Victor Perez expected an adjustment period to start his first season on LIV Golf. New courses to learn. Music during rounds. Increased energy and enthusiasm from a younger gallery. Night golf in Riyadh. Record crowds in Adelaide and South Africa. In Thursday’s opening round at LIV Golf Mexico City, the 33-year-old Frenchman showed he’s getting comfortable with his new environment. Perez, a member of Cleeks Golf Club, carded 11 birdies at Club de Golf Chapultepec, shooting a 9-under 62 to take a three-shot lead over Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm. Six players are tied for third, including 4Aces GC Captain Dustin Johnson and Majesticks GC Co-Captain Ian Poulter. On the team leaderboard, Rahm’s Legion XIII shot a cumulative 9 under for a three-stroke lead over the 4Aces, with the Majesticks and Smash GC another stroke back. Perez entered Mexico City fresh off his best result in his first five LIV Golf starts, a tie for 12th at South Africa. He acknowledged there was a learning curve in adjusting to life in the league. "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." He had seven birdies in his first 11 holes Thursday before three-putting the 17th and having a plugged lie in the bunker at 18, each resulting in a bogey. But he finished with a flourish with birdies on his final four holes (2-5), his longest made putt from 7 feet during that stretch. "Very happy to finish with four birdies," he said, adding, "nice to not have to deal with long putts at the end." But in chasing his first LIV Golf title, he’ll likely have to deal with Rahm, the two-time LIV Golf Individual Champion and current points leader. With a win, three seconds and a fifth in his first five starts this season, Rahm is the league’s most consistent performer. He showed why again on Thursday with a 6-under 65 in which he was bogey-free until the par-3 18th. After a disappointing T38 in last week’s Masters, Rahm was happy to get immediately back into a competitive mindset. "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." As for Rahm being his closest pursuer, Perez knows the Spaniard will apply plenty of pressure the rest of the week. They will be in the final group Friday with Smash GC’s Harold Varner III. "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." TOP OF THE LEADERBOARDS Individual Top 10 1 (-9) – Victor Perez, Cleeks (62) 2 (-6) – Jon Rahm, Legion XIII (65) T3 (-4) – Harold Varner III, Smash (67), Minkyu Kim, Korean (67), Scott Vincent, HyFlyers (67), Ian Poulter, Majesticks (67), Dustin Johnson, 4Aces (67), Younghan Song, Korean (67), Thomas Detry, 4Aces (67) T10 (-3) – Richard T. Lee, Wild Card (68), Jason Kokrak, Smash (68), Matthew Wolff, RangeGoats (68), Dean Burmester, Southern Guards (68), Tom McKibbin, Legion XIII (68) Team Top 3 1 (-9) – Legion XIII (Rahm 65, McKibbin 68, Hatton 69, Surratt 73) 2 (-6) – 4Aces GC (Detry 67, Johnson 67, Pieters 71, Kim 73) T3 (-5) – Smash GC (Varner III 67, Kokrak 68, McDowell 71, Gooch 73) T3 (-5) – Majesticks GC (Poulter 67, Canter 70, Horsfield 70, Westwood 72) ROUND 1 NOTES 400-YARD DRIVES: Four 400-yard drives were recorded in the 7,900-foot elevation at Club de Golf Chapultepec, and the player with the longest drive is not exactly one you would expect: Cleeks GC’s Richard Bland. The 53-year-old Englishman entered this week ranked 47th in the league in driving distance average at 289.5 yards, but he cranked out a 421-yard drive at the par-4 11th. The 11th was not one of the two measuring holes for official driving distance Friday, but it was the hole in which three of the four 400-yard drives were recorded: 421 yards – Richard Bland (11th hole) 420 yards – Travis Smyth (11th hole) 404 yards – Josele Ballester (12th hole) 401 yards – Victor Perez (11th hole) Last year, 17 drives of 400 yards or more were recorded by the field. NIEMANN’S ACE: Defending LIV Golf Mexico City champion Joaquin Niemann holed his first shot of the day, making a hole-in-one at the 161-yard fourth hole. It’s the 16th ace in league history and the first one recorded by a player on the opening shot of his round. Niemann started his first round Thursday at the fourth hole with fellow LIV Golf captains Talor Gooch (Smash GC) and Dustin Johnson (4Aces GC). After Gooch’s tee shot, Niemann followed with his ace. It’s the fourth ace this season, following Victor Perez (Hong Kong Rd. 1), Graeme McDowell (Hong Kong Rd. 2) and McDowell again (Singapore, Rd. 2). Niemann joins McDowell as the only players to record two aces in league history. Niemann’s first LIV Golf ace came in the third round at 2024 Hong Kong. RAHM’S PARENTS: Jon Rahm’s parents Edorta and Angela are following him this week in Mexico City, just as they did last week at the Masters. They will be with their son through next month’s PGA Championship. "Since