Staff WriterLIV Golf Mexico arrived with thin air, loud energy and enough noise to wake the dead, and Victor Perez handled all of it like a man who had finally found the right gear. The Frenchman lit up Club de Golf Chapultepec with 11 birdies in a sparkling 9-under 62 on Thursday, good for a three-shot lead and, perhaps more importantly, proof that the adjustment to life in this league is no longer kicking him in the shins.
For a player who openly admitted the early months had felt like trying to solve a Rubik’s Cube in a nightclub, this was a round of genuine authority. Perez did not just survive the atmosphere in Mexico City. He used it.
Jon Rahm, because of course Jon Rahm, is the nearest pursuer on 6-under after a 65. Six players sit tied for third on 4-under, including Dustin Johnson, Ian Poulter, Harold Varner III, Scott Vincent, Minkyu Kim and Younghan Song, while Legion XIII lead the team race at 9-under.
Perez finally looks at home
Perez came into the week fresh from his best finish of the season, a tie for 12th in South Africa, and there were already signs the wheels were beginning to grip. On Thursday, they did more than that. They hummed.
He made seven birdies in his first 11 holes and looked ready to disappear into the distance before Chapultepec reminded him that golf remains a fundamentally silly game. A three-putt at the 17th and a plugged bunker lie at the 18th led to back-to-back bogeys. For many, that is where the wheels wobble.
Perez instead finished with four straight birdies on holes two through five, with his longest putt in that closing stretch just seven feet. No circus tricks. Just precise, cold-blooded golf.
“Definitely a different atmosphere, different vibe,” said Perez, who had never been inside the top 10 after any of his previous 20 LIV Golf rounds. “It’s about getting more comfortable, and I think the first event, I was really struggling with the energy of the place and the music. I was almost too amped up on the first day and really struggled and it almost got worse through the week. So, it wasn’t good.
“The second event in Adelaide was another 360 from the night golf. I thought I found my feet a little bit in Hong Kong, which was decent. Singapore was a little bit more difficult. Then had a decent week in South Africa. So, it’s going in the right direction, which is nice.”
“Very happy to finish with four birdies,” he said, adding, “nice to not have to deal with long putts at the end.”
That last line tells you plenty. Perez was not scrambling for miracles. He was plotting his way around the place like a man reading from tomorrow’s paper.
Rahm is right where he always seems to be
If Perez wants his first LIV Golf title, there is no soft route to it. Rahm is parked three behind and has made a seasonal habit of hanging around the top of the board like a storm cloud.
The Spaniard, already boasting a win, three runner-up finishes and a fifth in his first five starts this season, shot 65 and remained bogey-free until the par-3 18th. After a forgettable T38 at the Masters, he looked very much like a man pleased to be back where the scorecard moves quickly and the opportunity to answer a bad week arrives without delay.
“Sometimes after having a bad week and kind of understanding what I did wrong, I’d almost rather have a week after so I can back at it again as fast as possible and prove myself wrong or right, however you want to look at it,” he said. “I was happy that we were playing this week, for sure.”
That is not exactly a warning shot, but it is close enough for anyone paying attention.
Perez certainly is.
“He’s obviously one of the marquee players on the league,” Perez said. “Ultimately I think you’re going to have to beat those guys.”
That much feels unavoidable now. Perez, Rahm and Harold Varner III will occupy the final group on Friday, which should provide all the tension Chapultepec could want.
Chapultepec’s altitude turns golf into mischief
At roughly 7,900 feet above sea level, Club de Golf Chapultepec has always had a way of making distance numbers look faintly ridiculous. Thursday was no exception.
Four drives over 400 yards were recorded, including a monstrous 421-yard blow from Richard Bland, who is not typically confused with a long-drive champion. Travis Smyth launched one 420 yards, Josele Ballester hit one 404, and Perez himself reached 401. Officially measured drives on the designated holes were led by Dean Burmester at 405.6 yards, which tells you all you need to know about what altitude can do when a golf ball catches a taxi.
