LIV Golf Mexico City Round 1: Victor Perez Fires an 11-Birdie 62 to Lead Jon Rahm by Three

Victor Perez came to Mexico City without a single top-10 position after any of 20 previous rounds in LIV Golf. One Thursday at altitude changed the whole conversation.

The Cleeks GC rookie made 11 birdies en route to a career-best 9-under 62 at Club de Golf Chapultepec, good for a three-shot lead after the first round of LIV Golf Mexico City. Jon Rahm sits alone in second at 6 under after a 65, and seven players are bunched at 4 under. In the team race, Rahm's Legion XIII leads at 9 under, three clear of 4Aces GC.

Eleven Birdies, Two Bogeys, No Panic

Perez was 7 under through the first 11 holes. Then the round wobbled. A three-putt at the 17th and a plugged lie in a bunker at the 18th handed back two shots in a row, and for a moment the 62 looked like it might become a pleasant 65.

Instead Perez went the other way. Four straight birdies on the second, third, fourth and fifth closed the round, one of them from 7 feet. The 11 birdies are the most in any LIV round this season and the third-most in league history.

The ball-striking explained most of it. Perez hit 13 of 14 fairways to lead the field in driving accuracy, ranked fourth in greens in regulation and second in putting average. The Frenchman also cracked a 401-yard drive at the 11th, one of four tee shots on the day that went past 400 yards in the thin mountain air.

"Definitely a different atmosphere, different vibe," Perez said of leading, per LIV Golf. The best previous LIV finish for Perez was a tie for 12th in South Africa, and the Frenchman knows exactly who is chasing. "Ultimately I think you're going to have to beat those guys," Perez said.

Rahm Does Rahm Things

One of those guys is right behind him. Rahm was bogey-free until the par-3 18th, where a dropped shot left him at 65 and 6 under. That keeps a remarkable streak alive: the Legion XIII captain has been inside the top two after a round at every event this season, and he has already won once in 2026, at LIV Golf Hong Kong.

There is a personal angle this week, too. Rahm's parents are on site in Mexico City, and Rahm said he hopes to win one while they are there with him. He gets the first shot at closing the gap Friday in the final group alongside Perez and Harold Varner III.

A Crowd at 4 Under

The board behind the top two is crowded. Varner (Smash GC), Dustin Johnson and Thomas Detry (both 4Aces GC), Ian Poulter (Majesticks GC), and the Korean Golf Club pair of Minkyu Kim and Younghan Song all opened with 67. So did Scott Vincent, filling in for Phil Mickelson on HyFlyers GC this week.

Poulter's 67 came with a story. The Majesticks co-captain put in contact lenses for the first time in roughly 20 years, and the experiment produced a first top-five position after a round since 2024 Chicago. A closing bogey stung, but the eyes clearly worked. Kim, meanwhile, was the only player to play all three par 5s in 4 under.

Five more sit at 3 under, including Tom McKibbin of Legion XIII, who needed only 25 putts, and RangeGoats GC's Matthew Wolff.

The Ace and the Anticlimax

The shot of the day came before most of the field had broken a sweat. Defending champion Joaquin Niemann aced the 161-yard fourth with the first swing of the day, the 16th hole-in-one in league history and the first ever recorded on a player's opening shot. The rest of Niemann's day was quieter, a 69 for a 2-under start.

Bryson DeChambeau had the opposite kind of day. The Crushers GC captain arrived trying to become the first player to win three straight LIV events and shot an even-par 71, nine back in a big tie for 29th. A 72-hole week leaves room, but Chapultepec hands out nothing automatically.

The day also played out against a noisy backdrop. LIV's broadcast stream went down for roughly two hours during the opening round, and CEO Scott O'Neil used the TV window to tell employees the league's finances are "managed very tightly" while insisting it is not going away.

Legion XIII Takes the Early Team Lead

Under this season's format, all four scores count every round and the lowest 72-hole total wins, so one hot card cannot carry a team. Legion XIII had no weak link Thursday: Rahm's 65, McKibbin's 68, Tyrrell Hatton's 69 and Caleb Surratt's 73 added up to 9 under.

4Aces GC is second at 6 under behind the 67s from Johnson and Detry. Smash GC and Majesticks GC share third at 5 under, and Cleeks GC is fifth at 4 under. That last number shows how unforgiving the math is. Perez's 62 was the round of the day, but a 74 from Richard Bland and a 75 from Adrian Meronk swallowed most of it.

What Friday Brings

A three-shot lead after 18 holes of a 72-hole event is a head start, not a cushion, and Perez is about to play alongside a two-time major champion who has lived near the top of LIV leaderboards all season. If the rookie handles that pairing, Mexico City has a real story. If not, Rahm and a long line of 67s are waiting to take over.

Full first-round details are in the LIV Golf Round 1 recap (opens in a new tab).

Sources: LIV Golf (Round 1 recap), FOX Sports, Field Level Media, CBS Sports. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Charles Laberge/LIV Golf.