Six of the seven PGA Tour events this year had international winners, and the Mexico Open kept up with trend Thursday when Jeremy Paul of Germany, Kris Ventura of Norway and Harry Hall of England shared the lead at 7-under 64.

Hall played early and handled the gusts at Vidanta Vallarta, chipping in from 30 yards for eagle on the par-5 sixth hole and driving the green on the 297-yard seventh hole for another look at eagle. He putted for birdie and closed with two more pars.

Ventura and Paul, whose twin brother Yannik plays on the European tour, had the advantage of the wind slightly easing late in the afternoon. But it was a matter of making birdies on a day when 70 players in the 132-man field broke 70.

Ventura was the only player to reach 8 under, running off three straight birdies late in his round. But he missed the green on the par-3 ninth, his final hole, chipped to 10 feet and missed the par putt.

“Bummer with the last hole, but other than that, really solid,” Ventura said. “Could have made some more birdies, obviously, but just happy where my game is. I can’t expect to hit it like this every single day. Today was just one of those days where everything was spot on.”

Paul had a pair of eagles, on the reachable seventh hole and the other when he ripped a 3-wood from 309 yards to about 12 feet on the par-5 12th.

“Hit a really good 3 wood but I didn’t think I could quite get there, thought it was going to be just short of the green,” Paul said. “With the help with the wind, it must have made it all the way up there. That was a nice bonus.”

He had a chance to take the lead until he chose to play the fairway left of the par-5 18th hole for a better angle. But his 3-wood didn’t cut back to the right toward the green, and Paul wasn’t aware water behind the green was in play. He found the water and did well to hit a pitch from 50 yards to 6 feet to save par.

They were a shot ahead of five players.

LPGA Tour

Akie Iwai made the best of a sponsor’s invite to shoot a 10-under 62 and lead by three strokes after the first round of the LPGA’s Thailand tournament at Siam Country Club’s Pattaya Old Course.

The Japanese player started with four birdies before picking up three more by the turn. She birdied three of her last four holes, equaling the 18-hole record set by countrywoman Yuka Saso in 2022 and American Jessica Korda in 2018.

Three shots behind was world No. 27 Maja Stark of Sweden, who had an eagle on the fifth hole along with six birdies and one bogey for a 65.

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