A week after an "embarrassing" last-placed finish, Harold Varner III pulled out a big bounceback performance to share the lead after the first round of LIV Golf Las Vegas.
Varner finished dead last at the season-opening LIV Golf Mayakoba event last week, but turned things around at Las Vegas Country Club with a superb 63 giving him a share of the lead alongside Paul Casey on seven under.
After fitting in a bit of work with Butch Harmon when travelling direct from Mexico to Nevada, Varner responded from finishing a full 26 shots off the lead last week to sitting on top of the leaderboard in Sin City.
Looking to make an immediate amends for last week, Varner started his round with two birdies before hitting two more in his closing three holes.
And Varner let everybody know that his Las Vegas round was a direct response to last week's shocker, which obviously hurt.
“The biggest thing for me was not finishing last," joked Varner after his round.
“I was kind of (ticked) off because first of all, it's embarrassing, and second of all, I think I'm better than that, so prove it.
“That's good for me. It's a good spot to be.”
Golf. It’s a crazy game… 🤷♂️@HV3_Golf with a big bounce back 💪#LIVGolf @4AcesGC_ pic.twitter.com/8hr4C8Yxq0February 8, 2024
Casey is also looking to respond to a bitterly disappointing 2023 campaign, with injuries and loss of form seeing him fail to finish in the top 20 in any event.
He started on the LIV Golf party hole in a chilly Las Vegas, but warmed up nicely with six birdies in eight holes firing the joint-best round of his LIV Golf career.
“I know it was cold this morning, but it was a perfect day for golf,” Casey said. “Once I warmed up a bit, I got firing.”
"I've been working on the game very hard through the winter time and had a decent result last week in Mayakoba. I just felt like I started to build some confidence out there and it felt kind of vintage stuff."
Jon Rahm started his second LIV event with a two-under round of 68 to sit five shots off the pace alongside Brooks Koepka and last week's play-off winner in Mexico Joaquin Niemann.
