Spain’s Jon Rahm did not win a single LIV Golf event in 2025. Chile’s Joaquín Niemann won a record five times in 13 events. Guess which one was crowned the 2025 individual champion on Sunday in Westfield, Indiana?
Rahm shot a final-round 11-under 60 – his lowest round of the season – at the Club at Chatham Hills in the LIV Golf Indianapolis individual finale, but that only got him into a playoff with Mexico’s Sebastian Muñoz, who opened the 54-hole event with a 59 on Friday. Muñoz made a birdie on the first playoff hole to win for the first time on LIV and leave Rahm – whose approach in the playoff hit the pin and bounced away – with his fourth runner-up finish of the season and second playoff loss in as many weeks.
Runner-up, however, was good enough for Rahm to erase his 10-point deficit to Niemann in the season-long standings and claim his second consecutive individual crown in his two seasons with the Saudi Arabian-funded breakaway league. Niemann finished T4 and still saw his dominant season come up short on points as he finished second to Rahm for the second straight season.
“Still slightly bittersweet,” said Rahm. “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. Have a great Sunday today and then hit the pin and 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.
“You need a lot of coincidences to go on exactly with the year Joaquín had. He’s won five times; he’s played incredible golf. One could argue 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.”
It turned into a tortoise vs. hare situation as Rahm’s consistency proved enough without the trophies, as he earned points every week with only one result – a T11 in Dallas – outside the top 10. In the eight events Niemann did not win, he failed to collect points twice by finishing outside the top 25 and his T4 in Indy was his only other top-10 finish.
“Yeah, it’s kind of hard to swallow … but at the end of the day, I think it is what it is,” said Niemann, who shot 66 Sunday playing with Rahm. “I feel like it’s going to put something inside me to kind of work harder and try to be in this situation again next year and make it different.
“It’s a tricky – I mean, I don’t know what’s the right way to do it. I know it was obviously three points apart. I could have played better today, this week, or probably last week I could have played a little bit better. But Jon just proved how good he is and how good he is in these moments. Just like he did last week, he got in a playoff, and also this week. That just shows how good he is …
“It’s actually exciting for me to come back next year and try to beat him again. Well, for the first time.”
Niemann, however, will get the consolation of securing his exemption into the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills for being the top player who is not otherwise exempt and in the top three of the final 2025 LIV Golf individual standings. Rahm is already exempt thanks to his major wins at the 2021 U.S. Open and 2023 Masters.
At the other end of the spectrum, Anthony Kim’s two-year comeback ended with him being relegated, having failed to collect a single point in 23 starts over two seasons. His best finish in the 54-player tournaments was T25 earlier this year in Dallas.
Ian Poulter barely survived being relegated himself with birdies on four of his final five holes, narrowly escaping the “drop zone” at No. 48 in points. His late rally to post only his second finish of the season inside the top 30 pushed his teammate and Majesticks tri-captain Henrik Stenson into the relegation zone at No. 49.
Former U.S. Amateur champion Andy Ogletree and Mito Pereira, the third-round leader at the 2022 PGA Championship, were also left in the drop zone and will lose their 2026 LIV privileges unless they win the LIV Golf Promotions event in December.
“Hopefully I’ll have more opportunities in the future,” said Pereira, who collected a team victory in Indy as a Torque teammate of Muñoz and Niemann. “If not, I know I gave my best these past two years. But overall really happy for these guys, too, and really happy to get the win with this team.”
Scott Michaux