Jason Kokrak finds missing clubs, share of lead at LIV Andalucia

Dustin Johnson and Jason Kokrak share the lead the LIV Golf Invitational Andalucía at Real Club Valderrama in Sotogrande, Spain, but only one of the American golfers had played the course before Friday.

Kokrak put up a 67 in the first round to put a shiny bow on what he aptly described as "kind of a crazy situation."

The summary of events goes like this: starting in Detroit on Monday, Kokrak encountered multiple airport delays, resulting in missed connections and personalized clubs, trackable with location AirTags, never moving from where he left them prior to his flight stateside.

Misfortune multiplied and Kokrak wound up teeing off with only a fast-forward walking preview of the back nine beforehand.

"Cleveland to Detroit, Detroit to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Malaga, and then I didn't get to the house until 1:00 a.m. Wednesday morning," Kokrak said, detailing the next phase of the adventure including buying new irons and a putter in Spain. "I finally got my Air Tags to update, and they had moved over to Paris, and then actually I went to lunch and then we got a call at lunch that Matt Wolff's caddie's girlfriend was flying in and just happened to be on the same flight as my clubs and saw them on the luggage rack, and she called Nick, who's Matt Wolff's caddie. She was like, 'What do I do?' And he was like, 'Take them. Take them with you.'

"Somebody picked her up from the airport, and that's how I got my bags. If not, I probably would have gotten my bags maybe this morning."

Kokrak outplayed three-time Valderrama winner Sergio Garcia, the Spanish de facto host this week who has 14 top-10 finishes in 15 career starts.

"I tell people -- you tend to play golf courses that you haven't played better the first time around than you do after you've seen them because after you've seen them a couple times, you know where the trouble is, you know where not to hit it. You play a golf course blind and it's like, here's your yardage, here's your shot, hit it here," Kokrak said. "You just kind of commit to your shot. ... Very pleased with my round today."

Garcia was 1-under 70, tied for seventh.

"It was a grind. I'm not going to lie," Garcia said.

Kokrak and Cameron Smith had six birdies apiece on Thursday.

Johnson had to scramble to post his first-round score and a share of the lead by one shot over Anirban Lahin (-3). Smith, Kevin Na and Talor Gooch are tied at -2 and Bryson DeChambeau is 1-under.

"The golf course, no matter if the wind is blowing or not, this course plays tough just because you have to be so precise on every single shot. That's why I think the golf course is so great, and it's a lot of fun to play," Johnson said.