With the Olympics on deck, Jon Rahm secured his first individual trophy as a member of the LIV Golf League on Sunday, after his Legion XIII teammate, Tyrrell Hatton, three-putted the 18th hole at JCB Golf & Country Club in the UK.
“It’s just emotional,” a teary Rahm said afterward. “It hasn’t been the easiest year for our family. (My wife) Kelley and I have gone through quite a bit, and she has gone through even more, being on bedrest among many other things. She did tell me, our son Kepa said to bring a trophy home in this stretch of golf, and I started to believe it was going to happen at one point today. Maybe not in the last 20 minutes. But at least I can look at them and say I’m bringing one home for them.”
Rahm, who shot 8-under on Friday, started the day three strokes behind leader Andy Ogletree. As the American faded, Rahm fired off a run of four straight birdies to open his back nine. The two-time major winner finished with a 4-under 67 for the round. (His lone bogey came on No. 17.)
Hatton had a golden opportunity to extend LIV United Kingdom into a playoff. He nestled his 65-foot birdie try within six feet of the cup, setting up an equalizing par. Instead, the tempestuousness Englishman missed low.
Hatton, Joaquin Niemann and Cameron Smith finished at 12-under at 54 holes.
“I’m really happy for the guys to have a solid weekend and for us to win our fourth event as a team, but it doesn’t change how I feel towards my own individual performance,” Hatton said. “It sucks to bogey the last in front of your home crowd to effectively miss out on a playoff. That’s unfortunately the reality of my situation at the moment.”
Amazingly, it was Rahm's first individual victory since the 2023 Masters. Legion XIII now has four wins.
“Obviously you always want to win,” said the 29-year-old. “Selfishly you always want to get that done. But you don’t want to see a teammate and a good friend missing a putt for that to happen for me.
“It’s a bit of an unusual situation that I don’t think any of us are used to. Team wins, I win individually, but still, having so much respect for Tyrrell, somebody who’s a good friend and somebody I’ve experienced a lot with — I can’t really celebrate because I still feel for him for finishing like that.”
Rahm moved into second place in the individual standings, trailing Niemann — the only two-time winner this season. Hatton, who triumphed in Nashville in June, sits in third place.
Rahm's 2024 has been bereft of feel-good moments in majors, though his performance on LIV has been steady, if unremarkable.
As the defending champion, he struggled to a T45 at Augusta National. Around the same time, he didn't hide his PGA Tour FOMO. The former World No. 1 then missed the cut at the PGA Championship and withdrew from the U.S. Open on the eve of the tournament. He seemed to find his form at the Open Championship, tying for seventh at Royal Troon.
“Personally I will say a bit relieved, having top-tenned pretty much every time I’ve teed it up and given myself plenty of chances to win, and finally getting it done feels very good,” he said Sunday in the UK. “Feels like I got a lot of weight off my shoulders on that one.”
Now, he really has results to build off off as he heads to Paris. Rahm and fellow LIV player David Puig — a rising star in international golf — will represent Spain at Le Golf National (Aug. 1-3).
“I think that walk down 18 or down the back nine would have been a little bit harder had I not gotten a win, but getting over the hump and getting it done I think is going to give me a little extra confidence if I put myself in a good position on Sunday,” Rahm said about the Olympics. “I’m really looking forward to the week. It’s going to be fantastic, and hopefully one of us can leave with the gold.”
LIV Golf's third full season will culminate in Greenbrier, North Carolina (Aug. 16-18) and Chicago (Sept. 13-15) before the team championships in Dallas (Sept. 20-22).
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