That last one putt by Jon Rahm in Chicago opened the treasure chest. This Sunday in the United States, the Basque golfer obtained his second victory in LIV Golf, the Saudi League, after the one achieved last July in Rocester, and with that victory in the last individual stop of the season he also sealed in the first place in the final classification of the course, he put on the championship ring (NBA style) as the best in class in his debut campaign at LIV, and in the process he fattened his bank account by 22 million dollars: four for to lead Chicago and an 18 bonus for finishing at the top of the revolutionary Saudi League. Rahm won with 11 strokes under par, three ahead of Chilean Joaquín Niemann and Sergio García, who respectively occupy second and third place in the annual LIV classification.
At the age of 29, Rahm was crowned number one thanks to an amazing consistency that is unmatched by his rivals, the same continuous elite presence that he has shown on the American circuit, PGA Tour, on the left yet his strong signing for LIV on the 7th. in December. The Spaniard has been in the top 10 in 12 events in which he participated (in Houston he withdrew in the middle of the tournament due to a foot infection): two victories, one second place, three third places , one fourth, one fifth , two eighths and two tenths. Unattainable for Niemann, who started the season with two victories in three stops (Mayakoba and Jedah) and for Sergio García who, at 44 years old, had a great campaign. Thus Rahm replaced Americans Dustin Johnson and Talor Gooch, winners in 2022 and 2023, on the throne.
The victory slightly eased the pain of what happened on August 4 at Le Golf National course in Paris. Rahm is close to Olympic gold with a four-stroke lead with eight holes remaining, undisputed leader and owner of a reliable game throughout the competition. He got the glory after not participating in the Tokyo event due to covid and all the controversies of his signing with LIV. And suddenly, the collapse, sinking, a bogey behind the other to leave that income and not only let go of the gold shining in front of him, but any medal, fifth in a classification with Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood and Hideki Matsuyama on the podium. “I have it in my hands and I will leave empty-handed. “I will spend more than other times to overcome what happened,” said a devastated player, who was about to break down, anonymously because there is no trace of the competitor who knows how to rise in bad times.
The scars have healed, although not closed, Rahm was crowned the best in the Saudi League and this week he will also look for a collective laurel with his team, Legion XIII (with Tyrrell Hatton, Kieran Vincent and Caleb Surratt) in the final tournament in Dallas to put the finishing touches on the LIV season. Before that, he was waiting for the birth of his third child, his first daughter. The Basque will return to be a big attraction in the Acciona Open in Spain (from September 26 to 29), the championship he has already won in 2018, 2019 and 2022, and has also entered the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (3 – October 6) and the Estrella Damm Andalucía Masters (October 17-20). These are the three tournaments in which he must participate to complete, together with his competition in previous Games, the quota of four competitions in 2024 that must be in the 2025 Ryder Cup in New York.
Rahm will appear at the Spanish Open through the court, because he filed an appeal not to pay the financial fine imposed on him by the European circuit for participating in the Saudi League. The Basque appealed before a judge in London and the punishments were temporarily frozen pending a resolution that could take several months and while negotiations continue between the two major circuits and LIV to merge the forces and renounce war. “I have no intention of paying,” Rahm commented before this tournament in Chicago; “I’m not playing the Spanish Open for glory or anything like that. I do it because I believe it is my duty and I also want to play in Sotogrande (Andalucía Masters). Not playing in those tournaments will not only hurt me, but Spanish golf as well,” he added. He arrives in Madrid as number one in LIV Golf.
Classification of the LIV Golf tournament in Chicago.