Three-man race – or not? – as second half of 2025 season begins

Joaquin Niemann. Bryson DeChambeau. Jon Rahm. Has the 2025 LIV Golf Individual Championship turned into a three-man race?

It’s certainly way too early to declare that. Having just reached the halfway point of the 14-tournament schedule, plenty of golf – specifically 18 rounds over the final six regular-season events, starting with next week’s LIV Golf Virginia presented by Maaden – remains to be played. This year’s regular season finale is in Indianapolis 2025 on Aug. 15-17.

But perhaps it’s a bit of a foreshadow that LIV Golf’s three best performers at the PGA Championship two weeks ago were those three captains, with DeChambeau tying for second and Rahm and Niemann were among the large group sharing eighth. The first half of the season has created a clear separation involving those three LIV Golf captains, with everybody else in chase mode.

Actually, to be fair, there’s a distinct separation between Niemann and his two closest rivals … and then it’s everybody else on the third tier and below.

The Torque GC captain will enter the second half with a lead of more than 20 points, with No. 2 DeChambeau (Crushers GC) and No. 3 Rahm (Legion XIII) separated by less than 0.2 points. Fireballs GC Captain Sergio Garcia, in fourth place, is more than 27 points behind.

Niemann left no doubt who the best player was during the first half of the season, winning three of the first six events. He took over the points lead after his second win in Singapore, but his lack of consistent finishes has kept him within arm’s reach of his two chasers. Of Niemann’s 125.52 points this season, 120 have come in his three wins; in the other four events, he’s managed just 5.52 points.

Niemann already has two non-points finishes this season, which equals his total from all of last season. On the flip side, his T8 at the PGA is his best result of his major career. “I feel like it’s a little step forward,” he said.

While Niemann has celebrated multiple wins, DeChambeau and Rahm have been the league’s two most consistent players in 2025.

DeChambeau enters the second half off his win in Korea, a much-needed outcome after previous final-round frustrations this year.

Including this year’s first two majors, DeChambeau has finished inside the top 5 in his last five starts, but his form has essentially held for a year. Starting with his solo second at the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla, DeChambeau has finished inside the top 20 in 18 of his 19 worldwide starts across all tours. That includes his win at last year’s U.S. Open and in Korea, along with four runner-ups. His only blemish in the last 12 months? A missed cut at The Open last July.

DeChambeau said last year’s PGA was a key pivot point to his positive streak. “At Valhalla last year, it was more of an assurance of saying, hey, I can do this, and I can do this for a long time,” he said. “God willing, I’m going to continue to try and play my best golf.”

Rahm’s LIV Golf consistency has been well documented. He’s completed 19 regular season starts since joining the league for the 2024 season – and he’s finished inside the top 10 each time. His only non-top 10 finish was a WD last year in Houston due to a foot infection that also kept him out of the U.S. Open the following week.

At the PGA Championship, he was in contention late in the final round before dropping five strokes over the final three holes. With two weeks to process the finish, he should be good to go for Virginia.

“It’s not the end of the world,” Rahm said. “It’s not like I’m a doctor or a first responder, where somebody if they have a bad day, truly bad things happen. I’ll get over it. I’ll move on. There’s a lot more positive than negative to think about.”

Rahm’s consistency paid off last year as he caught Niemann down the stretch, finishing the season with a win in UK, a second in Greenbrier, and win in the regular-season finale in Chicago.

Niemann, who entered the second half of the season with an even larger margin (36 points) than this year, put up a terrific fight. He had three podium finishes in his final five starts – including T2 to Rahm in both UK and Chicago – but still finished 16 points behind Rahm in the final standings.

Incidentally, the UK (JCB) and Chicago (Bolingbrook) courses return as venues for the second half this year.

DeChambeau wasn’t a factor down the stretch in 2024, but he was in line to finish in one of the top-three bonus-paying positions in 2023. He entered the season’s final event in Jeddah in third place, with a healthy 25-point cushion over No. 3 Patrick Reed and 34 points over No. 4 Brooks Koepka.

But when Koepka won in Jeddah to claim the 40 points for an individual victory, he leapfrogged both DeChambeau and Reed to claim third place. DeChambeau finished T11 and Reed T17 that week.

So, it’s not too late for any player to get hot and make a move. A year ago, Garcia ranked 10th in points at the halfway mark but spurred on by his first LIV Golf title at Andalucia, he worked his way up to third place by season’s end. Valderrama is again on the menu for Garcia this year.

A quick look at the other races at the halfway point:

LOCK ZONE & RELEGATION: The final six regular-season tournaments will also decide the fate of players for next season. The top 24 in points after Indianapolis will be locked in for spots in the 2026 LIV Golf season, while players finishing between 25th and 48th in points will be in the Open Zone.

Several non-captains will seek to extend their Lock Zone streak, including 52-year-old Cleeks GC veteran Richard Bland, who has never finished worse than 22nd in points.

Players finished 49th or worse in points will be relegated out of the league, although they can play their way back in at the LIV Golf Promotions tournament. Team members who are currently in the Drop Zone are Branden Grace (Stinger GC), Mito Pereira (Torque GC), Yubin Jang (Iron Heads GC), Lee Westwood (Majesticks GC) and Frederik Kjettrup (Cleeks GC)

TEAM SEEDINGS: The next six regular-season tournaments will decide the seeds for the Michigan Team Championship. The top three teams in points will receive first-round byes, while teams finishing 4th through 13th will compete in head-to-head match-play competition.

The current top three teams are Legion XIII, Fireballs and Crushers, with defending team champion Ripper GC a close fourth. Those top four teams have been the only ones to celebrate a team victory in the first half of this season.