Rahm's perfectly imperfect top-10 streak
Spaniard admits it's good but easier to always finish inside top-10 in shorter LIV fields
2021 U.S. Open champ Jon Rahm hits off the 12th tee in practice round at Oakmont (Jeff Marsh/USGA)
There is no denying that Jon Rahm has been a strong leaderboard presence since his move to LIV Golf in 2024.
In fact, the two-time major champion has never finished outside of the top 10 on LIV — an impressive feat if not necessarily the one that some might have you believe. Sure, it beats the alternative.
LIV’s field size of 54 undoubtedly makes the accomplishment at least somewhat more attainable. It’s also fair to point out that LIV heavyweights such as Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka cannot boast a similar record. Rahm has been top-10 in all 20 LIV individual golf events he’s played, including a T8 at the most recent LIV Golf Virginia event.
Last year, Rahm won twice and captured LIV Golf’s individual season crown. This year he is in third place behind Joaquin Niemann and DeChambeau, the defending U.S. Open champion.
But Rahm admitted that all of the top-10s might be misleading when compared to tournaments with larger fields.
“I would happily trade a bunch of them for more wins, that’s for sure, but I keep putting myself in good position,” Rahm said Tuesday at Oakmont Country Club, site of this week’s U.S. Open.
“Listen, I’m a realist in this case. I’ve been playing really good golf, yes, but I’d be lying if I said that it wasn’t easier to have top-10s with a smaller field. That’s just the truth, right? Had I been playing full-field events, would I have top 10 every single week? No. But I’ve been playing good enough to say that I would most likely have been inside the top 30 every single time and maybe even top 25, which for (20) straight tournaments I’d say that’s pretty good. I still would have had a lot of top-10s, that’s for sure.”
Stats back him up. Since his last official PGA Tour event (the 2023 Tour Championship) before defecting to LIV, Rahm has finished in the top 10 in nine of the 13 events he’s played outside of LIV, including T8 at last month’s PGA Championship and T7 at the 2024 Open at Royal Troon. He’s missed only two cuts and and finished outside the top 10 in both Masters starts since his 2023 victory at Augusta.
Rahm is coming off a tie for eighth Sunday at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, where he shot a final-round 69 and finished five strokes behind Niemann, who has won four of eight LIV events this season but finished outside the top 10 in the four others.
“There’s definitely some weeks, like last week for example, having a weaker Sunday than everybody else, I don’t think I would have top-tenned,” he said of the same kind of performance in a larger field. “I was able to finish eighth. I think winning is equally as hard, but you can take advantage of a smaller field to finish higher.
“As much as I want to give it credit personally for having that many top-10s, I wouldn’t always give it as the full amount just knowing that it’s a smaller field.”
Rahm, 30, who won the U.S. Open in 2021 at Torrey Pines and also captured the 2023 Masters. Before faltering at the finish at Quail Hollow on the PGA Championship, Rahm was he tied with eventual winner Scottie Scheffler for the lead through 11 holes of his final round.
It was the closest he’s contended on Sunday in five major championships since joining LIV Golf, though he finished one spot better at Royal Troon last year at the end of a frustrating major season. He withdrew ahead of last year’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst because of a foot injury.
“I was fully aware of the situation that I was putting myself, and once I got to that point, as well, if anything, it was a true joy to put myself in that position again,” Rahm said of his PGA contention. “I was very happy to be there and felt like I was in control. It was nice. It was unfortunate that — not even (hole) 16, just one bad swing on 17, which wasn’t even entirely that bad, it was just a very difficult hole — cost me as much as it did.”
2025 U.S. Open tee times
All Times EDT; (a) denotes amateur
Marquee groups highlighted
Thursday (June 12), Hole #1 / Friday (June 13), Hole #10
6:45 a.m. / 12:30 p.m. - (a) Matt Vogt, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Kevin Velo, Danville, Calif.; Trent Phillips, Inman, S.C.
6:56 a.m. / 12:41 p.m. - Chandler Blanchet, Jacksonville, Fla.; Alvaro Ortiz, Mexico; Doug Ghim, Arlington, Ill.
7:07 a.m. / 12:52 p.m. - (a) Evan Beck, Virginia Beach, Va.; Maxwell Moldovan, Uniontown, Ohio; Justin Hicks, Wellington, Fla.
