HSBC LIV Golf Hong Kong: Rahm back on top with first win in 539 days
- LIV Golf
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
For Jon Rahm, it was 539 days without an individual tournament win. For Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC, it was 974 days without a team win.
Both droughts ended Sunday with impressive performances at HSBC LIV Golf Hong Kong.
Rahm, the Legion XIII captain and the league’s most consistent player, put the finishing touches on a dominant performance at Hong Kong Golf Club with a 6-under 64 for a three-stroke victory at 23 under. It comes after consecutive runner-up finishes in the first two LIV Golf tournaments this season and ends a personal winless stretch that had lasted since his previous league win in the regular-season finale in Chicago in September 2024.
“Very relieving,” said Rahm, the league’s reigning two-time Individual Champion. “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. That's all I can say.”
Jon Rahm was not happy with his result last month in Adelaide, a solo second to Anthony Kim. Rahm was the co-leader through 54 holes but shot a final-round 71 to Kim’s 63.
Consider it a lesson learned that paid dividends Sunday in the final round in Hong Kong as he shot a final-round 6-under 64 for the win.
“Compared to Adelaide, I would say I came in with a mindset of just trying to be more committed to each shot,” Rahm said. “I think I was a little tentative on that day. That's why on that back nine, once I made that putt on 13, my mindset was to birdie them all coming in.”
The week started with Rahm helping to arrange flights for stranded LIV Golf players in the Middle East. Then on Thursday, he struggled during his warm-up session. The week obviously ended on a high note.
“I wish you could have seen my driving exhibition on the first-round range warmup,” Rahm said. “I walked off to that third tee with no clue how I was going to hit it off the tee, and somehow managed to keep it in play and each day got a little bit better. I was not comfortable whatsoever.
“There was a lot going on this week, and I think there was still a little bit of tension in me on that first day. But a friend of mine, his name is David Novak, he says, each day get better, and each day got a little bit better, and today, coming down the stretch, the swings from 13 through 16 were absolutely perfect swings. I think those holes is pretty much peak Jon Rahm that we can see.”
4Aces GC was the dominant team in the early years of LIV Golf, winning four times in the regular season and then the Team Championship in the inaugural year of 2022, followed by two more wins the next season, including London in June 2023.
That was the team’s last victory, and since then the roster has undergone several changes, including two new additions this year with Thomas Detry and Anthony Kim joining Johnson and Thomas Pieters, renewing hope that the team could return to its glory days.
The 4Aces finished third in each of the first two tournaments this year, and Kim broke through with an individual win in the previous tournament in Adelaide last month. But on Sunday, they celebrated as a team, shooting a collective 16 under with Johnson leading the way with a 65, Kim and Pieters shooting 66 and Detry with a 67 for a six-stroke victory over Smash GC.
“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.”
Kim followed up his electric victory in Adelaide with a tie for 31st in Hong Kong. Having played as an independent Wild Card player in his first two seasons in LIV Golf, the result would not have ended with a celebration. But after joining the 4Aces in Australia, Sunday’s final round was his first exposure to focusing mostly from a team standpoint.
Kim’s birdie on his next-to-last hole gave the 4Aces the lead for good, and Detry added another birdie shortly after as the 4Aces pulled away down the stretch.
“After Adelaide, the first couple days seemed pretty surreal,” Kim said. “Obviously we all play to win, right? But now with LIV Golf, there's two elements. You get to win with three other guys that you're battling with. This is pretty special.”
Rahm has certainly been special since joining LIV Golf. He won two individual tournament titles in his first season in 2024. Since then, he’s celebrated four regular-season tournament wins, two season-long Individual Championships, and Legion XIII’s Team Championship last year.
But his stretch of 26 consecutive worldwide starts without a tournament win matched the longest stretch of his career. He left Adelaide applauding Kim’s come-from-behind win but also disappointed in his own performance in the final round.
Starting Sunday as one of the three co-leaders with Detry and Smash GC’s Harold Varner III, he birdied four of his first eight holes, then gave a shot back with a bogey at the ninth.
Through 13 holes, he was just one stroke ahead of Pieters, who was playing in the group ahead. But Rahm’s approach shot with a gap wedge from 90 yards at the 14th left him with a 7-foot birdie putt. He rolled that in while Pieters bogeyed the 15th, a two-shot swing that proved decisive down the stretch. He teed off at the 18th with a five-shot lead.
“It's very fun when you can stand on that podium and celebrate with your teammates,” Rahm said about Legion XIII’s success since his last win. “But as far as obviously being a competitor and as myself goes, I wanted to get this done. It feels different. I think I would be way more ecstatic if I was celebrating with my teammates for the win, like the Aces did today, but there's a sense of self-accomplishment and pride that goes with doing it myself.”
The 4Aces, meanwhile, were equally respectful of Rahm, both winners enjoying the end of their droughts.
“I played very, very good all week,” said Pieters, who produced his first individual podium finish, a solo third. “Obviously I can't control the fact that Jon is unbelievable at golf.”
Report courtesy of LIV Golf
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