Ranker's LIV Debut... Ram Maintained Top 3 Position

LIV Golf Opening Mayakoba FR 1 Under Par
Top 3 and Team Victory in Debut After Transfer
Niman and Garcia Win Playoff with 'Winning Birdie'

World No. 3 Jon Rahm (Spain) had a successful LIV Golf debut.

Yon Rahm is making an approach shot in the final 3rd round of the LIV Golf opening Mayakoba tournament. [Playa del Carmen (Mexico) = Photo by Reuters and Yonhap News]

On the 4th (local time), at the El Camaleon Golf Course (par 71, 7,116 yards) in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, Rahm shot a 1-under 70 in the final third round of the 2024 season opener Mayakoba tournament (total prize money $25 million). He finished tied for 3rd place (10-under 203), missing the playoff by 2 strokes. Rahm led 'Legion 13' to victory (24-under) in the team event.

Starting tied for 2nd place, 2 strokes behind, Rahm made 4 birdies and 3 bogeys. After a bogey on the 6th hole (par 4), he recovered with a birdie on the 7th hole (par 5), then surged to a share of the lead with three consecutive birdies from holes 13 to 15. However, consecutive bogeys on the 17th and 18th holes took him out of the running for the title.

Rahm is a star who has won 11 times on the PGA Tour and held the world No. 1 ranking for 52 weeks. Last season, he captured 4 wins including the Masters major championship. He recently made a surprise move to LIV Golf. The transfer fee varied slightly by media outlet: The Athletic reported $450 million (about 602.3 billion KRW), ESPN $300 million (about 401.5 billion KRW), and The Telegraph ?450 million (about 761.1 billion KRW). This is the highest amount paid to a player transferring to LIV Golf so far.

Joaquin Niemann (Chile) reduced his score by one stroke to tie Sergio Garcia (Spain) at 12-under 201, but secured the winning birdie on the fourth hole of the playoff resumed at the 18th hole (par 4). Niemann led the leaderboard wire-to-wire for three consecutive days to claim his first LIV Golf tournament victory and earned $4 million (about 530 million KRW) in prize money. Garcia showed a strong finish with a 5-under round but settled for runner-up.

Defending champion Charles Howell III, Dustin Johnson, and Brooks Koepka (all USA) tied for 5th place (8-under 205), Korean-American Kevin Na tied for 17th (3-under 210), and New Zealand Korean Danny Lee finished 48th (6-over 219). The LIV Golf League, which started its new season in Mexico, has 13 tournaments remaining. The tour will travel across 8 countries including the USA, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore, Spain, and England.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.