Al Clasico: Saudi Arabia’s fiercest football rivalry

RIYADH: Jon Rahm and his Legion XIII teammates each enter Saturday’s final round at LIV Golf Riyadh presented by Ma’aden with an outside chance to capture the individual title. 

In terms of the team competition, though, Legion XIII already has one collective foot atop the podium. 

Legion XIII extended their team lead to a commanding 11 strokes in Friday night’s second round at Riyadh Golf Club, shooting the field’s best team score for the second consecutive night.

Their 18 under total moves them to 42 under for the first two rounds, giving the foursome an 11-stroke advantage over Torque GC. 

“Extremely proud,” Rahm said of his team’s dominant start in the season opener. “I don’t know what else to add to that. Obviously yesterday was a fantastic start and it didn’t take very long today, either, for the whole team to get going.” 

Individually, Legion XIII players make up 50 percent of the top eight players on the leaderboard. Tyrrell Hatton and Caleb Surratt each shot 5-under 67s on Friday and are tied for fourth at 11 under. Rahm also shot 67 and newcomer Tom McKibbin shot 69, as each finished at 10 under and in a three-way tie for 6th. 

Cleeks GC’s Adrian Meronk backed up his opening 10-under 62 with a 6-under 66 to grab a two-shot lead over Torque GC’s Sebastian Muñoz.

Ripper GC’s Lucas Herbert is in solo third at 12 under after his 64 on Friday, the low round of the day. 

Catching Meronk seems like a tall ask, giving his form the first two days. But Legion XIII will have plenty of chances with four players in contention in the first tournament since a format change to all scores counting on each round.

No team has swept the podium since Stinger GC pulled off the feat in the 2022 inaugural LIV Golf event in London. 

“I think if we all focus on trying to win individually and give it the best shot we can to do that, I think we can put a strong enough performance where we’d be hard to catch,” Rahm said of his team’s large lead. “But we still have to go out there tomorrow and take care of it. Nothing is guaranteed until the last putt drops.”

Although Meronk didn’t match his flawless performance in the opening round when he hit all 18 greens, the 31-year-old from Poland relied on his putting, needing just 26 putts. 

With Muñoz nipping at his heels, Meronk never surrendered the lead. At the par-3 17th, he extended it to two shots with a 15-foot birdie putt while Muñoz followed by missing a 5-footer for birdie. 

“I played quite solid,” said Meronk, whose only bogey this week came at the par-4 11th. “I had a couple of bad swings, but overall, I’m very happy with the result and excited for tomorrow.” 

Muñoz matched Meronk’s 66 and has the field’s hottest putter, needing just 51 putts through the first two rounds. “I’m just going to try to shoot as low as possible, make as many birdies as possible like I’ve been doing the last two days and see what happens on the 18th green,” Muñoz said. “There’s no other strategy than that.” 

Meronk and Muñoz have each celebrated LIV Golf wins as members of winning teams but not as individuals. That could change on Saturday for one of them. 

“It would be special for sure, especially the first of the year,” Meronk said. “But I don’t want to focus on that. My only focus tomorrow will be just one shot at a time and playing my best golf as possible, and we’ll see what happens.” 
 

MUNICH: Harry Kane scored two penalties as Bayern Munich beat Werder Bremen 3-0 on Friday to go nine points clear of Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga.
There were few chances in the first half but Kane signalled his intent 30 seconds after the break, rattling the crossbar with a shot from outside the box.
Kane was key in winning Bayern’s first penalty and breaking down Bremen’s stubborn resistance.
The England captain tussled with defender Anthony Young and headed a chipped cross against the Bremen man’s arm, which was slightly extended.
The England captain stepped up and converted the spot kick, sending goalkeeper Michael Zetterer the wrong way.
Leroy Sane tapped in a Konrad Laimer cross from close range for Bayern’s second in the 82nd minute.
In stoppage time, Young was again deemed guilty of a foul in the box, this time on Jamal Musiala.
Kane stepped up and converted, bringing his penalty streak to 29 in a row for club and country.
The former Spurs striker now has 21 goals in 19 league games for Bayern this season, including nine penalties.
Defending champions Leverkusen travel to Wolfsburg on Saturday and can cut Bayern’s lead back to six points with a win.
Bayern play away at Leverkusen next week in a match bookended by a two-legged Champions League knockout tie against Celtic.
Bremen fought hard but were undermanned, on and off the field.
Coach Ole Werner along with defenders Niklas Stark and Marco Friedl were all missing due to red cards in the 1-0 home win against in-form Mainz last time out, while attackers Leonardo Bittencourt and Romano Schmid were sidelined with muscle strains.
Despite the loss, Bremen sit eighth, one point behind the European placings, as they bid for a return to continental competition for the first time since 2010-11.