Jon Rahm Takes 1-Shot Lead at LIV Golf Adelaide After Bogey-Free Round 2

One of the rewards for winning LIV Golf Adelaide is the opportunity to celebrate with Grammy Award-nominated musical artist FISHER. Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm, the two-time defending LIV Golf Individual Champion, is two rounds closer to sharing the stage with the Australian star. Rahm moved to the top of the leaderboard after 36 holes at The Grange Golf Club, shooting a second-round bogey-free 9-under 63 on Friday to take a one-shot lead at 13 under. If he maintains that advantage over the next 36 holes, he’ll not only end a drought of 16 months without an individual victory, he’ll also be the focal point of one of the league’s most festive post-round parties. "Being able to share that stage with FISHER on Sunday as the champion is something I think all of us want to do," Rahm said. "It’s just an unique experience." Rahm rolled in a 47-foot putt for eagle at the par-5 seventh and made five other putts between 10-25 feet on Friday. Overall, he made approximately 151 feet of putts. "I can’t remember the last time I made this many, but it was a lot – and the ones that didn’t go in looked like they were going to go in," Rahm said. "It was a fantastic day on the greens." Rahm’s closest pursuer going into Saturday’s Moving Day is RangeGoats GC’s Ben Campbell, who shot his own 63 fueled by a string of five consecutive birdies. The New Zealand native has not won a professional tournament in Australia, but he has plenty of experience playing its sandbelt courses. He also has plenty of support in the gallery, with family and friends making the short trip to cheer him on. He said a group of 15 mates has a rule – one beer for every birdie, two for an eagle. Campbell had 7 birdies and 1 eagle on Friday, so that total number for 15 people is 135 beers. "It’s great," Campbell said of the support. "It’s as close to I get playing at home. Everyone has been amazing." Another shot back is Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau, who managed a 5-under 67 highlighted by an eagle at the par-5 7th. New 4Aces GC member Anthony Kim is solo fourth after a bogey-free 67. Smash GC Captain Talor Gooch, who won the first LIV Golf Adelaide in 2023, is tied for fifth with Southern Guards GC’s Branden Grace. DeChambeau finds himself in contention despite issues with his wedges, along with some bad luck. On Friday, a gust of wind at the par-3 14th pushed his ball into the greenside bunker, leaving it plugged. It took two shots to escape, but he managed to salvage a bogey. "I was scrambling all day," said DeChambeau, seeking his first LIV Golf individual win since last year in Korea, "and that’s something you just can’t do if you’re trying to win a golf tournament." It’s even more difficult under prime scoring conditions such as Friday’s cloudless – and relatively windless – day. Three rounds of 63 were recorded, just one off the course record set by Gooch in 2023, and the field stroke average of 69.035 was more than two strokes lower than Thursday’s opening round. Thirteen different players made eagles or better on Friday, with Fireballs GC’s David Puig making the league’s third-ever albatross. Campbell and reserve player Wade Ormsby – a member of The Grange filling in for HyFlyers GC Captain Phil Mickelson – each produced a streak of five consecutive birdies. "Overall, with less wind today and the fairways being a little bit firmer, the course was easier," Rahm said. "I think the scores reflected it. I saw a lot of low rounds out there. But still, it can get tricky." Gooch said the conditions were similar to when he shot back-to-back 62s at The Grange in 2023. "When you’ve got this many great players in the field, this type of place, if you don’t get much wind, there’s going to be some birdies made out there," he said. In the team competition, the RangeGoats started strong and raced out to a seven-shot lead but were eventually reeled in by the 4Aces, with both teams tied for first at 23 under. Three teams, including the home favorite Ripper GC, are a shot back. Lucas Herbert had the Rippers’ lowest round of the day, a 7-under 65 that left him tied for seventh. As much as he’d like to win the individual title, he already knows what it feels like for the all-Australian foursome to claim the team trophy in Adelaide, having done so in 2024 in LIV Golf’s first team playoff. "Probably more interested in the team leaderboard than I am the individual at the moment," Herbert said. "I’ve had parties for winning and I’ve had parties for winning the team events, and I can tell you the team events are a lot more fun when we win those." TOP OF THE LEADERBOARDS Individual Top 10 1 (-13) – Jon Rahm, Legion XIII (68-63) 2 (-12) – Ben Campbell, RangeGoats (69-63) 3 (-11) – Bryson DeChambeau Crushers (66-67) 4 (-10) – Anthony Kim, 4Aces (67-67) T5 (-9) – Talor Gooch, Smash (72-63); Branden Grace, Southern Guards (71-64) T7 (-8) – Peter Uihlein, RangeGoats (69-67); Lucas Herbert, Ripper (71-65); Sebastian Munoz, Torque (69-67) 10 (-7) – Joaquin Niemann, Torque (68-69) Team Top 3 T1 (-23) – RangeGoats GC (Campbell 63, Uihlein 67, Wolff 70, Watson 73) T1 (-23) – 4Aces GC (Detry 67, Kim 67, Pieters 69, Johnson 72) T3 (-22) – Legion XIII (Rahm 63, McKibbin 68, Hatton 69, Surratt 73) T3 (-22) – Ripper GC (Herbert 65, Smith 67, Smylie 70, Leishman 72) T3 (-22) – Torque GC (Muñoz 69, Ortiz 68, Niemann 69, Ancer 70) ROUND 2 NOTES AK LURKING: Anthony Kim, playing his first tournament as a member of 4Aces GC, started the second round off the No. 1 tee – the first time in 78 career shotgun starts since joining LIV Golf that he’s had that honor. The former Wild