7:18 a.m. / 1:03 p.m. - Harris English, Sea Island, Ga.; Tommy Fleetwood, England; Keegan Bradley, Woodstock, Vt.
7:29 a.m. / 1:14 p.m. - Xander Schauffele, San Diego, Calif.; Jose Luis Ballester, Spain; Bryson DeChambeau, Grapevine, Texas
7:40 a.m. / 1:25 p.m. - Matt Fitzpatrick, England; Wyndham Clark, Denver, Colo.; Gary Woodland, Topeka, Kan.
7:51 a.m. / 1:36 p.m. - Akshay Bhatia, Jupiter, Fla.; Matt McCarty, Scottsdale, Ariz.; Robert MacIntyre, Scotland
8:02 a.m. / 1:47 p.m. - Cam Davis, Australia; Davis Thompson, St. Simons Island, Ga.; Thomas Detry, Belgium
8:13 a.m. / 1:58 p.m. - Richard Bland, England; (a) Trevor Gutschewski, Omaha, Neb.; Lanto Griffin, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
8:24 a.m. / 2:09 p.m. - Edoardo Molinari, Italy; Sam Stevens, Wichita, Kan.; Ryan Gerard, Raleigh, N.C.
8:35 a.m. / 2:20 p.m. - Thriston Lawrence, South Africa; (a) Noah Kent, Naples, Fla.; Thorbjørn Olesen, Denmark
8:46 a.m. / 2:31 p.m. - Jinichiro Kozuma, Japan; (a) Cameron Tankersley, Dickson, Tenn.; Chase Johnson, Boynton Beach, Fla.
8:57 a.m. / 2:42 p.m. - Philip Barbaree Jr., Shreveport, La.; Riley Lewis, Prescott, Ariz.; Brady Calkins, Chehalis, Wash.
Thursday (June 12), Hole #1 / Friday (June 13), Hole #10
12:30 p.m. / 6:45 a.m. - Frederic Lacroix, France; Emiliano Grillo, Argentina; Sam Bairstow, England
12:41 p.m. / 6:56 a.m. - Byeong Hun An, Republic of Korea; Joe Highsmith, Lakewood, Wash.; Ryan Fox, New Zealand
12:52 p.m. / 7:07 a.m. - Victor Perez, France; Jacob Bridgeman, Simpsonville, S.C.; Adam Schenk, Vincennes, Ind.
1:03 p.m. / 7:18 a.m. - Min Woo Lee, Australia; Justin Thomas, Louisville, Ky.; Brooks Koepka, West Palm Beach, Fla.
1:14 p.m. / 7:29 a.m. - Sam Burns, Shreveport, La.; Nico Echavarria, Colombia; Denny McCarthy, Jupiter, Fla.
1:25 p.m. / 7:40 a.m. - Viktor Hovland, Norway; Collin Morikawa, La Canada, Calif.; Scottie Scheffler, Dallas, Texas
1:36 p.m. / 7:51 a.m. - Corey Conners, Canada; Jason Day, Australia; Patrick Reed, Spring, Texas
1:47 p.m. / 8:02 a.m. - Joaquin Niemann, Chile; Bud Cauley, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.; Daniel Berger, Jupiter, Fla.
1:58 p.m. / 8:13 a.m. - Mackenzie Hughes, Canada; Tony Finau, Lehi, Utah; Chris Kirk, Watkinsville, Ga.
2:09 p.m. / 8:24 a.m. - (a) Benjamin James, Milford, Conn.; Rasmus Højgaard, Denmark; Stephan Jaeger, Germany
2:20 p.m. / 8:35 a.m. - Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Denmark; (a) Justin Hastings, Cayman Islands; Laurie Canter, England
2:31 p.m. / 8:46 a.m. - (a) Frankie Harris, Boca Raton, Fla.; Emilio Gonzalez, Mexico; Roberto Díaz, Mexico
2:42 p.m. / 8:57 a.m. - Grant Haefner, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.; Joey Herrera, Fillmore, Calif.; George Kneiser, Oconomowoc, Wis.
Thursday (June 12), Hole #10 / Friday (June 13), Hole #1
6:45 a.m. / 12:30 p.m. - Zac Blair, Orem, Utah; Scott Vincent, Zimbabwe; Alistair Docherty, Vancouver, Wash.
