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With the first hole-in-one in the Saudi-backed breakaway Live Golf league, American golfer Matthew Wolff has made history.
On Friday, he shot a 7-under 63 in the LIV Golf Invitational Series in Boston. Wolff and Talor Gooch are tied for first place.
Wolff took a share of the lead thanks to the assistance of two eagles.
Wolff’s sixth ace of the round came on the 178-yard second hole. The ball took one bounce and disappeared into the cup for the fourth LIV Golf Invitational series’ inaugural ace.
The former Oklahoma State star added another eagle to his six birdies on the par-5 12th hole. These outweighed three bogeys, allowing him to take the lead.
Wolff joined LIV Golf in June after spending three years on the PGA Tour. He turned pro in 2019 after playing collegiately at Oklahoma State. He had one tournament win on the Tour, winning the 3M Open that same year.
“It was really cool to do that on a part of the golf course where there’s a lot of fans, and to be the first one to have an ace at LIV Golf is really good,” said Wolff, whose tee shot at the 178-yard second hole — his fifth — bounced once and rolled into the cup.
“I’m thrilled and stuff, but I’d rather be holding that trophy at the end of the week,” added Wolff, who also eagled the par-five 12th.
LIV Golf tournaments are 54-hole events (in contrast to the 72-hole competitions on the regular tours).
The 48 players in the field are divided into four-man teams for the three-day events, which give far more guaranteed prize money than other tours. No matter where you end up on the golf leaderboard.
LIV Golf events begin with a shotgun start, as opposed to a staggered start on other tours, and each tournament has an individual and team champion.
LIV Offering Richest Purse in Golf History
LIV Golf will make history in October when its players compete for a $50 million purse – the highest in golf history – at the season-ending team tournament of the contentious upstart series.
LIV Golf, which is backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, has spent millions of dollars to compete with the PGA Tour and has convinced many elite golfers to leave the organisation.
LIV Golf’s record purse outnumbers the PGA Tour’s — which has 47 tournaments on its schedule for 2021-22 — by a significant amount, despite the fact that the prize money totals $481 million.
The Tour Championship, the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup championship, has a purse of $75 million, although the prize money is termed a “bonus pool” because of its season-long ramifications.
The PGA Tour’s Players Championship — won by current LIV Golf player Cameron Smith in March — has the largest purse at $20 million, with $3.6 million being awarded to the winner.
