Jon Rahm, 29, will start the last day of the LIV Golf in Chicago this Sunday in an excellent position to finish as the number 1 of the season and pocket the bonus of 18 million dollars, 16.32 million euros at the current exchange rate.
Jon Rahm, results
With six birdies without a miss, the Basque player has signed an extraordinary second round of 64 strokes and is the leader with 133 total (-7), three ahead of Joaquín Niemann (68), his only rival in the fight for the throne, who shares the 4th place before the decisive day.
If the Chilean finishes in the top-15, Rahm needs to equal or improve that result. The Chilean also has a chance of the title if he is 16th or 17th, but then Jon should no longer score points and, therefore, finish 25th, an unimaginable scenario after his great performance on Saturday.
Sergio García has rounded off the Spanish festival in Chicago by delivering another sensational 65-stroke card (five birdies without bogeys) and coming in second, one stroke behind Rahm. Third is the American Brooks Koepka, who has gone from his prodigious 62 on Friday to a mediocre 73 on his second round.
The winner in Chicago, as in all the tournaments of the Saudi Super League, will take home an individual prize of four million dollars (3.62 million euros). If Rahm wins the championship, he would earn $22 million on Sunday because he would secure the $18 million bonus reserved for the No. 1 pick in 2024. In addition, the champion team will share another $3 million among its four players.
LIV Golf is a professional men’s golf circuit created in 2021, the first edition of which was held in 2022.
The creation of this international circuit aims to restore the image of Saudi Arabia led by Mohammed bin Salman through sport called “sportswashing” and “soft power”. Funded by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) whose director is Yasir Al-Rumayyan with the former Australian golfer Greg Norman as general director of the circuit, this closed circuit which selects its players based on annual contracts presents itself as a dissident league to the PGA Tour and other circuits by poaching many players present in the world’s top 100.
The season is played over fourteen events played over three days and not four days in a 54-hole format without a cut, with a team ranking. Among the players who have joined this closed league are many Grand Slam tournament winners such as Dustin Johnson, Charl Schwartzel, Henrik Stenson, Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Martin Kaymer, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio García, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Louis Oosthuizen and Jon Rahm. This brings a confrontation between the PGA Tour loyalists such as Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy and the dissident players.