The third round of LIV Golf México City has been very eventful. What you expect from a Saturday, but multiplied by four. Players needed to be up the leaderboard to give themselves a chance on Sunday. The lead has passed from hand to hand. It has been held by Luis Masaveu, by Harold Varner III, by Tyrrell Hatton, by Tom McKibbin and even by Branden Grace. David Puig, in truth, was only a handful of holes away from having it too. Some come and some go, but the only one who always remains in LIV Golf is Jon Rahm (-14).
The Spaniard has not had a particularly calm day. He was not comfortable from tee to green. Rather, we could say he struggled with his long game. In fact, at the 5th hole he hit a very poor second shot and sent the ball out of bounds. It was an expensive double bogey. Jon lost his footing and even seemed a little shaken. His score over the first nine was one over par.
However, from the 11th hole onwards his most lethal form came into play, especially on the greens. Rahm putted brilliantly today on the complicated greens of the Club de Golf Chapultepec, elusive and extremely tricky. Not very forgiving. The ball does strange things. Jon read them very well in this third round and, of course, also enjoyed a touch of luck, as there are breaks the balls take on their way to the hole that are almost incredible.
Rahm carded five birdies between holes 11 and 17 for a 67 and kept the solo lead of the tournament with a two-shot advantage over Hatton and three over McKibbin and Grace. Four shots back are Varner III, Josele Ballester, Scott Vincent, Matthew Wolff and David Puig, who posted the round of the day with 62 strokes. Luis Masaveu (-9) is sitting in tenth place, chasing his best ever finish in LIV. Four Spaniards are among the top ten. Jon has a cushion and right now gives the impression that he will take the victory, unless something odd happens in the final round.
Just look at the individual leaderboard to deduce that Legion XIII‘s victory is a rout. Three players from the team in the top three positions. And the Fireballs are not doing badly either, with Masaveu, Ballester and Puig at the head. However, this week the weak link has been Sergio García (+6), who still hasn’t found his touch, although at least this Saturday he played under par
