, Kim's 67 and 68s from captain Dustin Johnson and Thomas Pieters. Detry, who shared the first-round lead in his 4Aces debut at LIV Golf Riyadh, is making a habit of fast starts.

The quiet number belongs to Legion XIII. Tyrrell Hatton shot 64 and Jon Rahm opened with a 66, but with all four scores counting, a 75 from Caleb Surratt dragged the team well down the table. In this format, there is nowhere to hide a bad day.

Three Rounds to Go

The new 72-hole format changes the math on a fast start. Ortiz's two-shot cushion is real, but there are still 54 holes left, 14 players within five shots of him and a scoring environment that rewards anyone who gets hot. If Fanling firms up, the leaderboard could tighten in a hurry. If it stays soft, Thursday may have been just the opening act.

Full first-round details are in the LIV Golf Round 1 recap (opens in a new tab). For how Garcia won here last year, read our 2025 LIV Golf Hong Kong final-round recap.

Sources: LIV Golf (Round 1 recap), FOX Sports, Arab News, The Golf News Net. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: LIV Golf.