LIV Golf was exposed after awarding the championship to Jon Rahm and an $18 million bonus even without having won a single tournament. Social media exploded with thousands of fans expressing their displeasure with the Saudi league’s unfair and flawed scoring system, as one player had won five tournaments.
LIV Golf is a professional golf circuit financed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, which has revolutionized the sport with new formats. Since its inception (2022), it has attracted figures such as Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, and Rahm himself, generating controversy and direct competition with the PGA Tour.
Jon Rahm snatches the title from five-time 2025 champion Joaquin Niemann
It’s hard to argue that Rahm deserves the most lucrative prize of the LIV Golf League season in 2025. The spaniard didn’t win an event in 13 starts this year. He finished runner-up four times. He had golden opportunities to win the final two events in Chicago and Indianapolis, but fell just short of a playoff.
Despite not winning anything in 2025, Rahm earned more points than Joaquin Niemann, who won five times. No other LIV Golf player won more than once this season. For some reason, winning nearly 40% of the league’s tournaments this season wasn’t enough for Niemann to win the individual championship.
This highlights a significant deficiency in the LIV individual competition all season. Rahm shouldn’t have even had a chance to overtake Niemann in the standings with no wins to his name. Victories must be more important.
LIV Golf format and point distribution
LIV Golf features 54 players and 13 teams competing over a 14-event season for the Individual Championship and the Team Championship. In each event, the top 24 golfers in the standings from a 54-player field will earn points. The winner of each tournament receives 40 points, the second-place finisher 30, and the third-place finisher 24.
The Individual Championship standings will be finalized after the 13th event of the year. Returning to Rahm, although he failed to win in Indianapolis, the Spaniard achieved his main objective: surpassing Chilean Joaquín Niemann in the overall standings. Rahm led the overall standings with 226.16 points, followed by Niemann with 223.66.
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