By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Chilean Joaquin Niemann led throughout to win the LIV Golf New York event on Sunday, while Jon Rahm secured his third straight season title.
Niemann fired a two-under 69 to finish on 16 under after 72 holes at Trump National Bedminster in New Jersey.
That meant the Chilean won by three strokes from American Harold Varner III and the 27-year-old met US President Donald Trump after extending his record for LIV wins to nine.
“I feel like the more they push me, the better golfer I’m going to become from every experience that I have,” Niemann said. “To be able to hit the shots that I did and make the putts that I did coming down the stretch, I put credit on myself.”
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 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.
It capped a week in which LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil said it had signed a term sheet with a lead investor that will allow the league to move forward without Saudi Arabian funding. O’Neil did not identify the investor or the size of the investment.
The LIV season concludes with the team championship in Michigan from 27-30 August.