Memorable Day for Jon Rahm on LIV Golf League

As Rahm shot -13 in the individual rankings, his Legion XIII team also won the championship at -24, at LIV Golf UK on the par-71 course in Rochester, England.

With the LIV Golf UK result on July 28, Rahm won his first individual cup after leaving the PGA Tour to compete in the LIV Golf League through 11 tournaments over five months. In this victory, Rahm was coincidentally "supported" by his teammate Tyrrell Hatton. Because when entering the final hole, Rahm and Hatton were both -13. Rahm finished first after keeping par. Immediately after, Hatton finished -12 because he ended up with a bogey after missing the hole in his putt by about 1.5 meters.

Rahm's -13 instantly became the winning score. If Hatton kept par on the finishing hole, Rahm would have to play a playoff with his English teammate.

Rahm lifts the individual trophy after winning the LIV Golf UK on July 28. Photo: LIV Golf

"I thought I was going to play the extra hole with Tyrrell. It was a bad result and I owe him this time," Rahm said before taking home the individual trophy and $4 million. Hatton won $1.583 million for finishing T2 (-12) with Joaquin Niemann and Cameron Smith. Rahm then continued to lift the team trophy with Hatton, Kieran Vincent, Caleb Surrat and received another $3 million when Legion XIII finished first with a score of -24.

It was Legion XIII's fourth win in the 2024 LIV Golf League. This was their debut season, with Rahm serving as captain and starting in February. The formation of Legion XIII came about last November, after Rahm announced his decision to leave the PGA Tour to join the golf arena of the Saudi Public Investment Fund in a deal estimated to be worth at least $300 million.

The LIV Golf League events are all three rounds, competing individually and as a team, and Rahm and Legion XIII have now played 11 events, at the conclusion of LIV Golf UK. Throughout that journey, Rahm has finished in the top 10 individually.

But for the past seven months, he has struggled to establish himself outside the LIV Golf League as a former world number one, two-time major champion and former A-list star on the PGA Tour. Due to being banned from the US tour system, the LIV Golf League is not counted in the World Golf Ranking (OWGR), and Rahm has only been able to compete in a quartet of majors.

Rahm's Legion XIII team won the LIV Golf UK team championship. Photo: LIV Golf

Within that limit, Rahm fell from 3rd to 10th OWGR, finished T45 in the Masters, was eliminated from the PGA Championship, withdrew from the US Open due to a toe infection, then finished T7 in The Open. The OWGR chart shows that Rahm, born in 1994, accumulated 52 weeks as the number one during his time on the PGA Tour, from July 2020 to April 2023.

Rahm cried tears of joy after winning LIV Golf UK. But those tears were partly because it was his first LIV Golf League trophy after five months of competing, and mostly because he achieved his family goal.

Before the tournament, the former Spanish world number one said his family had been stressed recently as they prepared to welcome their third child because his wife Kelly had to stay in bed for a long time. At times like that, Kelly kept mentioning that her son Kepa wanted his father Rahm to bring home another trophy. That's why yesterday, Rahm shed tears when he received that item.

This week, Rahm will represent Spain in the 2024 Olympic golf medal match, from August 1 to 4 at the Albatross course at Le Golf National golf complex, outside Paris.