6:56 a.m. / 12:41 p.m. - Jacques Kruyswijk, South Africa; Jordan Smith, England; Eric Cole, Tequesta, Fla.
7:07 a.m. / 12:52 p.m. - Tom Kim, Republic of Korea; JJ Spaun, Los Angeles, Calif.; Taylor Pendrith, Canada
7:18 a.m. / 1:03 p.m. - Ludvig Åberg, Sweden; Adam Scott, Australia; Hideki Matsuyama, Japan
7:29 a.m. / 1:14 p.m. - Ben Griffin, Chapel Hill, N.C.; Andrew Novak, St. Simons Island, Ga.; Maverick McNealy, Las Vegas, Nev.
7:40 a.m. / 1:25 p.m. - Shane Lowry, Ireland; Justin Rose, England; Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland
7:51 a.m. / 1:36 p.m. - Patrick Cantlay, Jupiter, Fla.; Si Woo Kim, Republic of Korea; Lucas Glover, Jupiter, Fla.
8:02 a.m. / 1:47 p.m. - Cameron Smith, Australia; Brian Harman, Sea Island, Ga.; Phil Mickelson, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.
8:13 a.m. / 1:58 p.m. - Niklas Norgaard, Denmark; Brian Campbell, Irvine, Calif.; Justin Lower, Uniontown, Ohio
8:24 a.m. / 2:09 p.m. - Davis Riley, Hattiesburg, Miss.; (a) Jackson Koivun, Chapel Hill, N.C.; Johnny Keefer, San Antonio, Texas
8:35 a.m. / 2:20 p.m. - James Hahn, Alameda, Calif.; Mark Hubbard, Denver, Colo.; (a) Michael La Sasso, Raleigh, N.C.
8:46 a.m. / 2:31 p.m. - Joakim Lagergren, Sweden; (a) Mason Howell, Thomasville, Ga.; Chris Gotterup, Little Silver, N.J.
8:57 a.m. / 2:42 p.m. - Zach Bauchou, Edmond, Okla.; Jackson Buchanan, Dacula, Ga.; (a) Lance Simpson, Knoxville, Tenn.
Thursday (June 12), Hole #10 / Friday (June 13), Hole #1
12:30 p.m. / 6:45 a.m. - Will Chandler, Sea Island, Ga.; Andrea Pavan, Italy; Takumi Kanaya, Japan
12:41 p.m. / 6:56 a.m. - (a) Bryan Lee, Fairfax, Va.; Guido Migliozzi, Italy; Preston Summerhays, Scottsdale, Ariz.
12:52 p.m. / 7:07 a.m. - Erik van Rooyen, South Africa; Max Greyserman, Short Hills, N.J.; Matt Wallace, England
1:03 p.m. / 7:18 a.m. - Russell Henley, Columbus, Ga.; Christiaan Bezuidenhout, South Africa; Nick Taylor, Canada
1:14 p.m. / 7:29 a.m. - Jordan Spieth, Dallas, Texas; Jon Rahm, Spain; Dustin Johnson, Jupiter, Fla.
1:25 p.m. / 7:40 a.m. - Tyrrell Hatton, England; Sungjae Im, Republic of Korea; Sepp Straka, Austria
1:36 p.m. / 7:51 a.m. - Cameron Young, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.; Tom Hoge, Fargo, N.D.; J.T. Poston, Hickory, N.C.
1:47 p.m. / 8:02 a.m. - Jhonattan Vegas, Venezuela; Michael Kim, Dallas, Texas; Matthieu Pavon, France
1:58 p.m. / 8:13 a.m. - Marc Leishman, Australia; Aaron Rai, England; Nick Dunlap, Jupiter, Fla.
2:09 p.m. / 8:24 a.m. - Matthew Jordan, England; Yuta Sugiura, Japan; Carlos Ortiz, Mexico
2:20 p.m. / 8:35 a.m. - Ryan McCormick, Middletown, N.J.; Trevor Cone, Concord, N.C.; (a) Zach Pollo, Lincoln, Calif.
2:31 p.m. / 8:46 a.m. - James Nicholas, Scarsdale, N.Y.; (a) Tyler Weaver, England; Riki Kawamoto, Japan
2:42 p.m. / 8:57 a.m. - Austen Truslow, New Smyrna Beach, Fla.; Harrison Ott, Franklin, Tenn.; (a) George Duangmanee, Fairfax, Va.