Rahm's wild week in Hong Kong
Defiance, heart and relief are back-drop to Spaniard's drought-busting LIV victory
Jon Rahm felt “relief” after winning for the first time since 2024 (Mike Stobe/LIV Golf)
There’s a lot of Seve Ballesteros in Jon Rahm — skill, stubborness and pride all rolled into one intense Spanish package. So it came as no surprise that Rahm’s full Seve-esque range of emotion came out last week during LIV Golf’s Hong Kong event.
Rahm’s ferocity was on full display when the subject of his ongoing dispute with the DP World Tour was broached and elicited his defiance.
His compassion was illustrated in his chartering of a plane to help airlift a group of LIV colleagues safely out of the Middle East in the aftermath of the violent turmoil in the region from the U.S. and Israel’s bombing of Iran and retaliation strikes that have shut down the region where a number of players live.
His competitive fire, which has made him a staple every week on the rival league’s leaderboard, shone through on Sunday when Rahm secured his first victory in 18 months by claiming the LIV Hong Kong event by three strokes over Thomas Detry (one of his grateful evacuees).
“Very relieving,” said Rahm, a two-time major winner. “That’s the only way I can describe it. I’ve been very ecstatic for wins in the past. This one just feels like a big weight off my shoulder. That’s all I can say.”
Rahm left no doubt this week, pulling away from a three-way 54-hole tie with Detry and Harold Varner III. His 6-under 64 final round at Hong Kong Golf Club left him 23-under for the week. He salted it away with four consecutive birdies on 13-16 that allowed him to comfortably absorb a finishing bogey.
Rahm ranked the “relief” he felt Sunday with several other milestone wins in his career including the first of his two major victories.
“I would say my first ever (PGA Tour) win at Torrey Pines (in 2017), this one, possibly the first Spanish Open (2018), something I really wanted to win,” Rahm said. “But then that U.S. Open (also at Torrey Pines), that first major. That hour of waiting for Louis (Oosthuizen) to finish in 2021 was arguably the most stressful hour of my life golf-wise, not off the course. Very difficult to deal with because of everything it entails.
“But the relief of getting your first major is something that I don’t think can be surpassed, to be honest. For something you’ve dreamed of for so long, getting it done, especially in my case, being the first Spanish person to win the U.S. Open was quite unique.
“There’s a few milestones in my life that I’m very appreciative of, and a few of them felt like a relief. Maybe not at that moment because I was ecstatic. As far as awareness for that, maybe this one takes the cake.”
Detry was one of seven players stranded after Dubai airport closures who Rahm helped get to Hong Kong by chartering a $250,000 plane out of an airstrip in Oman. Golfweek reported that Laurie Canter, Sam Horsfield, Anirban Lahiri, Adrian Meronk, Tom McKibbin, Caleb Surratt and Lee Westwood also got airlifted out.
“I’m very impressed by all of the guys involved,” Rahm said. “Obviously, the war in the Middle East, all the guys that were there in Dubai, all the possible extraction plans, the flights that came on board and — came up and kind of disappeared, let’s say. The expectations and hope of hopefully getting out of there, and the fact that they came and then Thomas did as well as he did and had a chance to win … it’s nothing but the utmost respect for what they went through.
“I was raised with a value of, if you have the ability and the capability of helping somebody in need, you go and help them,” Rahm added. “It was never about karma. It was simply about luckily getting those boys out of a dangerous situation.”
Detry had described earlier in the week how he feared not only missing the Hong Kong event but the one this week in Singapore. Eventually, the Emirates flight he was scheduled on left, but only would have gotten him to Hong Kong 12 hours ahead of the first round.
“Being here was definitely a bonus because Tuesday morning I did not see myself being here and teeing it off on Thursday,” Detry said. “To be honest, on Tuesday morning I was even thinking next week was going to be a push, as well. That was sort of what I was thinking. But here we are, and life is all good.”
Detry’s finish helped him move up in the Official World Golf Ranking to the point with a couple of more good tournaments, he could possibly qualify for the Masters via the top 50 exemption category at the end of this month. LIV Golf has events in Singapore and South Africa upcoming.
As for Rahm, after consecutive runner-up finishes, this was his first win on LIV Golf since September of 2024 in Chicago.
He won LIV Golf’s individual title inb 2024 with the Chicago victory and won it again last year over Joaquin Niemann despite no victories all season (Niemann won five times). With two runner-ups already this LIV season, Rahm has clearly been playing well with 21 straight under-par rounds.
“Not something I think about, to be honest,” Rahm said. “Just a matter of trying to win. I’ve been playing really, really good golf and the results show it. Whether I won or not is different, but I’ve been putting in the work and seeing the results. I would have taken a few over-par rounds and a few more wins. Not something that I’m really thinking about actively while I’m playing.”
The win capped a week of headlines that were dominated by Rahm’s passionate explanation for why he refused to accept a deal with the DP World Tour that eight other LIV peers jump at to resolved conflicting event penalties and put them in good standing with the European circuit. In Rahm’s case, his refusal to accept the deal puts his eligibility for the 2027 Ryder Cup in jeopardy.
Rahm described the DP World Tour’s deal offer as “extortion” for wanting him to play two additional events in order to waive releases and fines. The tour made such a deal with eight of his LIV Golf colleagues, including Legion XIII and Ryder Cup teammate Tyrrell Hatton.
The deal allows the LIV players to retain their membership on the DP World Tour without having to ask for releases — which would be denied — and thus lead to fines. They all agreed to waive appeals and add two tour-specified tournaments to the four-event minimum.
Rahm wasn’t buying it.
“I don’t know what game they’re trying to play right now, but it just seems like in a way they’re using us to — they’re using our impact in tournaments and fining us and trying to benefit both ways from what we have to offer, and it’s just in a way they’re extorting players like myself and young players that have nothing to do with the politics of the game,” Rahm said. “So I don’t like the situation and I’m not going to agree to that.”
It is all a little reminiscent of Ballesteros, who was excluded from the 1981 Ryder Cup team over his dispute with the European Tour regarding appearance fees and Seve’s preference to play some conflicting events on the PGA Tour.