Jon Rahm (-11) has given himself a small chance to leave The Club at Chatham Hills this Sunday with his second LIV Golf champion’s ring. It won’t be easy, of course, but the man from Barrika has stepped on the gas this afternoon in Indianapolis, the city of speed, and the circuit’s overall leader, Joaquín Niemann (-12), can already see the imposing silhouette of the Basque champion in his rearview mirror. After his lukewarm start yesterday, today things look different for Rahmbo both in numbers and sensations.
And that’s despite the fact that the day didn’t start as expected for the Spaniard. Not because he was playing badly, far from it, but he was missing that dose of luck, composure, or accuracy needed at key moments to put much more pressure on the Chilean. The captain of the Legion XIII managed to create numerous birdie and several eagle opportunities, but he forgave too much for what is usual for him. It took him a while, but as usual, he kept insisting until, in the second half of his round, he finally managed to straighten the course.
Rahm started the day putting for eagle on the par five of the 7th hole, but had to settle for a birdie; he gained another stroke on the course at the 9th and also at the 13th, where he missed a clear eagle opportunity. But along the way, he missed two other very good chances, at the 12th and 14th, which would undoubtedly have boosted his round even more. He closed the first half of his round three under par, which could well have been five or six. Moreover, this stretch coincided with the best moment for Joaco, who with three under in nine holes maintained the margin he achieved yesterday.
But in the second half of his round, and after an error on the 16th where he bogeyed after missing the fairway, Jon found the accuracy he needed. He reacted wonderfully to immediately recover his only bogey of the day with a great birdie on the 17th. He repeated on the par three of the 2nd hole with a great shot from the tee. And both on the 4th and 5th, he left them very close and did not miss the chance to recover two more strokes from Niemann, ‘stuck’ at par on the 11 under he started the 10th hole with.
Jon finished the job with a final birdie on the 6th for a card of 64 strokes, provisionally catching the Chilean on the leaderboard. His problem, more than with Joaquín, who with a birdie on the 18th managed to regain a margin over the Spaniard, lies in the advantage taken by the players fighting for the partial victory in the tournament: Sebastián Muñoz (-16), who after his tremendous 59 on Friday, continued playing at a superlative level this Saturday until the 18th, where he complicated his life with an out-of-bounds ball that cost him a double bogey; and Dustin Johnson (-16), who has shown one of his best versions of the season to present himself as an alternative with a great 64.
6 birdies on the day for DJ👌
He’s now 2 back of Sebastian Muñoz 📈
🇺🇸 Watch on @FOXTV
📲 Stream on the LIV Golf App#LIVGolfIndy @4AcesGC_ pic.twitter.com/xV8r1AvfK0— LIV Golf (@livgolf_league) August 16, 2025
Nothing is impossible, but with the ease the course is giving, it won’t be easy for the man from Bogotá and the one from Columbia to let the first and second place slip away in the last 18 holes. That would reduce the number of points the man from Barrika could aspire to and complicate his goal of overcoming the more than 12 with which the leader arrived at this last individual tournament of the season in LIV Golf after accumulating no less than five victories in 2025. In any case, before taking out the calculator, Jon will have to go step by step, fulfilling different objectives…
The first, to catch and surpass the Chilean. If he doesn’t finish ahead of Joaco, there’s nothing to be done. And the second, to surpass David Puig (-12), Henrik Stenson (-12), Adrian Meronk (-12), Patrick Reed (-12), and Thomas Pieters (-12) on the leaderboard, an important list of candidates for the tournament victory, with the leaders’ permission, which could be very beneficial for the man from Barrika to reduce points from his rival in the Order of Merit. In short, 18 holes ahead and a final ‘sprint race’ for the LIV Golf 2025 ring.
The other battle of the week, to avoid relegation, is having Lee Westwood (-7) and Mito Pereira (-2) as major casualties. Ian Poulter (-8) is pushing to escape the drop, although the tied 16th place he occupies after the second round would not be enough to save him, while Stenson, tied in third place, would manage to avoid his forced farewell to LIV Golf if he doesn’t collapse in the last individual round of the season on the tour. In the team event, Torque GC (-39) leads this Indianapolis event ahead of 4Aces GC (-36) and Crushers GC (-31).