Card player maintained his impressive form with a bogey-free 5-under 67, leaving him in solo fourth at 10 under. He’ll once again start on hole No. 1 in Saturday’s third round at 1:40 p.m. local time, with the top three leaders teeing off 11 minutes later. LEADERS’ GROUP: The players in the final group starting off the No. 1 tee are the top three players on the leaderboard – Jon Rahm, Ben Campbell and Bryson DeChambeau. Rahm and DeChambeau are multiple major winners who have shared plenty of groups during their pro golf careers, while Campbell is looking forward to the opportunity to compete against them Saturday. "I’ve learned a lot from hanging out with those guys, having dinner with guys like Rahm," Campbell said. "I’ve played a couple of times with him. I don’t think I’ve ever played with Bryson, so looking forward to that tomorrow." HERBERT STAYS HOT: Lucas Herbert’s opening round of the 2026 season last week in Riyadh was a 3-over 75 that left him at the bottom of the leaderboard. But he rallied over the final three rounds, shooting 20 under to finish inside the top 10 to help his Ripper GC win the team title. He’s kept that momentum going through the first two rounds on home turf in Adelaide and will start the weekend tied for 7th after shooting a second-round 7-under 65. He said the lessons learned last week are paying off in Adelaide. "I think I had kind of two things to deal with," Herbert said. "One was obviously I got off to a bad start last week, so I wanted to make sure I got off to a better start this week. It's a four-rounder. You can't win it on the first day, but you can definitely lose it. So I wanted to make sure I didn't lose it on that first day, and I was happy with yesterday. I think I was two shots outside the top 10 when I finished, which is very respectable and right there with it. "There was that, but then also I think sometimes when you're playing well, it can be a little scary because you almost – I don't know what to do. You're always working on things when your game is struggling, and you know things that you're working into or feels that you're trying to create or whatever. When you're playing well, it can be a bit scary sometimes going, well, what do I do now. So just wanted to make sure I didn't over-practice early in the week, didn't overdo it. "It's pretty easy to burn energy out there, especially in the heat. Just wanted to make sure I tried to burn as few calories as I could the last few days, so I've got some energy left come Sunday. Now it looks like we're going to be somewhere up the top of the leaderboard going into Saturday at least, so I've got that energy to spare." LEGION XIII’S SONG SELECTION: The four members of Legion XIII do not pick their own walk-up songs for The Watering Hole, the par-3 12th at The Grange that is the epicenter of the party vibe this week. Instead, captain Jon Rahm and teammate Tyrrell Hatton make the selections for each other as well as their two young teammates, Tom McKibbin and Caleb Surratt. The players have no idea what’s picked until they address their tee shots. On Friday, Rahm walked out to "Always Be My Baby," by Mariah Carey. Hatton’s was "Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osbourne. McKibbin’s was "Freak Me" by Silk and Surratt’s was "Axel F" by Crazy Frog. "I think Caleb gets the harder ones just because musically, at least, he listens to mostly country, so we’re trying to go as far away as possible from things like that," Rahm explained. "While Baby Shark was going on yesterday, he had Crazy Frog today. "It’s just fun because we know it upsets him so much. The other three of us don’t really care. I just think it’s a little bit of fun with something like that. I’m looking forward to whatever they may have tomorrow." PUIG’S ALBATROSS: Fireballs GC’s David Puig produced the third albatross in LIV Golf history when he holed out with his second shot from 209 yards at the par-5 10th. That was the highlight of a 4-under 68 that left the Spaniard at 1 under for the tournament. "Wanted to hit a draw 6-iron," Puig said. "Obviously I hit it perfect. I saw it pitch and kind of disappear, and obviously the reaction of the crowd kind of made it more real. It was definitely the best moment of the week. One of the best moments of my life on a golf course, for sure." The previous two albatrosses: Brendan Steele, 2024 Greenbrier, Rd. 2/Hole 17 Richard Bland, 2025 Mexico City, Rd. 2/Hole 16 FOUR-BIRDIE START: Each of the four RangeGoats players – Bubba Watson, Peter Uihlein, Matthew Wolff and Ben Campbell – birdied their opening hole Friday. That’s just the second time that all four members of the same team have each opened with birdies. The Fireballs did it in the inaugural season in 2022 en route to winning in Bangkok. STATS LEADERS Round 2 Driving Distance: Marc Leishman, 325.3-yard avg. Longest Drive: Marc Leishman, 360.1 yards (10th hole) Driving Accuracy: Laurie Canter, 92.86% (13 of 14) Greens in Regulation: Talor Gooch, Charles Howell III, Matthew Wolff, 88.89% (16 of 18) Scrambling: 9 players at 100%, led by Byeong Hun An (5 of 5) Fewest Putts: Ben Campbell, Yosuke Asaji, Charl Schwartzel, 24 Bogey-free rounds: Jon Rahm (63), Ben Campbell (63), Talor Gooch (63), Branden Grace (64), Anthony Kim (67), Sebastián Muñoz (67), Byeong Hun An (68), Charles Howell III (69) Cumulative Driving Distance: Marc Leishman, 311.5-yard avg. Driving Accuracy: Laurie Canter, 82.14% (23 of 28) Greens in Regulation: Anthony Kim, Charles Howell III, 83.33% (30 of 36) Scrambling: Jon Rahm, 87.50% (7 of 8) Fewest Putts: Ben Campbell, 49 Fewest Bogeys: Jon Rahm, Anthony Kim, 1 This piece is courtesy of Mike McAllister in partnership with LIV Golf.