MIGUEL Tabuena found himself in a somewhat familiar place in the first round of LIV Golf Mexico on Friday.
The Filipino star, playing as a wild card, shot a two-over-par 73 and was in a tie for 39th place as his struggles continue in the league whose future appears to hang in the balance following reports of its impending demise.
Over the past few days, rumors had floated that its chief backer, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) operated by Saudi Arabia, might soon pull out of LIV Golf and stop giving it financial support.
READ Tabuena prepares to tee it up in Mexico amid rumors of LIV foldup
If true, that would probably be the end of this rebel league whose attractions have been its bewildering prizes and multimillion-dollar contracts to some of the sport’s biggest stars.
The shocking reports have not deterred the league from holding its sixth leg in Mexico City where Victor Perez shot a nine-under-par 62 to take a three-shot lead over Jon Rahm at the Club de Golf Chapultepec.
Perez carded seven birdies in his first 11 holes and then finished with four straight birdies on his final four holes (2-5). He had two bogeys, one on the 17th which he three-putted, and other on the 18th, after a plugged lie in a bunker.
Rahm, days removed from the Masters where he finished tied for 38th, shot a six-under-par 65, two strokes clear of seven others tied at four-under-par 67.
Among them are Dustin Johnson, Harold Varner III, Ian Poulter and Thomas Detry.
Tabuena, whose best finish in five legs had been in Adelaide, Australia in a tie for 44th place, had two birdies against four bogeys, in another struggling performance that seemed to have followed him from his last three events where he finished 50th, 51st and 52nd.
Bianca shoots 68 at LPGA’s JM Eagle LA Championship
Bianca Pagdanganan put together a sparkling four-under-par 68 that included an eagle, in the first round of the LPGA”s JM Eagle LA Championship Thursday.
Pagdanganan eagled the par 4 fifth hole at El Caballero Country Club in Los Angeles to kick-start her round. She then birdied the sixth, to go three-under before getting derailed with a bogey on the seventh.
But she made three more birdies against a bogey to post one of her better first round scores in an LPGA event where her status depends on spots opening up for her to get in.
Bianca trails opening round leader Chizzy Iwai by five strokes after the Japanese shot a nine-under-par 63, her score also punctuated by an eagle.
Tied for second at 65 were Patty Tavatanakit, Sei Young Kim and Suvichaya Vinijchaitham.
Yuka Saso shot a three-under-par 69 and was tied for 40th place and, like Bianca, had one of her better scores after several nightmarish outings that included four cuts in six starts.
Her 69 matched her best score in the current season. She also scored a 69 at the Fortinet Championship last month, but followed that with a 77 and she missed the cut.
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