CARROLLTON: Teammates Patrick Reed and Harold Varner III fed off each other to lead the way during Friday’s first round of LIV Golf Dallas presented by Aramco.

They will hope to do the same on Saturday.

Reed and Varner each shot 5-under 67s at Maridoe Golf Club to emerge as co-leaders on the individual leaderboard, while also helping the 4Aces to a commanding advantage in the team competition.

It was a dominating day for the 4Aces, with captain Dustin Johnson contributing a 2-under 70 that included chip-ins for a birdie and an eagle on his first two holes. It was the kind of performance reminiscent of the 4Aces’ dominance during the inaugural 2022 LIV Golf season when they won four consecutive regular-season tournaments, then claimed the season-ending Team Championship.

The 4Aces won twice in 2023 but nothing since, and their only individual win was Johnson’s victory last year. Friday’s fast start presents an opportunity to reinforce their status as one of the league’s big dogs.

At 9-under as a team, they are six shots ahead of Crushers GC, who have won the last two tournaments and have the hometown support with captain Bryson DeChambeau being a local resident. The Crushers were the only team on Friday in which all four players shot par or better.

“The biggest thing is to keep the throttle down,” said Reed, among the league’s best players without a LIV Golf win. “Even though we have a lead now, (we will) start tomorrow as if everyone is even par and try to go win the day as a team and build on the lead.”

On a course that became more difficult throughout the day, Varner had the only bogey-free round through 17 holes. Although his tee shot on his last hole, the par-4 ninth, left him with an awkward lie, he managed to find the green — but then three-putted for the only blemish on his card. Even so, it was his best round, relative to par, this season.

“I’ve been hitting it unbelievably this whole year and I just happened to make a couple of putts today,” said Varner, who has six top-20 finishes this year. “I don’t think there’s like a genie in a bottle or anything like that but I felt like I was going to play well.”

Reed’s round was highlighted by a chip-in eagle at the par-5 second, allowing him to keep up with Varner in a threesome that also included teammate from 4Aces Thomas Pieters, the team’s leading points producer this season, who shot a 3-over 75.

“Harold is out there playing some solid golf, hitting some quality golf shots,” said Reed, who has five top-three finishes in his LIV Golf career. “It’s always nice when you’re seeing that because you can feed off of it. Obviously it was a bonus chipping in there for eagle.”

Varner did not even think the eagle was his teammate’s best chip of the day. He cited Reed’s third shot at the par-5 13th from an awkward lie out of the greenside rough 30 yards from the pin.

Varner said: “He chips it, somehow shimmies it through the rough, misses the bunker and it goes to four feet — and he misses the putt. But it was the best chip, best shot I saw. It will be the best shot in all of golf on this golf course this week, without a doubt.”

The closest pursuer to the individual co-leaders is Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm, whose 4-under 68 included an eagle at the par-4 sixth. His strong iron play allowed him to overcome an off-day with his driver, as he hit just five fairways.

Fireballs GC’s Abraham Ancer is solo fourth. He had a share of the lead until a double bogey on his final hole left him shooting 69. His seven total birdies on Friday led the field.

“Definitely (it) hurts to finish the way I finished with a double bogey,” Ancer said. “(It) just felt like I just lost a little bit of concentration on that par 3. Other than that, I felt great.”

Reed, Varner and Rahm will be in the final group off the first tee on Saturday. Rahm has been the league’s most consistent player since joining LIV Golf prior to last season, but is looking to start turning his top 10s into wins. Meanwhile, Reed and Varner are hoping to turn this weekend into a 4Aces’ party.

Varner said: “The team camaraderie in the locker room, I think we’re having a lot of fun. Maybe too much fun.”

TEAM SCORES

LIV Golf’s new scoring format this season now involves all four scores counting in every round in the team competition (click here for more on the new format). Here are the results and scores for each team after Friday’s round one of LIV Golf Dallas presented by Aramco.

