LIV Golf Riyadh Round 1: Thomas Detry Debuts With a Bogey-Free 65 to Share the Lead

LIV Golf's first 72-hole season opened under the Riyadh floodlights on Wednesday night, and the first name at the top belonged to a player who had never hit a shot in the league before.

Thomas Detry, the newest full-time member of 4Aces GC, posted a bogey-free 7-under 65 at Riyadh Golf Club to share the first-round lead of LIV Golf Riyadh with Peter Uihlein of RangeGoats GC. Ripper GC newcomer Elvis Smylie sits alone in third at 6 under, and a crowd of six, Jon Rahm and Talor Gooch among them, is two back at 5 under. In the team race, Joaquin Niemann's Torque GC leads at 15 under after the first round played under this season's new math.

A Debut Without a Blemish

Detry did not look like someone on day one of a new job. The Belgian hit 10 fairways, tied for the most in the field, and found 17 of 18 greens, also tied for the best mark of the night. That kind of ball-striking does not need a hot putter to produce a 65, and it produced one without a single dropped shot.

The preparation was deliberate. Detry spent time practicing under the lights with his coach in Abu Dhabi before the trip, a small edge in an event built around night golf. He arrives as a PGA TOUR winner, having taken the WM Phoenix Open a year ago this week, and admitted afterward to some first-day nerves about the switch. The scorecard showed none of them.

Uihlein's Long Game

Uihlein is the opposite story. This was his 51st LIV start, and he is one of eight original members who have teed it up in every event since the league launched in 2022. What he does not have yet is an individual LIV title, even after picking up two International Series wins on the Asian Tour in 2024.

The move from 54 holes to 72 suits a player who plays aggressively and accepts the occasional mess that comes with it. "I'm not scared of a blowup every now and then on a hole in particular, so now I have more holes to make it up," Uihlein said. A 65 to start is a fine way to bank strokes before any blowup arrives.

Smylie Arrives

The most intriguing number on the board might be the 66 next to Smylie's name. The 23-year-old Australian left-hander, playing his first LIV round after joining Cameron Smith's all-Australian Ripper GC, bogeyed his second hole and then spent the rest of the night making up for it. Seven birdies followed, five of them on par 4s, and Smylie matched Detry's 10 fairways hit. Solo third in a 57-player field is a loud first impression.

Smylie was one of 10 players making their first LIV appearance, a list that also included Byeong Hun An. The new Korean Golf Club captain opened with a 67 to sit in the group at 5 under. Further down, 21-year-old Michael La Sasso, the league's youngest player, shot 69 for HyFlyers GC in his professional debut.

Stars in the Chase

The 5-under logjam is loaded. Rahm, whose Legion XIII side won the team title here a year ago, opened with a 67, as did teammate Tyrrell Hatton. Gooch matched them in his first event as Smash GC captain, a role that opened up when Brooks Koepka left the league. Sebastián Muñoz and Louis Oosthuizen round out the group.

Bryson DeChambeau is three back at 4 under after a start that went sideways almost immediately. "I hit a perfect drive off the first and made double on the second, so great start to the year," the Crushers GC captain said. The rest of the night was much better. Sergio Garcia, Niemann, Abraham Ancer, Anthony Kim and Harold Varner III are also at 4 under.

Last year's winner here, Adrian Meronk, opened with a 69. That is a far cry from the bogey-free 62 that launched his wire-to-wire title run in 2025, but with 54 holes still to play, a 3-under start is hardly a crisis.

Torque Sets the Team Pace

The team format this season is unforgiving: all four scores count toward the team total in every round, and the lowest 72-hole aggregate wins. Torque handled it best on night one. Muñoz shot 67, Niemann and Ancer each added 68, and Carlos Ortiz chipped in a 70 for a 15-under total.

The all-South African Southern Guards GC, the rebranded Stinger GC, sits two back at 13 under behind Oosthuizen's 67. Legion XIII, the defending Riyadh team champions and reigning LIV Team Champions, is alone in third at 11 under, with the 67s from Rahm and Hatton doing the heavy lifting. 4Aces GC and Smash GC share fourth at 10 under. Ripper is 8 under, with Smylie's 66 offset by a 75 from Lucas Herbert, the kind of round the all-four-count format exposes instantly.

What Thursday Brings

The course gave up plenty on Wednesday, with the field averaging two under par. The fifth was the hardest hole on the card. With no cut and 54 holes left, the bunching at the top means very little yet, but the stakes are new this season: for the first time, the top 10 and ties will earn Official World Golf Ranking points.

Detry and Uihlein set the early standard, Smylie announced himself, and Torque leads a team race that will reward depth more than any one hot round. Round 2 is where the new 72-hole rhythm starts to sort out who is built for it.

Full first-round details are in the LIV Golf Round 1 recap (opens in a new tab).

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

Photo: Mateo Villalba/LIV Golf.