Vilips Fires 62 to Lead Mexico Open After Birdie Blitz

Karl Vilips leads the VidantaWorld Mexico Open after an opening-round nine-under 62 at Vidanta Vallarta on Thursday, closing with four straight birdies on his final four holes to pull clear of the field. The Australian also reeled off five consecutive birdies on his first nine, at the 11th through 15th, before finishing in style on the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th to sit at nine under par. Kensei Hirata is one shot back in second at eight under, while a group at seven under includes Garrick Higgo, Marco Penge, Adrien Dumont de Chassart, Jeffrey Kang and Ben Griffin. The field is playing for a $6 million purse, with $1.08 million going to the winner, in the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Fall event south of the border. The field is one man lighter after Billy Horschel withdrew six holes into his round, but the rest of the 120-man field will forge ahead when the second round begins on Friday, with Vilips grouped alongside Joe Highsmith and Kevin Yu.