Jon Rahm loses playoff at LIV Golf Indianapolis to Sebastian Munoz but wins season title

Indianapolis Star

3 hours ago

WESTFIELD – Earlier this week, Jon Rahm hinted at a milk celebration if he crossed the finish line victorious during the LIV Golf Indianapolis tournament at The Club at Chatham Hills.
The Legion XIII captain almost got his wish.
The defending LIV Individual Champion shot his lowest round of the season at 11 under 60 on Sunday in Westfield and forced a playoff tiebreaker on the 18th hole with Torque GC's Sebastian Munoz before coming up short by one stroke.
However, Rahm left with a significant consolation prize by overtaking Torque GC captain Joaquin Niemann to repeat as LIV's individual points standings champion.
Rahm entered Sunday's round tied for ninth on the leaderboard. He needed a strong regular-season finale to best Niemann, who carried a slim 12.27 points advantage into the event in hopes of becoming the league's fourth different individual points winner.
Yet, Rahm's 10 birdies overall, an eagle on 13 and four straight birdies to cap regulation at 22 under moved him atop the leaderboard and into a playoff with Munoz, who completed the individual and team sweep with a birdie putt on 18.
'I was trying not to worry too much about Joaquin. I was trying to keep my mind on the individual title,' Rahm said. 'If he didn't finish second, I was going to get it done, and that was the task at hand.'
Rahmbo, as he's known on social media, had a locked in mindset after shooting 4 under on Friday and 7 under on Saturday.
'For anybody that understands competitive Call of Duty, we're going to call it scrap time,' Rahm said. 'It's really about not directly thinking about moments like this, but it's truly what I would say is my MO as a competitor. It's 54 holes, so just because you had a rough first 36 doesn't mean it's over. You can get it done.'
Last week in Chicago, Rahm, the 2023 Masters champion, lost a three-man tiebreaker playoff to Stinger GC's Dean Burmester, and he didn't win a single tournament this LIV Golf season.
But the Spanish golfer didn't place any worse than 11th either and had eight top five finishes to win the points battle between the two for a second year in a row.
'It's always been in my DNA to fight as hard as one can until the end of the tournament,' Rahm said. 'I think I've said it many times, 32nd is better than 33rd. I think with that mentality, I've been able to have a lot of really good Sundays and put myself in position and keep adding points. Slow and steady, I guess in this case won the race.'
Rahm accumulated 226.16 points, while Niemann tallied 223.68. The 2.48-point margin of victory this year was closer than last season's 235.17-219.20 individual standings difference, which also sealed the title for Rahm over Niemann.
Niemann tied for fourth overall on Sunday with Torque GC's Carlos Ortiz, Stinger GC's Branden Grace and Fireballs GC's David Puig at 17 under.
Torque GC won the tournament with a league record 64-under. Legion XIII was second at 54 under.
'I could have played better today, this week or probably last week. I could have played a little bit better, but John just proved himself, how good he is and how good he is in these moments,' Niemann said. 'Just like he did last week.'
Niemann won five tournaments this season, but his 17th placement in Chicago and Rahm's epic push on Sunday kept the race going until the end.
'It may never be replicated. You need a lot of coincidences to go along with the type of year Joaquin has with five wins. He's played incredible golf. One could argue he was probably the more deserving guy to win this,' Rahm said. 'But we have the point system that we have. I don't know how I managed to pull through and get it done. Extremely proud of that.'
Rahm achieved the feat by turning in a pair of 30s, including a back nine run that began with an eagle on 13 followed by a bogey on 14. Four birdies erased the mistake, and he nearly dropped another eagle on 15 as his approach shot rolled to the lip of the cup.
A fist pump after his second shot on 18 setup a birdie putt and echoed his dominance through regulation.
Munoz converted two birdie putts on 17 and 18 to tie Rahm at 22 under at the end of regulation by finishing the round 6 under 65.
In the playoff, Rahm struck the flag stick on 18 on his second shot, but he could only par after missing his birdie putt attempt.
Munoz sank a birdie putt on 18, again, after suffering a double-bogey on the same hole during Saturday's round. A pair of tee shots that sailed into the gallery lingered for Munoz momentarily.
'Honestly. I kind of beat myself up a little bit for that tee shot yesterday,' Munoz said. 'I was kind of mad at myself, but there was a lot of support around me.'
After carding a 12 under 59 on Friday, the league's third sub-60 round in history, and tying 4Aces GC's Dustin Johnson for the lead on Saturday, Munoz shot seven birdies to keep pace.
The win was Munoz's first this season in LIV Golf and first since winning the Sanderson Farms Championship on the PGA Tour in 2019.