Jon Rahm suffered through poor golf again in the final round at Greenbrier LIV. After leaving with a two-stroke advantage, he could not avoid a play-off on the 18th hole against Brooks Koepka where luck was not on his side. His tee shot ended up in the sand, too close to the back slope, and he barely missed the seven-foot putt he had to make to extend the fight with the Florida player. But his ball kissed the bowl and did not go in, so the Barrikoztarran missed his second victory on the Saudi circuit by millimetres, happy that for the first time a direct battle was seen between the two former world number 1s, who was the first to launch the project.
This is not the first time that Rahm and Koepka, two fierce competitors, fought a duel until the last hole and this time the coin fell on the side of the American, who took his second victory this year and the fifth of three editions of LIV. “It’s usually fun for us and the audience. There are a lot of positive things that I can take from this week, but right now it hurts more than anything,” confessed Rahm, who regretted that blow on the 18th, like the one he gave in the regular round, “I feel. like good blows, but “Each one came to another place.”
Among the positive things about the penultimate test at LIV Golf is that the Biscayan golfer has a chance to win after two strokes away with three holes to play and that this result puts him as the leader of the individual classification before the closing of Chicago in three. week. Only he and Joaquín Niemann, who since his first victory in Mayakoba, was the leader until last Sunday, have a chance to win the jackpot. The distance between them is only three points, which means whoever finishes ahead is the winner. “I have to think about winning because he is definitely on top. I hope to have a good week and get the job done,” Rahm said.
Despite the anger that another new victory had eluded him, his persistence was rewarded. There were ten Top 10 finishes in the ten tournaments he played, with one win and six other top five finishes. The Chilean, for his part, has two victories, but in some tournaments he has not scored. In addition, Rahm’s Legion XII team also has a chance to win as it is second, half a point behind DeChambeau’s Crushers. So barrikoztarra can do the whole thing in his first appearance at LIV Golf. l