Returning to the winner’s circle: Rahm wins individual title; 4Aces claim team title

HONG KONG – For Jon Rahm, it was 539 days without an individual tournament win. For Dustin Johnson ’s 4Aces GC, it was 974 days without a team win. 

Both droughts ended Sunday with impressive performances at HSBC LIV Golf Hong Kong. 

Rahm, the Legion XIII captain and the league’s most consistent player, put the finishing touches on a dominant performance at Hong Kong Golf Club with a 6-under 64 for a three-stroke victory at 23 under. It comes after consecutive runner-up finishes in the first two LIV Golf tournaments this season and ends a personal winless stretch that had lasted since his previous league win in the regular-season finale in Chicago in September 2024. 

RELATED: Final leaderboard | What's in Rahm's bag?

“Very relieving,” said Rahm, the league’s reigning two-time Individual Champion. “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.” 

4Aces GC was the dominant team in the early years of LIV Golf, winning four times in the regular season and then the Team Championship in the inaugural year of 2022, followed by two more wins the next season, including London in June 2023. 

That was the team’s last victory, and since then the roster has undergone several changes, including two new additions this year with Thomas Detry and Anthony Kim joining Johnson and Thomas Pieters, renewing hope that the team could return to its glory days.

The 4Aces finished third in each of the first two tournaments this year, and Kim broke through with an individual win in the previous tournament in Adelaide last month. But on Sunday, they celebrated as a team, shooting a collective 16 under with Johnson leading the way with a 65, Kim and Pieters shooting 66 and Detry with a 67 for a six-stroke victory over Smash GC. 

“To finally get a win after a few years without having one, very proud of the guys,” Johnson said. “Obviously, we have a completely new team, but I think we have a very strong team. I'm very happy with them.” 

Kim followed up his electric victory in Adelaide with a tie for 31st in Hong Kong. Having played as an independent Wild Card player in his first two seasons in LIV Golf, the result would not have ended with a celebration. But after joining the 4Aces in Australia, Sunday’s final round was his first exposure to focusing mostly from a team standpoint. 

Kim’s birdie on his next-to-last hole gave the 4Aces the lead for good, and Detry added another birdie shortly after as the 4Aces pulled away down the stretch.

“After Adelaide, the first couple days seemed pretty surreal,” Kim said. “Obviously we all play to win, right? But now with LIV Golf, there's two elements. You get to win with three other guys that you're battling with. This is pretty special.” 

Rahm has certainly been special since joining LIV Golf. He won two individual tournament titles in his first season in 2024. Since then, he’s celebrated four regular-season tournament wins, two season-long Individual Championships, and Legion XIII’s Team Championship last year. 

But his stretch of 26 consecutive worldwide starts without a tournament win matched the longest stretch of his career. He left Adelaide applauding Kim’s come-from-behind win but also disappointed in his own performance in the final round. 

Starting Sunday as one of the three co-leaders with Detry and Smash GC’s Harold Varner III, he birdied four of his first eight holes, then gave a shot back with a bogey at the ninth.

Through 13 holes, he was just one stroke ahead of Pieters, who was playing in the group ahead. But Rahm’s approach shot with a gap wedge from 90 yards at the 14th left him with a 7-foot birdie putt. He rolled that in while Pieters bogeyed the 15th, a two-shot swing that proved decisive down the stretch. He teed off at the 18th with a five-shot lead. 

“It's very fun when you can stand on that podium and celebrate with your teammates,” Rahm said about Legion XIII’s success since his last win. “But as far as obviously being a competitor and as myself goes, I wanted to get this done. It feels different. I think I would be way more ecstatic if I was celebrating with my teammates for the win, like the Aces did today, but there's a sense of self-accomplishment and pride that goes with doing it myself.” 

The 4Aces, meanwhile, were equally respectful of Rahm, both winners enjoying the end of their droughts. 

“I played very, very good all week,” said Pieters, who produced his first individual podium finish, a solo third. “Obviously I can't control the fact that Jon is unbelievable at golf.”

