Jon Rahm ended an 18-month worldwide winless run by claiming an impressive three-shot victory at the LIV Golf League event in Hong Kong.
Rahm had opened his LIV Golf season with successive runner-up finishes but avoided that run extending at Hong Kong Golf Club, where a final-round 64 pulled him clear of the chasing pack.
The two-time major champion mixed eight birdies with two bogeys on the final day to finish on 23 under and secured a third individual title on LIV Golf, with Thomas Detry claiming second ahead of fellow Belgian Thomas Pieters.
Rahm finished three strokes clear of Thomas Detry (right)
Rahm’s win is his first since the LIV Golf Chicago event in September 2024, while Detry and Pieters’ impressive week helped Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC claim their first team win since July 2023.
“Very relieving,” Rahm said about his win. “That’s the only way I can describe it. I’ve been very ecstatic for wins in the past. This one just feels like a big weight off my shoulder.”
Rahm went into the final day in a share of the lead alongside Detry and Harold Varner III but raced ahead with four birdies over the first eight holes, only for the Spaniard to end his front nine with a bogey.
He was just one ahead of Pieters with six holes to play but accelerated forward with a four-birdie burst from the 13th, giving him a five-shot buffer heading to the par-four last.
Rahm could afford a final-hole bogey and still finish comfortably ahead of Detry, who made three birdies in the final six holes to post a final-round 67, with Pieters four back in third after one bogey and three pars along this final four-hole stretch.
Detry was looking to win his maiden LIV Golf League event, having only arrived in Hong Kong the day before the tournament
The 4Aces finished third in the first two tournaments of the year but collected the team title with a six-stroke victory over Smash GC, having shot a collective 16 under during the final round.
“To finally get a win after a few years without having one, very proud of the guys,” Johnson said. “Obviously, we have a completely new team, but I think we have a very strong team. I’m very happy with them.”
Dustin Johnson saw 4Aces win their first team event in 974 days
Rahm explains travel support to LIV colleagues
Rahm’s victory came in a week where he accused the DP World Tour of “extorting players” and explained his reasons for not agreeing to their membership conditions for playing on both tours.
Several of his title rivals were left thanking Rahm for his help in getting them to Hong Kong, with Detry among eight players stuck in the United Arab Emirates at the start of the week and struggling to find travel due to the ongoing Middle East conflict.
Jon Rahm explained his reasons for rejecting the DP World Tour deal, stating he doesn’t want to play six events
Rahm’s team got a crew and plane to Oman to help players travel to Hong Kong in time to feature in the event, despite airspaces being closed on multiple occasions across several countries in the region.
“I was raised with a value of, if you have the ability and the capability of helping somebody in need, you go and help them,” Rahm explained. “It was never about karma – it was simply about luckily getting those boys out of a dangerous situation.
“At one point I was thinking about almost reaching out to a contact in Spain to get Tom [McKibbin] and Caleb [Surratt] somewhere to practice in Spain, not even thinking about coming here – just out of Dubai and practicing somewhere. That was priority No 1.”
Rahm added: “With the ever-changing environment, it looked kind of dark for a second. For a second, at one point, if they went through a different extraction plan, they were going to go to Europe.
“It looked like coming here was going to be hard. But yeah, here they are. Never thought they would be able to come. It’s amazing that so many of them all safe and that’s the most important thing.”
What’s next for LIV?
The Hong Kong event was the first of three consecutive LIV Golf League events in a three-week period, with future tournaments at Sentosa Golf Club in Singapore (March 12-15) and The Club at Steyn City, South Africa (March 19-22).
