Kennedy cruises through first round cut at LIV Promotions in Florida
Max Kennedy fired a four under 66 at LIV Golf Promotions to keep his hopes alive of winning one of three wildcard spots in the lucrative Saudi-funded league this season.
The Royal Dublin star (24) showed few signs of rust in his first start for six weeks and made five birdies and a bogey at Black Diamond Ranch in Florida to finish tied for second in the battle to make the top 20 and ties who qualified to join the seeded players in Friday’s second round.
“Yeah, played nicely,” said HotelPlanner Tour card holder Kennedy, who finished two shots behind Canada’s Richard T Lee as 29 players progressed on one under or better.
“I haven't played a tournament in quite a while, so didn't really know what to expect. But I kept it tidy out there. Very few mistakes, very few bad shots. I was happy with my round.”
The 29 qualifiers join 18 exempt players in today’s second round.
All scores are reset for round two, after which the top 20 and ties will qualify for the final 36 holes with all scores reset again for the weekend.
While the top 10 and ties will earn a full exemption into the 2026 International Series, sanctioned by the Asian Tour, Kennedy insists he’s gunning for one of those three wildcards and a spot alongside Tom McKibbin in the megabucks breakaway league, which has expanded from 54 to 72 holes for its 14-event season this year
“I'd love the opportunity to play out there,” he said of the Asian Tour carrot. “But the reason we come here is to play on LIV, not just the International Series. The plan is to get the LIV Tour card.”
It’s Kennedy's third visit to LIV Promotions, and while he failed to make it through round one last year, he feels like a far better player than he was when he came through the first round as an amateur in 2023.
“Yeah, I've made a lot of progress since 2023,” he said. “I was an amateur back then, still in college. So I finished college in 2024 and moved on to the pro scene in Europe, playing in the HotelPlanner Tour and the DP World Tour, and I had a really good first year.
“I was happy with my performances. Always stuff to work on, but going forward, I'm quite happy where I'm at right now.”
He added: “I'm definitely a lot more comfortable. Back then, it was kind of new to me, so I was a little nervous and didn't know what to expect.
“Going out there tomorrow, I'll know how to feel. I know what I'm going to feel. There's going to be nerves and stuff like that, but that's kind of what you prepare for. I'm looking forward to it.”
While making the top 20 and ties after the second round is all that’s required , Kennedy has no intention of playing for position.
“For me, it's really important just to keep with my game plan,” he said. “You don't really want to let your foot off the gas.
“You want to keep it down and keep playing well because in order to get those three LIV spots you've got to play well at some point, so you might as well get into some really good form early in the week, and I'm glad I was able to do that today.”
While there’s a $200,000 payday for the winner of the event, $150,000 for second and $100,000 for third, Kennedy knows a top-three finish on Sundaywould be worth its weight in gold.
“Yeah, it would be fantastic,” he said of the possibility of qualifying for LIV Golf, where Jon Rahm won $33 million last season, despite failing to win an event, and McKibbin banked $5.7m
“Yeah, that's what I came here to do, so that's the plan.”
