{"id":818170,"date":"2026-07-23T06:19:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T06:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/818170\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T06:19:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T06:19:20","slug":"rahm-enters-liv-golf-uk-on-cusp-of-a-three-peat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/818170\/","title":{"rendered":"Rahm enters LIV Golf UK on cusp of a three-peat"},"content":{"rendered":"

ROCESTER, England \u2013\u00a0Whether it happens this week in the UK or next month in the U.S., Jon Rahm<\/a> likely will win his third consecutive LIV Golf season-long Individual Championship. Nothing is guaranteed as of now, but it seems inevitable \u2013 as inevitable as a top-10 finish whenever Rahm tees it up at a LIV Golf tournament.<\/p>\n

Rahm could clinch the three-peat if he wins LIV Golf United Kingdom presented by JCB, provided his closest pursuer, Bryson DeChambeau, doesn\u2019t finish solo second or in a two-way tie for second. If DeChambeau finishes in a three-way tie for second or worse, then Rahm would have enough points going into the final two regular-season tournaments in New York and Indianapolis to clinch the title, no matter what anybody else does.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Where to watch<\/a> | First Look<\/a> | Power Rankings<\/a><\/p>\n

Should it happen on Sunday, it would be the earliest any season-long LIV Golf champion has clinched the title. The only other time the Individual Championship race hasn\u2019t been decided in the regular-season finale was during the league\u2019s inaugural 2022 season when Dustin Johnson had the title clinched with one tournament left.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo wrap it up this early, I still need to win, and I still need to expect a bad week from Bryson \u2013\u00a0which based on how he\u2019s been playing last week (a T14 at The Open Championship) most likely won\u2019t happen,\u201d said Rahm, the Legion XIII captain. \u201cI would expect a fight from him and other players, and I still need to perform at my best to finish it off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rahm\u2019s previous two title runs have gone down to the wire, as he needed a strong result in the regular-season finale each time to outduel Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann.<\/p>\n

\"\"\"Jon<\/p>\n

Jon Rahm celebrates after winning the 2024 Individual Championship trophy at LIV Golf Chicago. (Photo by Matthew Harris, LIV Golf)<\/p>\n

In his first LIV Golf season in 2024, Rahm had the points lead going into Chicago, but his advantage over Niemann was a miniscule 2.97 points, leaving them virtually neck-to-neck. Rahm ended winning the tournament while Niemann tied for second, an epic conclusion to their season-long battle.<\/p>\n

Last year it was Niemann who held a slim lead (less than 10 points) going into the decisive event in Indianapolis. Niemann had won five times in 2025, but his boom-or-bust results allowed the more consistent Rahm to stay close. Rahm finished solo second to eventual tournament winner Sebasti\u00e1n Mu\u00f1oz while Niemann tied for fourth. Rahm won the title by just 2.48 points, the closest race in the league\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Niemann is currently third in points and still has a mathematical shot to catch Rahm by sweeping the final three regular-season tournaments and hoping for an unprecedented Rahm stumble. It\u2019s a small thread of hope but at least it\u2019s something.<\/p>\n

Asked on Wednesday if being able to push Rahm the previous two years has been a positive or simply produced frustration, Niemann replied, \u201cDepends on the way you look at it. I love competition. I\u2019ve been enjoying competing against him. I still do.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s pretty far away right now, but there\u2019s still a chance. I definitely think I can play my best game in the last three events and be able to do something. I always like to feel optimistic about it, and I definitely have a chance. \u2026 Jon obviously is an unbelievable player. Everybody knows that.\u201d<\/p>\n

A year ago at JCB Golf & Country Club, Niemann won his fifth tournament in 2025. At that point, he held a healthy lead of more than 37 points. Did Niemann think then the race was over?<\/p>\n

\u201cYes and no,\u201d said the league\u2019s youngest captain (age 27). \u201cI felt like I had the advantage, but it wasn\u2019t over yet. I still knew what Jon could\u2019ve done, and he played unbelievable golf the last few events to deserve the win. \u2026 I did my best. Not close enough but we learned from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike last season when Rahm was shut out of the winner\u2019s circle, he\u2019s picked up two wins this season (Hong Kong and Mexico City) to Niemann\u2019s one (Korea). DeChambeau also has two wins (Singapore and South Africa), but no LIV Golf player can deliver a result on a weekly basis like Rahm. He has top 10s in eight of the first nine tournaments this season, with four second-place finishes to go with those two wins.<\/p>\n

That consistency is why Rahm has been the league\u2019s best performer since his arrival in 2024. In his 35 regular season starts, he has 32 top-10s, two top-20s and a WD when he suffered a foot injury in Houston in 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means a lot more than the simple fact that you\u2019re winning,\u201d Rahm said of his season-long titles. \u201cIt means that you\u2019re playing good golf consistently, and it means that the process has been working. I\u2019ve always taken a lot of pride in being consistent and having a lot of top 10s, and I think that reflects on those [season-long] wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Riding shotgun every step of the way has been teammate Tyrrell Hatton, who\u2019s also enjoyed his share of success on LIV Golf with two individual titles, most recently in the league\u2019s last event in Andalucia.<\/p>\n

Asked what it\u2019s been like to watch Rahm\u2019s consistency, Hatton said, \u201cOver the last two years, no doubt me and Jon have gotten a lot closer. Just seeing how hard he works on a day-to-day basis, the level that he operates at week in, week out is unbelievable.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s fully deserved to win what he\u2019s done the last few years. Pretty sure he\u2019s going to go and win it again this year. He\u2019s a tough person to beat over a week, let alone a year.\u201d<\/p>\n

UK SCENARIOS<\/p>\n

A few Individual Championship scenarios entering this week\u2019s tournament at JCB Golf & Country Club:<\/p>\n

If Rahm wins the tournament and DeChambeau finishes solo 2nd, Rahm cannot clinchIf Rahm wins and DeChambeau ties for 2nd with one other player, Rahm cannot clinchIf Rahm wins and DeChambeau ties for 2nd with two other players, Rahm will clinchIf Rahm wins and DeChambeau finishes solo 3rd or worse, Rahm will clinchIf DeChambeau wins and Rahm finishes solo 2nd, Rahm cannot clinch and his lead will be reduced to 197.18 points entering LIV Golf BedminsterIf Rahm finishes solo 2nd and DeChambeau finishes 57th (last), Rahm cannot clinch but his lead will increase to 396.18 points entering the final two regular-season tournamentsIf Niemann wins and Rahm finishes solo 13th or better, Niemann will be eliminated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ROCESTER, England \u2013\u00a0Whether it happens this week in the UK or next month in the U.S., Jon Rahm…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":818171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[566],"tags":[64,63,755,85],"class_list":["post-818170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}