Dubai based Adrian Meronk (Cleeks GC) shot a second round three under par 69 to be tied for the lead on 10 under par in the $25 million 54-hole LIV Golf Houston.
Tied at the top alongside Meronk are: David Puig (68, 66), Carlos Ortiz (66, 68) and Paul Casey (67, 67).
Starting on hole one after his first round 65, Meronk opened up with a bogey, but bounced back with a birdie on hole 2. Another bogey-birdie pair happened on holes 5 and 6.
Meronk then steadied the ship with further birdies on holes 8, 11 and 12, and the balance of pars to stay at the top of the leaderboard.
“Played quite solid,” said Meronk, who joined LIV Golf just before the start of this season. “Could have been much lower. Missed a couple of putts coming down the stretch. But still pretty pleased with my round and my position going into Sunday.”
In the Team Event, Fireballs GC lead on 26 under par in the best three from four format in the first two rounds, with a four shot lead over Torque GC. There is a three way tie for third one shot further back on 21 under par, with Crushers GC alongside 4Aces GC and Cleeks GC.
Meronk commented about his Team’s performance, ” think you can see the progress from the beginning of the year. Hopefully, we can lift the trophy soon. The chemistry and level of play – it’s progressing week to week. We can just hope to play well tomorrow. It’s going to be exciting.”
The final round of LIV Golf’s Team events sees all four scores counting from the Team – so a lot of Teams are still in the mix.
Dubai based Anirban Lahiri (Crushers GC) is in tied 13th after two rounds of 69.
Both Jon Rahm and Louis Oosthuizen have had to withdraw due to injury – and have been replaced by reserve players Ben Campbell and Wade Ormsby respectively.
Rahm had an infection in his left foot and managed to play six holes of round three, whilst Oosthuizen withdrew prior to the second round with a lower back injury. Ormsby shot a round of one over par 73 – and counted for the Stinger GC Team round two score.
The final round has a 12.05 pm shotgun start later today (Sunday) with the final group of Meronk, Ortiz and Puig teeing off at 12.15 pm from Tee 1B. For further information Visit www.LIVGolf.com
Leading Second Round Scores (Par 72).
Individual Event
A. Meronk (Cleeks GC) 65. 69. 134.
D. Puig (Fireballs GC) 68. 66. 134.
C. Ortiz (Torque GC) 66. 68. 134.
P. Casey (Crushers GC) 67. 67. 134.
P. Reed (4Aces) 67. 68. 135.
Team Event
(Best three scores from the Team of four)
Fireballs GC -26.
Torque GC -22.
Crushers GC -21.
4Aces GC -21.
Cleeks GC -21.