Chicago to decide season-long individual championship and key races for places

The Bolingbrook Golf Club near Chicago hosts the penultimate event on the LIV Golf 2024 schedule from Friday, September 13 that will decide the individual champion of the season and also the seedings for the team championship in Dallas the following week. There is thus a great deal at stake and the battle between Jon Rahm and Joaquin Neimann is expected to be front and centre at LIV Golf Chicago.

As things stand, Spain’s Rahm heads Chilean star Neimann in his very first season with LIV Golf. It has been a stellar performance from the new team Legion XIII’s captain who has won once in England, and finished in the top 10 at every other event that included five top 3 placings to lead the individual race with 195.17 points which he achieved at Greenbrier in mid-August.

Till they came to West Virginia, Neimann had led the way despite the presence of a host of major winners, Ryder Cup stars and the ever-present challenge from Rahm. The Torque GC captain won at Mayakoba and Jeddah and came to Greenbrier marginally ahead of Rahm but a tied 15th placing to Rahm’s runner-up finish saw the Spaniard edge ahead. Neimann has 192.20 points, just 2.97 adrift of Rahm and it is between the two to decide on the order of season-ending positions, first or second as they are the only players mathematically eligible to top the individual standings.

At Chicago, Rahm will win the title if he finishes ahead or equal to Niemann in the top 15 on the leaderboard. If Niemann is 16th or 17th, Rahm only needs to be inside the top 24 who receive points to earn the top spot. If Niemann finishes 18th or worse, Rahm is guaranteed the title anyway.

For Niemann to take the championship, he must finish with three more points than Rahm, wherever they may be on the leaderboard. A top-3 result will secure the title, as long as they do not tie and the Chilean finishes ahead of Rahm. A fourth place or lower means Niemann’s fate will be determined by Rahm’s placing on the leaderboard, and he knows it. “He's been playing great lately, so he's probably going to keep doing the same,” Niemann said of Rahm. “I've got to try to bring my ‘A’ game.”

Despite all the scenarios at play, Rahm is preparing for Niemann to be at the top of the leaderboard in Chicago. “I'm probably going to need to win,” said Rahm of the race with Niemann. “He’s going to be up there. I'm going to need another good week.”

Behind the two championship contenders, five players are theoretically in play for the third step on the podium -- Legion XIII’s Tyrrell Hatton who is currently in third place eight points ahead of Fireballs GC captain Sergio Garcia. Behind them, Stinger GC captain Louis Oosthuizen (14.39 points behind), Ripper GC captain Cameron Smith (15.83 points behind) and Smash GC captain Brooks Koepka (16.73 points behind) all have a chance to catch Hatton who needs a top-3 placing in Chicago to settle the debate.

Garcia must finish at least 11th or better to have any possibility of catching Hatton. Oosthuizen and Smith must finish at least 5th or better, while Koepka must finish at least fourth. Their fates would then rest on Hatton’s final leaderboard spot.

At the bottom of the standings, those ranked 49th or below after Chicago will finish in the Drop Zone and be relegated out of the league for the 2025 season – and earn the opportunity to earn their way back in at the LIV Golf Promotions tournament later this year. Seven players are in the danger area –

Iron Heads GC’s Scott Vincent, Stinger’s Branden Grace, RangeGoats GC captain Bubba Watson, Cleeks’ Kalle Samooja, Legion XIII’s Kieran Vincent, and wild cards Hudson Swafford and Anthony Kim.

Finally, LIV Golf Chicago will also seal the seedings for the team championship at the Maridoe Golf Club in Dallas from September 20 to 22 with 2023 winners Crushers GC holding the slimmest of leads in the standings after Greenbrier. The top three teams after Chicago will earn first-round byes at Dallas with two of those slots already decided between the Crushers and Legion XIII.

Bryson DeChambeau’s team lead Rahm’s Legionnaires by just a half-point and have seen their form fall away in the last two events, England and Greenbrier after two wins and three runner-up finishes. Against that record, the expansion Legion XIII have posted a league-best four team wins this season. The Rippers, Smash and Torque are third, fourth and fifth and are the only ones still eligible to claim the final available bye.

Mathematically, the all-Australian Ripper team also are within striking distance of earning the top seeding for Texas depending on how the Crushers and Legion XIII finish in Chicago.