That last one putt Jon Rahm’s Chicago opening of the treasure chest. The Basque golfer secured his second victory in LIV Golf, the Saudi League, this Sunday in the United States after the one achieved in July in Rocester, and with this triumph in the last individual stop of the season he also sealed the first place in the final classification of the year, he put on the championship ring (NBA style) as the best of the class in his debut campaign in LIV, and in the process he fattened his bank account with 22 million dollars: four for the leadership in Chicago and a bonus of 18 for finishing at the top of the revolutionary Saudi League. Rahm won with 11 strokes under par, three ahead of the Chilean Joaquín Niemann and Sergio García, precisely those who occupied the second and third places in the annual LIV classification.
Rahm was crowned number one at the age of 29 thanks to an astonishing consistency that is unmatched by his rivals, the same continuous presence in the elite that he displayed on the American circuit, the PGA Tour, before his thunderous signing for LIV on December 7. The Spaniard has finished among the top 10 in the 12 events in which he has participated (in Houston he withdrew halfway through the tournament due to a foot infection): two victories, one second place, three thirds, 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 has had a great campaign. Rahm thus succeeds the Americans Dustin Johnson and Talor Gooch, winners in 2022 and 2023, on the throne.
The victory slightly eases the pain of what happened on August 4 at Le Golf National in Paris. Rahm was close to Olympic gold with a four-stroke lead with eight holes to play, the undisputed leader and the owner of a very reliable game throughout the competition. Glory was his after missing the Tokyo event due to Covid and all the controversy over his signing for LIV. And suddenly, the collapse, the collapse, a bogey He had to go one step behind another to give up that advantage and not only let the gold that was shining in front of him slip away, but any medal, fifth in a classification with Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood and Hideki Matsuyama on the podium. “I had it in my hands and I am leaving empty-handed. It will cost me more than in other times to overcome what has happened,” said a devastated player, on the verge of breaking down, unrecognizable because there was no trace of the competitor who knows how to get up in bad times.
With his scars healed, but not yet closed, Rahm has been crowned the best in the Saudi League and this week he will also seek the collective laurel with his team, Legion XIII (with Tyrrell Hatton, Kieran Vincent and Caleb Surratt) in the final tournament in Dallas that will put the finishing touch to the LIV season. Before that, he awaits the birth of his third child, the first girl. The Basque will then be the main attraction again at the Acciona Open de España (from September 26 to 29), the championship he has already won in 2018, 2019 and 2022, and has also signed up for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship (October 3-6) and the Estrella Damm Andalucía Masters (October 17-20). These are the three tournaments he needs to participate in to complete, along with his participation in the last Games, the quota of four competitions in 2024 required to be in the 2025 Ryder Cup in New York.
Rahm will appear at the Spanish Open via the courts, as he has filed an appeal to avoid paying the fines imposed by the European circuit for joining the Saudi League. The Basque has appealed to a London judge and the punished players are provisionally frozen pending a resolution that could take several months and while negotiations continue between the two major circuits and LIV to join forces and put the war aside. “I have no intention of paying,” said Rahm before this Chicago tournament; “I am not going to play the Spanish Open for glory or anything like that. I am doing it because I believe it is my duty and I also want to play in Sotogrande (Andalucía Masters). Not playing those tournaments would not only harm me, but also Spanish golf,” he added. He will arrive in Madrid as the number one in LIV Golf.
