The battle for the individual title on LIV Golf will once again go down to the wire, with Joaquin Niemann looking to prevent history repeating itself up against Jon Rahm.
Joaquin Niemann will wonder what exactly he will need to do should he fail to win the individual title on LIV Golf this season. The Chilean has managed to win five times in the first 12 events of the year.
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Nevertheless, the door is still open for Jon Rahm to snatch the title from Niemann’s grasp. The Spaniard is less than 13 points behind the league leader, having not finished any lower than 11th throughout the season.
Rahm will win the title if he finishes first at LIV Golf Indianapolis and Niemann fails to finish second. Some have hit out at the fact that Rahm can still win the title despite failing to win a single event this year.
But it seems that Niemann is one person who is very grateful to have Rahm plying his trade on LIV.
Joaquin Niemann talks about being paired with Jon Rahm in LIV Golf events
It was a huge signing for LIV to land the two-time major champion. And Niemann suggested ahead of the final event of the regular season that playing in the same group as Rahm has been extremely beneficial for his development.
“Yeah, it’s been a lot of growing in my game. I feel like playing against Jon – I’ve been playing with him for probably 60, 70 percent of my pairings this year, so yeah, he’s a great competitor. He’s always there. He never gives a shot away. It’s fun to play with someone like that that pushes you to be better and to go back home and try to get better and come back here and try to beat him,” he said.
“I feel like it’s something that we all feed from each other here, so yeah, that’s probably how competition works, right?”
Niemann was then asked about when the pair played together in Jeddah last season. The Torque captain posted a 63, while Rahm went one shot better.
“Yeah, it’s always fun when you are playing with someone that is making a lot of birdies, you’re making a lot of birdies. I think you feed from each other,” he added.
“Obviously it’s fun to play your best game and be competing against someone who is playing his best game as well. It’s always fun.”
The remarkable edge Jon Rahm has over Joaquin Niemann this season
Bizarrely, Niemann has not registered a top 10 in an event he has not won on LIV this year. That will leave Rahm with a lot of reason for optimism as he looks to retain his crown.
Remarkably therefore, Rahm has actually finished higher than Niemann in seven of the 12 events this season – including in Chicago last week when he only lost out in a playoff.
That hints that the momentum is with Rahm. However, you would never write off Niemann’s chances of winning a LIV event.
