| “Anytime you have to count and do some math to realize how many ahead you are, it’s an amazing thing,” Rahm said. “… I’m hoping we all keep playing to the same level, and come Sunday, the last few holes is not even a contest, and we have a 20-something, 30-something-shot lead. That would be amazing.
“But you have to expect other teams are going to come in swinging and play good, so we still need to do what we’ve been doing and play really good golf.”
Individually, Rahm is back in a familiar position atop the leaderboard, backing up his opening 6-under 65 with a 4-under 67, moving to 10 under for a one-shot lead.
Rahm leads a trio tied for second at 9 under, including McKibbin, RangeGoats GC’s Matthew Wolff and Smash GC’s Harold Varner III. Fireballs GC’s Luis Masaveu sits alone in fifth at 8 under.
First-round leader Victor Perez slipped into a tie for sixth after a 2-over 73, now three shots off the pace alongside Hatton and Wild Card player Richard T. Lee.
Rahm, the league’s current points leader and reigning two-time Individual Champion, once again showed his ability to stay steady — even if Friday wasn’t as smooth as the scorecard suggested.
“Today was a bit of a frustrating day,” he said. “I think whether it was the wind or the altitude, there was quite a few shots that were on a really good line and were very far off … there’s things that can happen, but it doesn’t make it any easier.”
Despite that, Rahm continues to give himself chances as he chases his second win of the year and fourth of his LIV Golf career. The outright lead Friday is the 16th (solo or tied) since joining the league prior to the 2024 season.
“I’m clearly playing good enough, I just need to take advantage of the opportunities I’ve been giving myself,” he said. “As good as I’m playing, I still feel like it could be better.”
Wolff delivered one of the rounds of the week so far with a bogey-free 6-under 65, which is no small feat given how he described his ball-striking.
“I told my caddie after I finished up, I said, I would have never guessed that that round would be bogey-free,” Wolff said. “I feel really good with the putter, so I think that helped a lot.”
Despite the clean card, Wolff admitted it was far from stress-free. A lengthy par save from 36 feet on the 12th hole highlighted his resilience.
“Yeah, extremely,” he said when asked if the round was mentally draining. “It’s just stressful … it was kind of the opposite today. I was scrambling a lot.”
Wolff also credited the energy of the Mexico City crowd while noting the added physical challenge of altitude. “All the kids and the fans are shouting ‘Wolff’… it’s great,” he said. “Altitude is hard, though… I was so out of breath.”
McKibbin matched Wolff’s 65 to give Legion XIII two players inside the top three. |
