BOLINGBROOK, Ill. — The year is far from complete but Jon Rahm put an emphatic stamp on the part that came to define him in 2024 with his controversial move to the LIV Golf League.
Rahm won the final individual event of the season, shooting a final-round 66 at Bolingbrook Golf Club to claim the LIV Golf Chicago event and clinch the season-long individual title.
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For a guy who was somewhat maligned for not winning enough—coupled with some poor performances in the major championships—Rahm finished the LIV Golf regular season strong, winning two of the last three events and losing a playoff in the other.
“I wouldn't say bumpy road, but definitely winding,” Rahm said. “Made the decision to join LIV Golf, fully confident that I can make an impact, and you deal with the emotions of that decision, the impact of the media, good and bad, and then going out to the season trying to win, trying to get a team together, a message of the team across, and then get those winning moments and start the year off great.”
Rahm, who is the captain of a LIV Golf team called Legion XIII, finished three strokes ahead of Joaquin Niemann, who also finished second in the individual standings, with Sergio Garcia grabbing the third spot.
The individual title meant an $18 million bonus to Rahm, who signed a lucrative nine-figure deal with LIV Golf last December believed to be for more than $200 million.
The victory was worth $4 million from the $20 million purse and ran his season earnings to $16,754,821. With the bonus, the total haul is $34,754,821.
And to think there was a time when Rahm was being criticized for playing poorly.
Much of that was tied to a 45th-place finish in defense of his Masters title followed by a missed cut at the PGA Championship. When Rahm had to withdraw from the U.S. Open with a foot infection that forced him out of the previous week’s LIV event, it was looking like a lost year—even though he had yet to finish out of the top 10 in any of his LIV tournaments.
That form held for the entire season and Rahm began to find his game after his foot healed and a more favorable shaft for his driver came together. He got his first victory at the LIV Golf UK event the week following a tie for ninth at the British Open.
He led the Olympic golf tournament with eight holes to play before falling out of medal contention, then lost to Brooks Koepka in a playoff at LIV Golf’s Greenbrier event last month.
Now he’s got a second victory in 12 months and a season title.
But there is still more to come.
Rahm’s Legion XIII team will be in the running this week for the LIV Golf Dallas title this week at LIV’s Team Championship. His wife, Kelley, is expecting the couple’s third child. And then it’s off to his home country to play the Spanish Open on the DP World Tour.
A busy month is ahead as Rahm attempts to fulfill his DP World Tour obligations by playing in three more events to make him eligible for next year’s European Ryder Cup team.
“It's a different accomplishment because it's not just one week,” Rahm said of winning the overall title. “Can't really compare anything to majors in the sport that we live in, but being able to win the season-long race in two out of the three big leagues (he also won the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai in 2019) and having almost done it on the PGA Tour, as well, it's a different feeling.
“Just being able to culminate all the good golf all season, and especially doing it by winning individually today I think is what makes it so much more special, knowing that I had to win and getting it done is something to really be proud of and something to reflect on.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jon Rahm Finishes a Tumultuous First LIV Golf Season As Its Champion .