Yet for all the comedy in the yardages, Chapultepec still demands control. Perez led the field in driving accuracy at 92.86 percent, hitting 13 of 14 fairways, and that is the bit that mattered. Bombs are entertaining. Position is profitable.
The galleries added their own crackle. LIV’s younger, louder crowd has become part of the furniture now, and in Mexico City the atmosphere had the feel of a sporting occasion rather than a polite afternoon ramble. Young fans lined the opening hole, cheering with the sort of gusto usually reserved for football grounds and tax refunds.
Niemann makes an ace and Poulter goes searching
There were side stories all over round one, the sort that make a leaderboard breathe.
Defending LIV Golf Mexico champion Joaquin Niemann began his day with a hole-in-one at the 161-yard fourth, holing his first shot of the round. It was the 16th ace in league history and the first ever recorded by a player on the opening shot of his day. A neat way to announce yourself, even by Chilean standards.
Ian Poulter, meanwhile, found himself tied for third after a 67 and attributed at least part of the improvement to wearing contact lenses for the first time in two decades. Golfers are forever searching for answers in dark corners, and Poulter’s latest expedition has gone from optician’s chair to leaderboard.
“I had Lasik surgery 15, 20 years ago and the edges got off, so I’m kind of in this game at the minute of just searching to find out an answer,” Poulter said. “Is it my stroke? No, go away, have a look at my stroke, my stroke feels pretty good. Is it my eyes? Is it my optics? Am I reading it right? Am I hitting putts on the right lines?
“We’ve played this game for a long time. We’re always searching for perfection. I don’t know what perfection is. I’m going to keep looking. If it’s contact lenses for now and that’s making me be at the right end of the leaderboard, then that’s fantastic.”
Later, he offered a fuller account of the experiment.
“Yes and no. I took my sunglasses off for one shot because the light was dimming just a little bit and then I hit a shank on my last hole. It’s tricky; I blink – and that’s why I went to Lasik surgery so long ago because every time I blink, the contact lenses move just slightly. So, we’re at altitude, trying to stay hydrated so my eyes; I was putting drops in my eyes today.
“It’s a lot of adjustment. The optics of standing over a ball looks a little bit different. But I have to try something.”
That, in truth, is half the sport. Hit it, miss it, blame your eyes, change something, try again.
Team race tightens behind Legion XIII
In the team competition, Legion XIII hold first place at 9-under thanks to Rahm’s 65, Tom McKibbin’s tidy 68 and enough support from Tyrrell Hatton and Caleb Surratt to edge clear early.
The 4Aces sit second at 6-under, with Smash GC and the Majesticks another shot back at 5-under. Given LIV’s team format, that matters. A hot individual round gets headlines, but a steady week across all four bags can still steal the silverware.
Scott Vincent, stepping in for Phil Mickelson with the HyFlyers, impressed with a 67. Bryson DeChambeau, chasing a third straight individual title, opened with an even-par 71 and has ground to make up. No one posted a bogey-free round all day, which was Chapultepec’s little reminder that even in thin air, the place can still land a punch.
What round one means at LIV Golf Mexico
For Perez, this was more than a low number. It was his best round in LIV Golf, his first lead after any round in the league, and the clearest sign yet that he is beginning to understand the rhythm of this circuit.
For Rahm, it was business as usual. He has now finished in the top two after a round in every event this season, which is a mildly absurd level of consistency in a format designed to feel volatile.
And for LIV Golf Mexico, it was the ideal opening act: a leader with something to prove, a heavyweight in pursuit, an ace from the defending champion, and enough altitude-fuelled nonsense to keep the whole thing entertaining.
Friday now offers the part that matters most. Perez has the lead, but not the luxury of easing into it. Rahm is coming, Varner is dangerous, and Chapultepec has a habit of rewarding nerve while exposing hesitation.
In other words, the weekend has a pulse again.
