LIV Golf Adelaide Round 2: Jon Rahm Rolls In an Eagle and Takes Control With a Bogey-Free 63

The wind backed off on Friday, the putts started dropping, and Jon Rahm made sure the rest of the field noticed.

The Legion XIII captain went bogey-free for a 9-under 63 at The Grange to take a one-shot lead at 13 under through 36 holes of LIV Golf Adelaide. New Zealand's Ben Campbell matched the 63 and sits alone in second at 12 under, Bryson DeChambeau is third at 11 under after a 67, and Anthony Kim is fourth at 10 under after his second straight 67. In the team race, the RangeGoats and 4Aces GC share the lead at 23 under, with Legion XIII, Ripper GC and Torque GC one back. Five teams inside a shot at the halfway mark of a 72-hole event is about as tight as this league gets.

Rahm's Putter Does the Talking

Rahm's round turned on the par-5 seventh, where he rolled in a 47-foot putt for eagle. That was the headline, but the supporting cast was just as important. He added seven birdies, five of them on the back nine, and holed five more putts in the 10 to 25 foot range. By the end of the day he had made roughly 150 feet of putts, the kind of number that turns a good ball-striking round into a lead.

"It was a fantastic day on the greens," Rahm said, which undersold it a little. The two-time LIV individual season champion is chasing his first tournament win since 2024, per Field Level Media, and he has now put himself in the spot every chaser wants entering the weekend: on top, with a spotless Friday card behind him.

Campbell and the RangeGoats Charge

Campbell, who called Adelaide the closest thing to a home game, matched Rahm stroke for stroke. Campbell's 63 included five straight birdies and an eagle, and through two rounds Campbell has taken just 49 putts, fewer than anyone in the field.

That surge powered a RangeGoats run that, at one point, opened up a seven-shot cushion in the team competition. Peter Uihlein added a 67 to reach 8 under individually, Matthew Wolff shot 70, and even with captain Bubba Watson's 73 the team posted 15 under for the day. That would have been enough to run away with it on most Fridays. It was not on this one.

4Aces Answer Back

The 4Aces closed the gap the steady way. Thomas Detry and Kim both shot 67, Thomas Pieters added a 69, and Dustin Johnson's even-par 72 still counted, as every score does in the 2026 format, where all four players' rounds go toward a 72-hole team total. The team's 13 under for the day pulled 4Aces level with the RangeGoats at 23 under.

Kim, meanwhile, keeps quietly stacking clean rounds. His bogey-free 67 came from a starting spot on the No. 1 tee, the first time he has started there in 78 career shotgun starts in LIV Golf. He will go off the first again on Saturday, now in solo fourth, three back of Rahm.

DeChambeau Scrambles, Gooch Goes Low

DeChambeau stayed in the hunt without his best stuff. He eagled the seventh too, but a gust grabbed his tee shot at the par-3 14th and dumped it into a greenside bunker, where it plugged, and he made bogey. His 67 had an eagle, five birdies and two bogeys, and he admitted afterward that he had been scrambling all day, not a sustainable plan for winning a golf tournament.

The day's other big number came from Talor Gooch, who shot 63 to climb into a tie for fifth at 9 under alongside Branden Grace, who fired a 64. Gooch knows The Grange better than most, having set the course record of 62 here in 2023, and Gooch predicted plenty of birdies if the wind stayed down. Gooch was right. The field averaged 69.035, more than two strokes lower than Thursday, and 13 players made eagle or better.

Puig's Albatross and the Chasers

The shot of the day belonged to David Puig. The Fireballs GC player holed a 209-yard second shot at the par-5 10th for an albatross, only the third in LIV Golf history, en route to a 68. Puig called it one of the best moments of a lifetime on the golf course.

Behind the top five, Uihlein, Sebastián Muñoz and Lucas Herbert are tied for seventh at 8 under, with Herbert's 65 doing most of the work for Ripper GC. Herbert admitted the team leaderboard held more interest than the individual race, which makes sense: with Cameron Smith shooting 67 and Elvis Smylie a 70, the home team is right there at 22 under. Joaquin Niemann is 10th at 7 under, and Legion XIII's 22 under owes plenty to Rahm, with Tom McKibbin adding a 68 and Tyrrell Hatton a 69. Co-leader Marc Leishman slipped back with a 72, though Leishman did hit the longest drive of the day, 360.1 yards at the 10th.

Saturday's Setup

Rahm has the lead, the hot putter and a team that sits one shot off the top. Campbell has the momentum. DeChambeau has the length to post something silly if the wind stays calm, and Kim has gone 36 holes without looking rattled. With no cut and two rounds to go, nobody inside the top 10 is out of it, and the team race is a coin toss five ways.

Catch up on Round 1 of LIV Golf Adelaide on Undrafted, and see the official LIV Golf Adelaide leaderboard (opens in a new tab) and LIV Golf's Round 2 recap (opens in a new tab) for full scores.

Sources: LIV Golf (Round 2 recap), Field Level Media via Arab News. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: LIV Golf.