Rahm surges to lead at LIV in Bolingbrook

Writing from Bolingbrook, Illinois

Saturday, September 14, 2024

Jon Rahm probably doesn’t know it, but he has a chance for a rare Chicago Slam tomorrow.

If he wins LIV Golf’s season-ending individual tournament at Bolingbrook Golf Club, he’ll not only win the season title, the tournament itself, and $22 million ($18 million for the season crown and $4 million for the weekend), but he’ll capture a Chicago Slam.

Rahm won the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields Country Club in 2020, when, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the closest spectators got was watching from outside the fence along the third hole by Vollmer Road. Snagging the LIV Golf Chicago crown at Bolingbrook would complete the unusual feat, and curiously, he’d be the second LIV Chicago winner in succession to also have won at Olympia Fields. Last year, Bryson DeChambeau won at Rich Harvest Farms eight years after winning the U.S. Amateur at Olympia.

The mercurial Spaniard moved to the top of the leader board with the day’s best round, a bogey-free 6-under 64 to place him at 7-under 133 after 36 holes. Unlike the empty fairways at Olympia Fields, some 15,000 fans were on hand Saturday, many following him. Rahm leads fellow Spaniard Sergio Garcia (65 for 134) by a stroke and overnight leader Brooks Kopeka (73 for 135) by two.

Rahm, calling his play “really organized golf,” ran down a curling 45-footer for a birdie on the par-3 17th to get to 5-under for his round and gain a tie with Sergio Garcia, and then scored another birdie on the par-5 third, his final hold of the day, to take the lead.

“I felt like I did everything I needed to do right, committed to the shots that I needed to, and then executed really, really well,” Rahm said. “Didn't miss a lot of fairways. That's a great key around here. Yeah, I think it wasn't until 1, which was my 16th, the only fairway I had missed was 14, and it was barely in the first cut.”

Rahm heads the field in driving distance (362.3 yards), greens in regulation (27 of 36, just ahead of Garcia’s 26), and scrambling. He’s also tied for third in fairways hit, though he has bemoned his driving this week.

Bolingbrook, with fast fairways, slick, quick greens and a steady diet of 12-to-15 mph wind, continued to confound players, especially on approach shots. You don’t often see top-tier players hit a full club long going into a green, but it’s been a common sight this week.

“If you miss the fairway, hitting the green is a very tough task, so you're already on the defensive,” Rahm said. “Again, it's a lot harder than it probably would look on paper.”

Garcia, 44, first gained notice in the 1999 PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club, where he gave Tiger Woods a Sunday scare and eventually lost by a stroke. Saturday, he was ebullient at being a stroke off the lead some 15 miles to the south.

“I still feel like I've got a lot of game in me,” Garcia said. “I'm very fortunate with my body. My body has been very good to me. I've pretty much -- haven't had any injuries throughout my career, so that obviously helps a lot.

“I'm sure there will be nerves (on Sunday). It's normal. You're playing to win another tournament, and there's always going to be some nerves, and it's a good thing.

“You've just got to do the things that you know what to do to kind of keep yourself – keep the RPMs on the heart a little bit lower. It's as simple as that.”

Koepka went south early, squandering the four-stroke lead he built on Friday. He went out in 3-over 38, but played the back nine in even par 35, including a 15-foot birdie at the last to climb within two of the lead and gain a spot in the final threesome with Garcia and Rahm.

Rahm extended his lead in the season points race over Joiquin Niemann, who scored 2-under 68 and is three back of Rahm at 4-under 136, to about 17 points. But if Niemann finishes ahead of Rahm at the finish, he grabs the $18 million bonus, no matter where the finish in relation to anyone else.

Hatton is aces

Tyrrell Hatton aced the 156-yard sixth hole, managing the feat with a 9-iron.

“I think that's the first one (of his career 12) that they actually got on camera, so that's cool,” Hatton said. “I'll enjoy watching that one back. Yeah, just a gripped down 9-iron around 160 yards and landed just short and trickled in and left side.

Hatton needed that to score 5-under 65 and climb back into red figures 2-under 138) for the tournament. He came into the week third in the season standings, which pays $4 million. But Garcia snuck ahead of him Saturday. That race for third is closer than the Rahm-Niemann fight for first after Rahm’s 64.

Around Bolingbrook

The field averaged 70.481 strokes on Saturday, with the course set at 7,024 yards, still over par but an improvement on Friday’s 71.111. The two-day average is 70.796. … The par-3 third hole has been the toughest, at 3.352. … Only 30.6 percent of the field had hit the first green (the 10th normally) in regulation. … It was obvious from the start Saturday’s crowd would be big. Three blocks away on Rodeo Drive, the Crossroads of Faith United Methodist Church is parking cars for a $20 donation. About 45 minutes before play began Friday, there were about 25 cars parked. About an hour before play began Saturday, some 150 cars were already parked, with a line to get in. … According to LIV, which is suddenly announcing approximate attendance figures, the previous high in the U.S. was 14,000 for both weekend rounds in Nashville this year. … High man for the tournament is Hudson Swafford, whose pair of 8-over 78s would be taken by just about any of the regulars who play Bolingbrook during the week.

– Tim Cronin