Watch: Carlos Ortiz stuns LIV Golf Mexico City crowd with ridiculous shot - ‘Off the tree!’

On the 12th hole at the Club de Golf Chapultepec, the Mexican’s ball had landed just short of the green, but right in front of a tree.

It meant Ortiz was unable to produce any kind of swing towards the pin.

Instead of nudging the ball away from the tree, the 34-year-old delivered a moment of impressive improvisation, striking the ball into the tree so that it rebounded back and onto the green. 

The TNT Sports commentary team could not believe what they were seeing: ”Oh, you’re kidding! Off the tree! The good old ricochet. Look at all the spin it had on it.

”Well, historically, a lot of people have done that on the 17th hole at St Andrews - off the wall.”

The moment of ingenuity from Ortiz allowed him to make par on the 12th, but he finished his round with a double-bogey on the 18th, leaving him level par overnight and sat joint-29th on the leaderboard. 

Victor Perez held a comfortable overnight lead in Mexico City following his nine-under-par 62, having produced 11 birdies during Thursday's round.

It comes after his best performance of the season at LIV Golf South Africa, where he finished 12th.

After finishing a LIV Golf round inside the top 10 for the first time, Perez said: ”Definitely a different atmosphere, different vibe.

”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.

”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.”

The Frenchman suffered successive bogeys on the 17th and 18th holes, but his round came to a close on the fifth, and he enjoyed a strong finish, with four birdies in a row.

”Very happy to finish with four birdies,” he said. "Nice to not have to deal with long putts at the end.”

Perez finished Thursday's round with a three-shot lead over Jon Rahm, who is targeting his second title of the season following his triumph in Hong Kong last month.

Having finished 38th at the Masters last week, the Spaniard said: ”Sometimes after having a bad week and kind of understanding what I did wrong, I’d almost rather get back at it again as fast as possible and prove myself wrong or right, however you want to look at it.

”I was happy that we were playing this week, for sure.”

Rahm has been the most consistent performer on the tour this season and is the overall points leader, thanks to victory in Hong Kong last month and three second-place finishes.

Asked about the challenge of holding off Rahm this week, Perez added: ”He’s obviously one of the marquee players in the league. Ultimately, I think you’re going to have to beat those guys.”

Watch and stream the 2026 LIV Golf season live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.