For the first time all season, Joaquin Niemann no longer leads the LIV Golf standings.
The Chilean has been caught at the top of the leaderboard, and he and Jon Rahm will head to Chicago where one of them will be crowned as LIV Golf’s 2024 individual champion.
The pair will go head-to-head at Bolingbrook Golf Club for the $18m first prize, where they’ll follow in the footsteps of past champions Dustin Johnson and Talor Gooch.
Rahm has not finished outside of the top-10 in an event he’s completed all season, and has overtaken Niemann at the top after winning his first LIV Golf title in the UK earlier this month and then finishing 2nd to Brooks Koepka at The Greenbrier, where he lost in a playoff.
Niemann went straight to the top after winning the opening event of the season in Mexico and then stretched his lead after winning again in the very next event in Saudi Arabia.
The pair are separated by less than 3 points at the top of the standings, where 40 points gets awarded for a tournament win.
“Yeah, it’ll be great. It’ll be a great exhibition for the next round,” Niemann said.
“I think it brings more interest and everything to play for the last tournament of the season. I’ll be looking forward to it.
“Yeah, he’s been playing great lately, so obviously he’s probably going to keep doing the same. I’ve got to try to bring my “A” game and try to show some good golf, and hopefully it’ll be enough.”
“I mean, listen, beating Joaquin, I’m probably going to need to win,” Rahm said.
“He’s going to be up there. I’m going to need another good week, and hopefully get it done.”
Below Rahm and Niemann are five players who will fight it out for 3rd-place, with Tyrrell Hatton currently holding that position. He’ll aim to fend off Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Cameron Smith and Brooks Koepka next month in Chicago, in LIV’s final individual tournament of the 2024 season.
LIV Golf’s Chicago tournament takes place from Fri 13 to Sun 15 September.
..
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golf Monthly…