I joined LIV, they haven’t had the joy to be there for a win," said Rahm, who has three career LIV Golf individual titles. "Hopefully I can get one while they’re here with me." Asked how much golf talk is involved in their post-round discussions, Rahm replied: "My dad might ask me a few things here and there. My mom, absolutely not. She would not care a single second about what I did on the golf course, which is nice. It's refreshing." DECHAMBEAU UPDATE: Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau, vying to become the first LIV Golf player to win three consecutive individual tournament titles, shot an even-par 71 and is tied for 29th. DeChambeau won the previous two LIV Golf tournaments via playoffs. POULTER’S NEW CONTACT LENSES: Majesticks GC Co-Captain Ian Poulter said he is wearing contact lenses for the first time in 20 years. Coincidence or not, he has his first top-5 position after any round since the 2024 LIV Golf Individual Championship in Chicago when he finished solo 5th. "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." Poulter entered this week in the relegation zone, 51st in points, with four finishes outside the top 40. He knew something needed to change. Asked if the contact lenses provided him with a noticeable difference in how he played, Poulter responded: "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." VINCENT’S HYFLYERS DEBUT: Wild Card player Scott Vincent was tabbed by HyFlyers GC as the replacement this week for captain Phil Mickelson, and the Zimbabwean provided the team with its best round of the day, a 4-under 67 that left him tied for third. Vincent is coming off his best result, a solo 11th in South Africa that moved him to 24th in the points standing. INTERNATIONAL SERIES LEADER: Australian Travis Smyth took the Wild Card spot that opened up with Vincent’s move to the HyFlyers. The current International Series points leader shot a 2-over 73 but also recorded one of the four 400-yard drives Thursday. NOTES AND NUGGETS Legion XIII has led after the first round on five previous occasions, the latest being Singapore 2026, and has converted three of those into tournament wins, most recent being UK 2025 This is the first time Ripper GC has ever been in last place after Rd.1 and the 5th time that Torque has been 12th or worse at the end of a round, with the last time being 12th after Rd. 2 in Andalucia 2025 Until Thursday, the last time Majesticks finished a round in the top 3 was Rd. 2 in Adelaide 2025 (1st); Rd.1 in Riyadh in 2025 (2nd); and Rd.2 in Nashville 2024 (3rd) The 9-under 62 is Victor Perez’s lowest round in his LIV Golf career and he has never finished a round in the lead, with his previous best finish after any round being 12th, which he has done three times The 9-under also ranks as the sixth best strokes gained round in LIV Golf history for Perez as he led the field in fairways, ranked 4th in GIR, 2nd in putting average, and 2nd in putting average when hitting the green Jon Rahm has finished in the top 2 after a round in each event this season 4-under is tied for Ian Poulter’s third-best first-round score in his LIV Golf career 4-under is tied for Younghan Song’s second-best first round score in his LIV Golf career and he has only ever finished in the top 10 after any round once before in Rd. 1 Hong Kong earlier this year 4-under is Minkyu Kim’s best-ever score in his LIV Golf career and he has only ever finished in the top 10 after any round once before Minkyu Kim played the three par 5s in 4-under, the only player to do that Thursday and the 6th time a LIV Golf player has done it in Mexico City 4-under is tied for Richard T. Lee’s best first round score in his LIV Golf career Anthony Kim’s three-putt avoidance streak came to an end at 370 holes with a 3-putt on his final hole, leaving him in second place on the all-time list Josele Ballester’s three-putt avoidance streak also ended on his last hole, leaving him in 6th place on the all-time list (269 holes) Dean Burmester continued his streak of par or better rounds to 58 and sits at 7th place in LIV Golf all-time streaks in that category Perez had 11 birdies in Rd. 1, the most of any round in the league this season and the third-most all time STATS LEADERS Round 1 Driving Distance: Josele Ballester, 386.2-yard avg. Longest Drive: Dean Burmester, 405.6.4 yards (12th hole). Official measured drives taken only on holes 7 & 12. Driving Accuracy: Victor Perez, 92.86% (13 of 14) Greens in Regulation: Scott Vincent, Jason Kokrak, Martin Kaymer, 88.89% (16 of 18) Scrambling: Richard T. Lee (5 of 5), Brendan Steele (4 of 4), Scott Vincent (2 of 2), 100% Fewest Putts: Tom McKibbin, 25 Bogey-free rounds: none This piece is courtesy of Mike McAllister in partnership with LIV Golf.
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