LIV Golf Mexico City Round 2: Legion XIII Builds a Record 19-Shot Lead as Jon Rahm Moves Ahead

Halfway through LIV Golf Mexico City, the individual race is a scrum. The team race is starting to look like a formality.

Jon Rahm followed his opening 65 with a 4-under 67 on Friday to reach 10 under and take a one-shot lead at Club de Golf Chapultepec. Three players sit one back at 9 under: Matthew Wolff, Harold Varner III and Rahm's own Legion XIII teammate Tom McKibbin. And Legion XIII, behind a 16-under team round, leads Fireballs GC by 19 shots, the largest lead after any round in LIV Golf history.

Nineteen Shots of Daylight

The previous record for a team margin belonged to the then-Stinger GC, now Southern Guards GC, which won the league's inaugural event in London in 2022 by 14. Legion XIII blew past that with 36 holes still to play.

The math was simple and brutal. McKibbin shot 65, Tyrrell Hatton shot 66, Rahm shot 67, and Caleb Surratt added a 70 for a team total of 25 under. Under this season's format every one of those scores counts, every round, so a 16-under day is not one hot player dragging three passengers. It is four people playing well at the same time.

"Anytime you have to count and do some math to realize how many ahead you are, it's an amazing thing," Rahm said, per LIV Golf. Rahm also made it clear he expects someone to come at them over the weekend.

Fireballs GC is a distant second at 6 under. Korean Golf Club and Cleeks GC share third at 3 under, Korean Golf Club's first top-three spot after a round since 2024 Adelaide, and Torque GC climbed from 12th to fifth at 2 under with a round that was 12 shots better than its first.

Rahm Grinds Out the Lead

For all the team fireworks, Rahm's own day was more workmanlike than spectacular, and Rahm said as much. "Today was a bit of a frustrating day," the Legion XIII captain said, adding that the chances were there and the job now is to convert more of them.

Frustrating still got the job done. A 67 put Rahm at 10 under and gave him a share or more of the lead for the 16th time in LIV rounds since joining the league before the 2024 season. Victor Perez, Thursday's leader after a career-best 62, could not keep pace in the final group. A 2-over 73 dropped the Cleeks GC player into a tie for sixth at 7 under, three back.

Wolff, McKibbin and Varner Pull Up Chairs

Wolff produced the cleanest card of the week so far, a bogey-free 65 that was the only bogey-free round through two days. The RangeGoats GC player leaned on the putter, including a 36-foot par save at the 12th, and was 6 for 6 in scrambling.

McKibbin matched that 65 with elite ball-striking, hitting 17 of 18 greens. It is just the second time the Northern Irishman has been inside the top three after a round in LIV. Hatton, meanwhile, made nine birdies for a 66, the most birdies in any of the Englishman's LIV rounds, and sits tied for sixth at 7 under.

Varner fired a 66 to join the trio at 9 under. The Smash GC player has not won in the league since LIV Golf DC in 2023 and called this week a great opportunity.

Right behind them is Luis Masaveu. The Fireballs GC player posted a second straight 6-under 65, matching a career-best score to par, and sits alone in fifth at 8 under, the best 36-hole position of a LIV career. Wild card Richard T. Lee is also in the tie for sixth at 7 under, and Korean Golf Club's Minkyu Kim is ninth at 6 under.

The Long and the Short of It

Marc Leishman authored the biggest jump of the day. After a 3-over 74 to open, the Ripper GC veteran shot a 7-under 64 with two eagles, playing the par 5s in 5 under, and leapt into a tie for 11th. Local favorite Abraham Ancer of Torque GC added a 66 to sit seven back.

Altitude kept doing strange things to the numbers. Five drives went past 400 yards, three of them by Bryson DeChambeau, whose 411-yard blast at the fifth was the longest. On the greens the story flipped: the field combined for 1,737 putts, the most in any round in LIV history, an average of 1.69 per hole. Chapultepec's surfaces made everyone work for every birdie.

The Weekend Picture

There is no cut in LIV, so all 57 players return Saturday, but the shape of the week is now clear. Rahm owns a one-shot lead over three chasers, seven players are within three, and Legion XIII has two of them in that group.

The individual title is wide open. The team title would take a collapse. With 36 holes left and four Legion XIII scores counting every round, Saturday is less about whether anyone can catch them and more about whether Rahm can separate from a crowd that includes two of his own teammates.

Read our Round 1 recap for how Perez's 62 set the tone, and the full second-round numbers are in the LIV Golf Round 2 recap (opens in a new tab).

Sources: LIV Golf (Round 2 recap), Golf News Net. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Charles Laberge/LIV Golf.