“Some people might think differently”: Harold Varner III talks about embracing ‘one shot at a time’ mentality for LIV Golf's 54-hole format
Harold Varner III finished last at LIV Golf Mayakoba to open the season. However, such a result has not dented how much he enjoys the experience on the circuit, including the 54-hole format. Varner III is very pleased with a three-round system, although he acknowledges that "some people might think differently."
The newest member of the 4 Aces GC is with his team in Las Vegas to play the second event of the season starting this Thursday, February 8. Harold Varner III participated in the pre-event press conference and, among the questions he was asked, was related to the competitive format that LIV Golf employs.
This was part of Harold Varner III's response (via LIV Golf news service):
"You just try to do one shot at a time and do what you're doing and see how it pans out. When you're playing like I played last week, it really doesn't matter. You just do your job and like play golf and you have get as many looks as you can and see where it ends up."
"I think it's really cool everyone's on the course at the same time you finish. There's just way I think it's cool, some people don't like it 54 holes, I mean for $4 million I'd play as many holes as you need me to play to get $4 million. So it's pretty simple for me, some people might think differently."
LIV Golf employs the "shotgun system" whereby groups of three players start at the same time on each of the 18 holes of the course. As a result, tournaments are shorter than what is usual for other circuits and all players finish at approximately the same time.
How did Harold Varner III do at LIV Golf Mayakoba?
Harold Varner III had an excellent 2023 season, but the beginning of the 2024 one was not the same. So much so that he began the year finishing last at El Camaleon Golf Club with a score of 14 over, 26 strokes behind the champion, Joaquin Niemann.
This result greatly influenced his team to finish in 12th place at LIV Golf Mayakoba, an unusual position for the 4Aces GC, considered one of the strongest in the league.
This was by far Varner III's worst finish of his LIV Golf career. In fact, he has never finished last in a tournament before. His previous worst finish was 38th at the 2023 LIV Golf Andalucia.
The same goes for the score. The 14 over he finished with at Mayakoba is the worst ever recorded by Varner III at LIV Golf. It is six strokes worse than his previous worst score (8 over) also recorded in Andalucia.
Varner III's 2023 season included one win and four other Top 10s in the 13 individual events played. He finished ranked 7th in the league's individual standings.