Jon Rahm stole the LIV Golf Individual Championship from Joaquin Niemann in the final round at Indianapolis.
Rahm was one stroke behind Niemann with 18 holes to play at Chatham Hills and needed to produce something special to win the season-long competition.
Well, the Spaniard produced an epic 11-under-par 60 to finish second at the event in Indianapolis and overtake Niemann in the overall standings.
One would expect Rahm to be overjoyed after beating his biggest LIV Golf rival to the Individual Championship, but that’s not how he feels.
Why Jon Rahm is still not ‘happy’ after winning LIV Golf Individual Championship
Despite winning the Individual Championship after an incredibly consistent season, Rahm is disappointed not to have won a single event.
His final round 60 in Indianapolis was only enough to make a playoff hole against Sebastian Munoz, which he lost to a birdie.
“Still slightly bittersweet. Like, I know I’m supposed to be happy. It’s a great moment. But it just doesn’t feel great to finish the year losing two playoffs,” Rahm explained.
“Have a great Sunday today, and then hit the pin and have an unfortunate moment on the playoff hole. That part doesn’t feel great, so I’m sure over time I’ll get over that, and I really appreciate what I’ve done this year.
“To be able to win the season without actually winning a tournament, I know eventually I’ll be proud of that. Right now, it’s slightly more something I’m going to suffer over a little bit more, and it may never be replicated.”
Rahm then reflected on the entire season, particularly beating Niemann to the LIV Golf Individual Championship without any victories.
“You need a lot of coincidences to go on exactly with the year Joaquin had,” he added. “He’s won five times; he’s played incredible golf. One could argue that he was probably the more deserving guy to win this.
“But we have the points system that we have, and somehow, I don’t know how, I managed to pull through and get it done.
“Extremely proud of that. I did what I needed to do today. I went out there, shot 60. Had one bad swing all day on 14, which cost me a bogey, but gave myself the best chance. On 18, after hitting that close, I definitely thought it was going to be a really good chance.”
Jon Rahm shares his approach to beating Joaquin Niemann to LIV Golf Individual Championship
Rahm could not have executed his final round at LIV Golf Indianapolis any better, producing his best performance of the season.
He shared his mental approach to winning the Individual Championship over Niemann, which ultimately worked out perfectly.
“I was trying not to worry too much about Joaquin,” Rahm continued. “I was trying to keep my mind on the individual title because I knew if I won it and he didn’t finish second, I was going to get it done, so I was trying to catch the leaders and just focus on that, and that was the task at hand.
“My thought was that around 20-under was going to be a good chance of catching towards the end of the day. We had a rather easier golf course today after all the rain. The greens were softer. The fairways were softer, and the ball was still going far enough in the heat, with no wind.
“Once I got going, made those three birdies early on, birdied 7, birdied 9, I knew I got close enough. Knowing I had two par-5s and relatively a lot of scorable par-4s on the back nine, I was thinking, well, at least I’m going to need to get to 20.
“Once I got to that point, one more, one more, one more, because I saw that Sebastian was not letting up. Well, that was the goal, and I was able to get it done. It was rarely, say, in a round of golf, I missed one shot all day, and that was my case.”
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