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SPIELBERG BEI KNITTELFELD, Austria: Lando Norris continued his pace-setting dominance in free practice at the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday by outpacing Australian McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri to set the fastest lap.

The Briton, who is seeking to erase memories of his nightmare in Montreal where he collided with the championship leading Piastri, clocked a best lap of one minute and 4.324 seconds.

Piastri was 0.118 seconds off the pace.

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen was third for Red Bull ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton.

“In these temperatures, the McLarens at high speed are going to be very difficult to match,” admitted Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.

Wolff again confirmed interest in Verstappen, but added Russell, victorious in Canada two weeks ago, had been “splendid” and “has done a great job this year.”

Norris, fastest on Friday, was soon in command with a 1min 5.412sec lap and by the midway mark he had trimmed that to 1min 4.888sec with Hamilton second, three-tenths adrift.

Russell, seen by many as vulnerable at Mercedes if Verstappen arrived, was third ahead of Piastri.

With 20 minutes remaining, Piastri pushed with too much speed into Turn Nine and swept through the gravel, a moment that required a visit to the pits.

Verstappen — whose ‘orange army’ of supporters boosted the size of the crowd — also pitted with his car’s floor receiving attention.

He was 11th on the time-screens as Norris improved his best lap to 1:04.324, a five-tenths cut to go seven-tenths clear.

With 10 minutes to go, Piastri found the pace to go second, 0.118 behind Norris before Verstappen went third ousting Leclerc to fourth ahead of Hamilton.

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