Jon Rahm is one of the two biggest names on LIV Golf, but he’s winless since 2024.
It’s not like the Spaniard is playing poorly. In fact, he’s been in contention nearly every week on LIV. Rahm has finished second in five of the last six LIV events and was runner-up in the first two events of this season. He’s knocking on the door, but for some reason cannot get a win over the line.
This level of consistency allowed Rahm to claim LIV’s Individual title last season despite not winning a single event. It seemed like an odd anomaly at the time, but he’s continued the same form into 2026 and once again sits top of the table, but winless.
He’s a two-time major winner and one of the best players in the sport, but as Scottie Scheffler asserts himself as clearly the number one in the world, Rahm needs to start winning again. And speaking before LIV Hong Kong, he spoke about his second-place woes.
Jon Rahm calls LIV Adelaide loss biggest ‘letdown’
Rahm looked set to claim his first win on LIV in over 12 months at LIV Adelaide, as he was leading going into the final day. He and Bryson DeChambeau prepared for a Sunday duel down under in a clash of the titans.
But instead, Anthony Kim shocked them both by catching fire down the stretch and winning the event. Mistakes from Rahm cost him the win, and he’s still kicking himself. But speaking before LIV Hong Kong, Rahm said he’s encouraged by his play.
When asked about his second-place finishes, he said, “We’re talking about events that are five months apart, so you can’t take it as the last six starts because there’s a lot of golf in between. Played some events on the DP World Tour in between those and didn’t finish as high as I would have liked.
“But playing good golf, right. Obviously, there’s different reasons to that second-place loss, two playoffs. Got unfortunate with the flagstick on the last one in Indianapolis. Had a birdie chance on the first playoff against Dean and Josele and wasn’t able to make it.
“It just means you’re playing good golf. Winning is never easy, and I’m happy that I’m putting myself in position to possibly do so. Out of all of those, I kick myself more at the last tournament because it’s the one where I felt like I made the most amount of mistakes on a Sunday.”
Rahm gave a nod to Kim, who played phenomenally on Sunday to claim victory, but ultimately admitted that if he had played up to his standard, the tournament was his.
The Spaniard continued, “He played incredible golf. Just I shot 1-under when people were shooting 4-, 5-, 6-under. Even though it was tricky I played good enough to at least give myself a better chance.
“Had I shot a low score or a good round and Anthony still beat me then so be it. He played better and he was the better man. But I just didn’t have — compared to the rest of the week, that Sunday felt like a bit more of a letdown than others.”
Where Jon Rahm must improve if he wants to win again
Rahm should absolutely have won an event this season, the way he has been putting the ball. Through two events, he’s gained 1.27 strokes on the field on the greens. He’s also been striking it very well off the tee, gaining over a stroke in that department, too.
What has let Rahm down is his iron play. He’s not been poor necessarily, but when you look at his game, it’s the one area you can point to. Rahm has gained his 0.07 strokes to the field on approach this season, and it cost him in Australia.
He lost strokes to the field with his irons in Riyadh, and didn’t play too much better in Adelaide either, and while he’s still threatened the top of the leaderboard, it’s been the one thing holding him back from reaching the summit.
Rahm doesn’t have to be great in that department. Good will do. If he can continually find the putting surface over the course of an event, he’ll likely run away with a victory.