FINAL LEADERBOARDS

Individual Top 10

1 (-23) – Jon Rahm, Legion XIII (66-62-65-64)

2 (-20) – Thomas Detry, 4Aces (64-63-66-67)

3 (-19) – Thomas Pieters, 4Aces (68-66-61-66)

4 (-18) – Harold Varner III, Smash (66-64-63-69)

5 (-17) – Matthew Wolff, RangeGoats (65-64-69-65)

6 (-16) – Carlos Ortiz, Torque (60-65-69-69)

7 (-15) – Dean Burmester, Southern Guards (62-64-69-70)

T8 (-14) – Lucas Herbert, Ripper (66-65-65-70); Sergio Garcia, Fireballs (63-69-65-69); Louis Oosthuizen, Southern Guards (71-65-65-65); Elvis Smylie, Ripper (69-65-67-66); Graeme McDowell, Smash (67-63-70-66); David Puig, Fireballs (65-64-71-66)

Team Top 3

1 (-58) – 4Aces GC (Johnson 65, Kim 66, Pieters 66, Detry 67; Rd. 4 total: -16)

2 (-52) – Smash GC (McDowell 66, Gooch 68, Kokrak 69, Varner III 69; Rd. 4 total: -8)

3 (-51) – Legion XIII (Rahm 64, Surratt 65, Hatton 70, McKibbin 71; Rd. 4 total: -10)

Click here for full leaderboard 

ROUND 4 NOTES

RAHM’S EVENTFUL WEEK: Jon Rahm was not happy with his result last month in Adelaide, a solo second to Anthony Kim. Rahm was the co-leader through 54 holes but shot a final-round 71 to Kim’s 63. 

Consider it a lesson learned that paid dividends Sunday in the final round in Hong Kong as he shot a final-round 6-under 64 for the win. 

“Compared to Adelaide, I would say I came in with a mindset of just trying to be more committed to each shot,” Rahm said. “I think I was a little tentative on that day. That's why on that back nine, once I made that putt on 13, my mindset was to birdie them all coming in.” 

The week started with Rahm helping to arrange flights for stranded LIV Golf players in the Middle East. Then on Thursday, he struggled during his warm-up session. The week obviously ended on a high note. 

“I wish you could have seen my driving exhibition on the first-round range warmup,” Rahm said. “I walked off to that third tee with no clue how I was going to hit it off the tee, and somehow managed to keep it in play and each day got a little bit better. I was not comfortable whatsoever. 

“There was a lot going on this week, and I think there was still a little bit of tension in me on that first day. But a friend of mine, his name is David Novak, he says, each day get better, and each day got a little bit better, and today, coming down the stretch, the swings from 13 through 16 were absolutely perfect swings. I think those holes is pretty much peak Jon Rahm that we can see.” 

DETRY MAKING QUICK IMPACT: Thomas Detry joined Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC in the offseason, joining fellow Belgian and longtime friend Thomas Pieters. Detry finished seventh in his LIV Golf debut in Riyadh and has now followed with a runner-up finish in Hong Kong, making birdie on the final hole to break a tie with Detry. 

Earlier in the week, he was one of several LIV Golf players stranded in the Middle East after the recent conflict began, making his way to Hong Kong thanks to a private plane arranged by Jon Rahm. 

“The first few days were not really fun,” Detry said. “DJ's security guy this week was with me this week in the middle of the desert on Monday night, and what we've been through was quite an adventure. But being here – my game was in a good place. I've been playing some good golf. It's two weeks now out of three that I'm in contention pretty much because I was up there, as well, in Saudi. It's really nice to see all the hard work I've put in during the winter has really paid off. 

“I feel like I can relax now. It was an intense day. I was trying to catch up on Jon, and he played amazingly well. He made some good putts there on the back nine, and I was trying to do everything, but yeah, it was just a really fun day, to be honest. I'm just thrilled.”

AK ENJOYING LIFE AS AN ACE: Anthony Kim’s improvement in his own game helped provide him an opportunity to join a LIV Golf team instead of remaining as an independent Wild Card player. He’s feeling right at home with his new team, the 4Aces. 

