Whether you think Jon Rahm should have a genuine chance to win the individual title this year or not, it is hard to deny that LIV Golf deserve real credit for ensuring, once again, that the race with Joaquin Niemann is going down to the final event.
Joaquin Niemann is less than 13 points clear of Jon Rahm heading into LIV Golf Indianapolis. A win for the Spaniard will be enough for him to snatch the individual title if Niemann fails to finish second.
Some think Rahm should not have a chance to win. Niemann has five victories on LIV Golf this season, while the Legion XIII captain is yet to open his account. His consistency, however, has been so impressive.
Niemann has been the standout player on LIV Golf since the start of the 2024 season, with seven victories overall. That is quite the achievement when you consider how seismic Rahm’s move in late 2023 appeared to be.
With that, it is no surprise that Niemann was asked about Rahm ahead of the final event of the regular season.
LIV Golf will not be happy with what Jon Rahm said about Joaquin Niemann
That was followed by Rahm admitting finding it weird that he still has a chance to beat Niemann to the individual title given that the Torque captain has five wins to his name.
But there is one comment Rahm made which LIV Golf should surely not be too pleased with as they look to create more and more interest in their league.
“I would like him to continue doing what he’s doing and hopefully I can elevate my game to be able to compete with him more often and maybe steal a few of those wins that keep that going,” he said.
“Not that I would ever think it’s a rivalry or anything like that, but he’s certainly put himself there. Seven wins in two years is spectacular. It’s somebody that’s a lot of fun to play with. I think both of us being Spanish speakers, it’s just a little level of comfort that we have, and just admire his game as well. It’s just fun to watch him play golf.”
Jon Rahm’s comments have done LIV Golf no favours at all
From the outside, it appears that LIV is struggling to connect with some people because there seems to be a real reluctance from anyone in the league to criticise anything to do with LIV. Concentrating on the tournaments can be difficult when you are continually being told how fantastic LIV is as a product.
There is a camaraderie among all of the players. It is understandable in some respects. Many of those players clearly feel that LIV is harshly judged. And thus, they feel particularly defensive of everything to do with the league.
However, Rahm and Niemann have been the league’s two best players for more than 18 months now. It is truly bizarre for Rahm to say that there is no rivalry between the pair. And it does LIV no favours at all.
Obviously, fans will not want to see manufactured drama. But it is music to the ears of those who feel that those on LIV simply do not care as much when Rahm completely dismisses the idea that there is any rivalry.
LIV should want Rahm to be devastated if he fails to win the title on Sunday.
The tussle between Rahm and Niemann is the kind of storyline LIV can build their league around next year, particularly if the latter wins the title this year and ties things up.
But their chances of doing that are not helped by Rahm insisting that he has no rivalry with Niemann and wants to see him continue to win.
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