What has seemed like a formality for much of the season became official on Sunday.
Three years with LIV Golf, three straight individual championships for Jon Rahm.
The Spaniard didn't have a stellar week on the course at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, but that didn't stop him from clinching the 2026 season-long title Sunday with one event to spare.
Rahm entered the week with a whopping 938.44 points, more than 200 clear of second-place Bryson DeChambeau. And while Rahm posted his worst finish
of the season at LIV Golf New York, a T41 at 8 over par, DeChambeau failed to take advantage of the opportunity, tying for 38th at 7 over.
Now there's no chance for DeChambeau or any other player to catch Rahm in the final regular-season event, LIV Golf Indianapolis.
"It's weird because in golf, it's something that it's odd to have still one more tournament before things are done," Rahm said. "Most season-long races, you have to wait until the last event because the last event counts so much. But it feels different this year."
Rahm pointed out that in 2025, he claimed the season-long title without winning a single event. That was hardly the case this season; in his first six outings, Rahm won LIV Golf Hong Kong and LIV Golf Mexico City, placed second at three more events and finished fifth at the other, building an insurmountable lead.
"Last year, in my mind at least, even though it was a point system, it was a question mark with having not won, and it didn't feel the same. So this year to play as good as I did early on and have such a big lead that I can even enjoy not playing good this week and next week, it feels really good."
Rahm, 31, has been one of the dominant figures in LIV Golf since joining the league ahead of the 2024 season. The other top players in that time have been DeChambeau and Chile's Joaquin Niemann, who picked up his league-record ninth individual title on Sunday in Bedminster, all coming in the past three years.
"I've gone head-to-head with both of them quite a few times," Rahm said. "They've won some, I've won some. It's been quite interesting. It's been a lot of fun. The only thing we've missed is one week where all three of us were firing on all cylinders and we could have enjoyed that. That could have been quite a thing."
Rahm said he'll try to enjoy the title (and the pursuant $18 million prize) once he forgets about his tough week on the course.
"Probably tonight once I get back home with the family," he said. "I've got a pretty long car ride to get back to where we're staying. I'll have time then for sure. Once I get over how bad I played this week, it'll be all right."
--Field Level Media
