Jon Rahm entered this week’s regular-season finale with a slim points margin over Joaquin Niemann in their duel for the 2024 LIV Golf Individual Championship.
The Legion XIII captain increased that advantage Saturday at LIV Golf Chicago with a brilliant bogey-free 6-under 64 that now has him in position to claim two trophies after Sunday’s final round at Bolingbrook Golf Club.
Rahm is at 7 under and owns a one-shot lead over Fireballs GC Captain Sergio Garcia on the leaderboard and a three-shot lead over Niemann, the Torque GC captain. Since Niemann has to finish ahead of Rahm, it’s essentially a four-shot advantage.
Rahm can still become Individual Champion even if he doesn’t win the tournament. But he’d like to leave no doubt.
“I try to keep reminding myself to stay within the tournament, because if I do well in the tournament, everything else takes care of itself,” said Rahm, who earned his first LIV Golf win in July in the UK. “So yeah, the goal is still to win tomorrow, and if I win, I’ll leave here with two wins.”
Several other season-long races will end Sunday, including final player status in the Lock, Open and Drop Zones, while team seedings and first-round byes for next week’s Dallas Team Championship will be finalized.
Bryson DeChambeau’s Crushers GC, winners last year in Chicago, have already clinched one of the three available seeds along with Rahm’s Legion XIII. The Crushers enter the final round tied for the tournament lead with Cleeks GC at 10 under and would clinch the No. 1 overall seed with a victory. The Cleeks are out of the running for a bye but can move up in the standings with a second team win.
As for Rahm, his performance on Saturday – played in front of 15,000-plus fans, the largest single-day attendance number for any LIV Golf tournament held in the U.S. – might turn out to be the decisive round in his battle with Niemann.
Niemann’s one-shot advantage entering the day was erased in their first eight holes. Playing in the same group for the second consecutive day, Rahm was 3 under while Niemann was 2 over.
At one point late in the round, Rahm was five strokes ahead of Niemann. But Niemann fought back down the stretch with birdies in three of the final four holes to shoot a 2-under 68 and stay within striking distance.
“It’s a championship within a championship,” Rahm said. “It’s a weird combination, but yeah, you’re definitely aware of it every step of the way, especially having played with him the first two rounds.
“I think we’ve both had a lot of fun. Probably I had a little bit more fun today than he did, but he’s a fantastic player, and tomorrow should be a really fun day.”
Several other players could join in the fun. Garcia, the winner earlier this year in front of his Spanish home crowd at Andalucía, shot a 65 and is projected to overtake Rahm’s teammate Tyrrell Hatton and earn the final bonus-paying third place position on the Individual Championship podium.
“It’s something that obviously you’re trying to achieve,” said Garcia, who started the week fourth in points, “and it’s nice for me to see myself up there throughout the whole year.”
Hatton was on the verge of falling out of contention, opening with a 3-over 73 and then playing the first 11 holes on Saturday at even par. But then he found his game, playing the last seven holes in 5 under – a stretch that included a hole-in-one at the island green sixth hole. It’s the eighth ace in LIV Golf history.
“The first probably 27 to 29 holes of this tournament haven’t been particularly enjoyable,” said Hatton, who is tied for 12th at 2 under, four shots behind Garcia. “Nice to finish with some momentum and we’ll try our best to go out there tomorrow and have a good day.”
First-round leader Brooks Koepka followed his opening bogey-free 8-under 62 with a 73 that included five bogeys in his first 12 holes. But he made two late birdies and finished at 5 under and solo third.
Niemann is tied for fourth at 4 under with the Cleeks’ Adrian Meronk and Majesticks GC Co-Captain Ian Poulter, who is in position to make a run for his team’s first trophy of any kind since Henrik Stenson’s win in his LIV Golf debut in 2022 at Bedminster.
“The old man has still got some life left,” said the 48-year-old Poulter. “Let’s see what we can do.”
For now, the tournament – and the season-long championship – is in Rahm’s control. But as Saturday showed, the leaderboard can change quickly at Bolingbrook. At one point, five players shared the lead.
“If we go down 18 and I can’t win the tournament for whatever reason, but I’m still in a fight with Joaco, great,” Rahm said. “But what’s going to be the best way for me to enjoy the last few holes is if I have a really good Sunday and take a comfortable lead hopefully going into the last few holes so I can smile on that stretch through it. But it’s going to be a really fun day, no matter what.”
Graeme McDowell’s hopes of climbing into the top 24 and guaranteeing his status for 2024 look to be over after his second successive round of +2 saw him slip back into a tie for 38th.
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