Tabuena fires 69 in first round as a full-time LIV Golf player

February 13 ------ Miguel Tabuena lost his spot in LIV Golf’s 4Aces team after just one outing but still impressed organizers who granted him a wild card. The Filipino star responded to his new fully playing status with a blistering 3-under-par 69 in the first round of the league’s second tournament of the season in Adelaide, Australia.

With the wild card, Tabuena, 31, will have full playing privileges for the rest of the LIV Golf season, finally achieving what he has been seeking the past few seasons, a dream that was accelerated following his victory last October in the International Series Philippines. That win put him in LIV Golf’s radar, which also earned him a call-up from Dustin Johnson, who gave him a spot as a member of the 4Aces team in the league’s season-opener in Riyadh last week. Though that stint did not meet Johnson’s expectations, and may also have disappointed the Filipino who tied for 48th out of 57 entries, the organizers were impressed enough and decided to keep Tabuena for the rest of the season.

Perhaps buoyed by this trust and no longer worried about his immediate future, Tabuena came out firing in LIV’s second tournament in Australia. He banked in five birdies before he was subsequently derailed by two bogeys and tied for ninth spot, three strokes behind co-leaders Bryson DeChambeau and Marc Leishman who each scored 66s.

Tabuena’s former captain, Johnson, shot 67 and was tied for third with Anthony Kim, the player who replaced Tabuena in the 4Aces team. Johnson may have the right instinct to take in Kim, based on the latter’s past pedigree. The latter has also been slowly coming back to form after hibernating from the game for more than a decade. But there’s three rounds to go and whether Johnson will be proven right in replacing Tabuena for Kim, will be determined by the duo’s performance in the next few days.

The 4Aces have a two-stroke lead on the team standings at 10 under. Besides Johnson and Kim, the other scorers were Thomas Detry at 1-under 71 and Thomas Peters who shot 1-over 73. For now, Tabuena will no longer have a team and will not be eligible for the team cash prizes. He may not need it. LIV Golf has enough for everyone who is in the fold. A total prize of $20 million is up for grabs, with the winner getting $4 million. The last six placers in the 57-man field will each get $50,000.

Source: spin.ph