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SOTOGRANDE: Real Club Valderrama showed its teeth in the first round of the LIV Golf Andalucia on Friday, making it the toughest points day in the young history of the league.

Dean Burmester shot a 5-under-par 66 to move one stroke ahead as he led Stinger GC to the top of the team leaderboard, but even the South African wasn’t sure how he managed that low score.

“Valderrama is a great place,” said Burmester, who won the individual title earlier this season in Miami on another difficult course, Doral’s Blue Monster. “… To be honest, I don’t know how I managed to play 5 under par.”

Only seven of the 54 players in the field were under par, the lowest in a single round of any LIV regular-season golf tournament. The field average of 3.519 over par, with five players scoring 80 or more, is the highest of any of the 88 LIV regular-season golf rounds. Overall, the field was 190 over par, and only one hole, the par-5 11th, was played under par.

Gusts of nearly 20 miles per hour, coming from a different direction than practice days, forced players to rethink their game plans. The wind also dried out the greens and made putting surfaces firm.

Sergio Garcia, captain of Fireballs GC, has more experience on Spain’s most famous golf course than any other LIV Golf player. He told fellow Spaniard and playing partner Jon Rahm early in the round that Valderrama “shows teeth today. Probably not the whole mouth, but definitely the teeth.”

The Legion XIII captain replied, “A few teeth? I think it’s more than that.”

Rahm, making his first start in his home country since joining LIV Golf in the offseason, shot a 2-over 73 on a day in which he said he made just one mistake: misjudging his putt on the 13th hole, resulting in a three-putt bogey.

“I feel like I played really well,” said Rahm, who tied for 16th place with eight other players. “The results on this golf course are often worse than they feel.”

Garcia was one of those seven under par players, shooting a 69 (2 under par) to share fourth place with Anirban Lahiri of Crushers GC. His Fireballs teammate Eugenio Chacarra of Spain was one stroke better, shooting a 68. His game continues to improve after a shared third place finish at the International Series Morocco last week.

“My goal for today was to play smart golf,” said Chacarra. “I know I have my game down.”

The Fireballs, who have three Spanish players in their squad, are second on the team leaderboard at 2 under par, two strokes behind the Stingers.

Burmester’s closest challenger on the individual rankings is Danny Lee of Iron Heads GC, who shot 4-under-par 67. It’s his fourth-best round of the season as he has struggled to produce results so far. He entered the week ranked 45th in the points standings.

“Definitely a sign that I’m moving in the right direction,” said Lee, whose goal is to finish the regular season in the top 24 to secure eligibility for 2025.

For Burmester, his putter was the key to survival on Friday. He needed just 21 putts, the lowest in the field, as did wildcard Anthony Kim, who shot a 73.

“That was probably one of the best putting rounds I’ve ever had as a professional,” said Burmester. “Every time I stood over a putt, I felt like I could make it. You don’t get days like that very often.”

The LIV Golf players have never experienced a day like this before and hope that things will go a little better in the last two rounds this weekend.

“Can it be more difficult? Yes, everything can be more difficult,” said Rahm. “… But of course not much more difficult. Today was a pretty tough day.”

TEAM COUNTER RESULTS

Rankings and points standings for the opening round of the team competition on Friday at LIV Golf Andalucia. The three best scores from each team will count in the first two rounds, while all four scores will count in the final round. The team with the lowest aggregate score after three rounds will win the team title.

1. STINGER GC -4 (Burmester 66, Oosthuizen 70, Schwartzel 73)

2. FIREBALLS GC -2 (Chacarra 68, Garcia 69, Ancer 74)

3. IRON HEADS GC -1 (Lee 67, Vincent 72, Na 73)

T4. CRUSHERS GC +4 (Lahiri 69, Casey 74, DeChambeau 74)

T4. MAJESTICKS GC +4 (Horsfield 70, Westwood 71, Poulter 76)

T6. CLEEKS GC +6 (Bland 71, Kaymer 72, Meronk 76)

T6. TORQUE GC +6 (72. Ortiz, 73. Pereira, 74. Muñoz)

8. 4ACES GC +8 (Reed 72, Johnson 73, Perez 76)

9. LEGION XIII +9 (Hatton 72, Rahm 73, Vincent 77)

10. RIPPER GC +10 (Smith 72, Herbert 75, Leishman 76)

SMASH GC +13 (Koepka 75, McDowell 75, Gooch 76)

HYFLYERS GC +13 (Mickelson 73, Tringale 76, Steele 77)

13. RANGEGOATS GC +18 (Wolff 73, Pieters 79, Watson 79)