Anthony Kim finishes dead last on his first competitive outing at LIV Golf Jeddah

Anthony Kim's return to professional golf went far from ideal as he shot 6-over 76 in the LIV Golf Jeddah's opening round to finish at the bottom after Friday's play.

Anthony Kim's first competitive round in 11 years didn't go as planned, as he finished with seven bogeys in the first round of the LIV Golf Jeddah and could make just one birdie. The scorecard was enough to tell that the 38-year-old golfer was far from giving a tough fight to the top names on the Saudi-backed circuit.

After starting with four straight pars, Anthony Kim finished the front nine with four bogeys and a birdie. His first bogey came on the par-4 fifth hole, where he shanked the approach shot.

Back nine wasn't great either for Kim, as he went on to add three more bogeys for the day. However, one can give him some leeway considering this was his first competitive round in many years. It will be interesting if he improves his scorecard over the weekend.

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Unlike Anthony Kim, Adrian Meronk shines in his LIV Golf Jeddah debut

It was not just Anthony Kim who was making his LIV Golf debut on Friday. Adrian Meronk, who switched to the rival circuit a couple of weeks ago, had a contrasting result to Kim as he carded 8-under-62 to take the joint single-stroke lead after the first round. He made nine birdies and a bogey in his debut at the Saudi-backed circuit.

Meronk was joined by Jon Rahm, who fired a bogey-free 62 on Friday. In all three starts on LIV so far, the Spaniard has been in the race to win, but he has yet to open his title account on LIV Golf.

Charl Schwartzel, Bryson DeChambeau, and Joaquin Niemann were one stroke back at T3. Schwartzel shot a bogey-free round on Friday, while DeChambeau made nine birdies but also had one double bogey in the first round. Niemann, who won the season opener at Mayakoba, started with a bogey on the second hole but then birdied eight of the remaining sixteen holes.

Here's the LIV Golf Jeddah leaderboard after the opening round:

• T1. Jon Rahm: -8
• T1. Adrian Meronk: -8
• T3. Charl Schwartzel: -7
• T3. Bryson DeChambeau: -7
• T3. Joaquin Niemann: -7
• T6. Louis Oosthuizen: -6
• T7. Phil Mickelson: -5
• T7. Brendan Steele: -5
• T7. Tyrrell Hatton: -5
• T7. Patrick Reed: -5
• T7. Talor Gooch: -5
• T7. Lucas Herbert: -5
• T7. Jinichiro Kozuma: -5
• T14. Kevin Na: -4
• T14. Dustin Johnson: -4
• T14. Caleb Surratt: -4
• T17. Sergio Garcia: -3
• T17. Charles Howell III: -3
• T17. Peter Uihlein: -3
• T17. Branden Grace: -3
• T17. Dean Burmester: -3
• T17. Scott Vincent: -3
• T17. Sebastián Muñoz: -3
• T24. Henrik Stenson: -2
• T24. Pat Perez: -2
• T24. Richard Bland: -2
• T24. Jason Kokrak: -2
• T24. Cameron Tringale: -2
• T24. Anirban Lahiri: -2
• T24. Harold Varner III: -2
• T24. Abraham Ancer: -2
• T24. David Puig: -2
• T33. Paul Casey: -1
• T33. Lee Westwood: -1
• T33. Martin Kaymer: -1
• T33. Carlos Ortiz: -1
• T33. Brooks Koepka: -1
• T33. Cameron Smith: -1
• T46. Andy Ogletree: +1
• T46. Eugenio Chacarra: +1
• T48. Graeme McDowell: +2
• T48. Marc Leishman: +2
• T48. Danny Lee: +2
• T48. Hudson Swafford: +2
• 52. Bubba Watson: +4
• 53. Anthony Kim: +6