“I felt my game was getting better, and I think I had a couple different teams I could go to,” Kim said. “I didn't think they were the right fit. I've known DJ for a long time, developed a great relationship with Thomas Pieters and got to play with Tom Detry in Riyadh. I knew it was a good fit. I couldn't be more excited to be on the 4Aces, and for us to pop off a win is nice.” 

DJ FINISHES STRONG: 4Aces Captain Dustin Johnson shot his team’s lowest score on Sunday, a 5-under 65 that left him tied for 24th at 10 under. Johnson, the 2022 LIV Golf Individual Champion, still isn’t satisfied with his game, even with his team winning on Sunday. He opened the season with consecutive T17 finishes. 

“Obviously I'm still not playing up to my caliber that I feel like I should be,” Johnson said. “It's very close. But the team is playing great. I think we've got four really good players, so I think we're going to be a tough team to beat all year.” 

TOP 5 FOR WOLFF: RangeGoats GC’s Matthew Wolff earned his first top-5 finish since LIV Golf Miami in 2024, shooting a final-round 5-under 65 – his third round of 65 or better this week in Hong Kong. Instead of focusing on his struggles over the past few seasons, the 26-year-old is taking the optimistic approach. It’s paying off. 

“You've just got to pay attention to the good,” Wolff said. “I knew I couldn't do anything about the past couple of bad putts and stuff that I missed. Just got to keep plugging away, which I was happy I did. I've gotten a lot stronger mentally, which has been nice.”

NOTES & NUGGETS 

• Jon Rahm (21), Branden Grace (20) and Abraham Ancer (17) all continued their streak of consecutive rounds under par; Rahm’s streak matches the league record that he previously set 

• Joaquin Niemann’s streak of rounds under par came to an end at 17 as did his streak of rounds in the 60s (8) after shooting a 2-over 72 on Sunday 

• Prior to this week, Thomas Pieters had eight top 10s without a podium finish before finishing solo third in Hong Kong 

• Thomas Detry led the tournament in Strokes Gained Putting (+7.66) and has now finished top 5 on the leaderboard in half of the rounds he has played on LIV Golf (6 of 12) 

• Harold Varner III finished with 24 birdies, the most he’s had in a tournament in his LIV Golf career 

• Only one player (Sam Horsfield) finished over par for the week, tying the LIV Golf record of fewest players finishing over par in a tournament 

• Caleb Surratt finished 18th, despite shooting 5 over after the first round; this is the best placing a player has finished after being in the bottom three of the leaderboard after Rd. 1 

• Southern Guards GC hit 78.1% of their fairways, the team’s best fairway hit percentage in any tournament

STATS LEADERS

Round 4

Driving Distance: Harold Varner III, 341.6-yard avg.

Longest Drive: Joaquin Niemann, 351.9 yards (11th hole)

Driving Accuracy: Younghan Song, 92.86% (13 of 14)

Greens in Regulation: Matthew Wolff, Sebastián Muñoz, Abraham Ancer, Charl Schwartzel, 94.44% (17 of 18)

Scrambling: 10 players at 100%, led by Byeong Hun An (4 of 4)

Fewest Putts: David Puig, Caleb Surratt, Anthony Kim, 25

Bogey-free rounds: Matthew Wolff (65), Louis Oosthuizen (65), Abraham Ancer (66), Younghan Song (66), Byeong Hun An (66), Paul Casey (67), Bjorn Hellgren (67), Laurie Canter (67), Charl Schwartzel (68), Miguel Tabuena (69) 

Cumulative

Driving Distance: David Puig, 328.4-yard avg.

Driving Accuracy: Younghan Song, 91.07% (51 of 56)

Greens in Regulation: Sebastián Muñoz, 87.5% (63 of 72)

Scrambling: Branden Grace, 88.89% (16 of 18) 

Fewest Putts: David Puig, 106

Most Birdies: Carlos Ortiz, 16