1. 4ACES GC -9 (Reed 67, Varner III 67, Johnson 70, Pieters 75)

2. CRUSHERS GC -3 (Lahiri 70, Casey 71, DeChambeau 72, Howell III 72)

3. LEGION XIII E (Rahm 68, McKibbin 71, Hatton 74, Surratt 75)

4. FIREBALLS GC +2 (Ancer 69, Puig 70, Garcia 75, Ballester 76)

5. STINGER GC +3 (Oosthuizen 71, Schwartzel 72, Burmester 74, Grace 74)

T6. IRON HEADS GC +6 (Kozuma 72, Jang 74, Lee 74, Na 74)

T6. MAJESTICKS GC +6 (Westwood 72, Poulter 73, Stenson 73, Horsfield 76)

8. HYFLYERS GC +9 (Tringale 72, Ogletree 73, Steele 75, Mickelson 77)

T9. RANGEGOATS GC +10 (Campbell 73, Schniederjans 74, Watson 75, Uihlein 76)

T9. CLEEKS GC +10 (Bland 70, Kaymer 73, Meronk 77, Rottluff 78)

11. SMASH GC +15 (McDowell 70, Kokrak 73, Gooch 79, Koepka/Carrera 81)

12. RIPPER GC +16 (Herbert 75, Leishman 75, Smith 75, Jones 79)

13. TORQUE GC +17 (Pereira 72, Muñoz 76, Niemann 78, Ortiz 79)

Wild Cards: Kim 75, C. Lee 80

EASTBOURNE, England: Alexandra Eala became the first Filipino to reach a WTA Tour final as she beat fellow qualifier Varvara Gracheva 7-5 2-6 6-3 at the Eastbourne Open on Friday, while lucky loser Jenson Brooksby will meet holder Taylor Fritz in the men’s final.

Left-hander Eala, ranked 74th in the world, edged a tight first set before losing five games in a row in the second as the match appeared to be slipping away.

But the 20-year-old regrouped in the decider and survived a tough seventh game before breaking her French opponent’s serve to lead 5-3. She then enjoyed a love service game to seal victory.

In Saturday’s final she will face 19-year-old Australian Maya Joint who beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5 6-3.

It will be the youngest Eastbourne final since 1981 when Tracy Austin faced fellow American Andrea Jaeger.

“I’m super happy because that was a tough match and there were some really tough moments,” an emotional Eala, who is based in Mallorca and trains at the Rafa Nadal Academy, said on court.

“It was tough physically and mentally because she is a tough player and also came from qualifying.”

Eala’s run will not have gone unnoticed by Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova, who has been drawn to play her in the first round at the All England Club next week.

Krejcikova reached the quarter-finals at Eastbourne but withdrew with a thigh injury on Thursday.

Joint continued her impressive run as she reached her first WTA final on grass, coming from 5-3 behind in the opening set against Pavlyuchenkova to take control.

“I’m very excited,” the 51st-ranked Joint said on court. “I’ve learned to love playing on grass this week.”

Three-times champion Fritz overcame Spanish sixth seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 6-3 3-6 6-1 and will now face fellow-American Brooksby after the lucky loser beat French fourth seed Ugo Humbert.

Fritz broke the Spaniard’s first service game as he comfortably won the first set, and while Davidovich Fokina fought back to force a decider, the American broke twice in the last set to reach the final for the fourth time.

Brooksby won his first ATP title in April at the US Men’s Clay Court Championship, where he began as a wildcard in the qualifying rounds and his 6-7(7) 6-4 6-4 win over Humbert sees the American make it to another final.

“I think it’s a lot less pressure when you don’t expect to be in the main draw and get the opportunity,” Brooksby said.

“You just want to make the most of it.”

Humbert came from 5-3 down to win the opening set on a tiebreak, before Brooksby bounced back despite the Frenchman’s battling spirit.

The American took a 3-0 lead in the next two sets and Humbert drew level on both occasions, but Brooksby clinched both sets with a break of serve.