Jon Rahm sends message to Masters field after banking over £1m at LIV Golf event despite not winning

Thanks to his performance in the individual tournament alongside his Legion XIII emerging victorious in the team event, LIV Golf’s Jon Rahm will defend his Masters crown £1 million richer

Jon Rahm heads to Augusta National to defend his Masters title riding a wave of momentum after his Legion XIII secured a second LIV Golf team victory of the season in Miami.

At Trump National Doral on Sunday, Legion XIII claimed team glory while Dean Burmester pipped Sergio Garcia to the LIV Golf Miami individual crown. The South African secured the $4 million (£3.2m) payout while Legion XIII clinched a $3 million (£2.4m) split between Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Caleb Surratt and Kieran Vincent.

Rahm and his team – an expansion franchise awarded to him as part of his controversial switch from the PGA Tour – clung on late to secure the LIV Golf Miami team title. Legion XIII took the win by one shot over RangeGoats GC to ensure Rahm heads to Georgia pleased.

Given he finished tied for fourth alongside teammate Hatton and Marc Leishman, Rahm took home $833,333 alongside his share of the team winnings. Rahm remains the only player this season with top-10 finishes in each of their first five starts in the LIV Golf season.

“It was a great week,” Rahm said. “Hopefully I can keep doing all the good things I’ve done this week next week and avoid a couple of silly mistakes and hopefully go back-to-back.”

Rahm’s three-under score of 69 led the way for Legion XIII on Sunday, with Surratt adding a 70, Hatton a 71 and Vincent a 77 as the team finished one-under for the day. Legion XIII also finished 22-under for the week and was in ultimate control until late in the final round.

Hatton began to struggle immensely off the tee while Vincent tallied four consecutive bogeys. Rahm nailed a crucial long birdie putt to steady the ship before Vincent held his nerve to post a bogey on the 18th when a double-bogey would have condemned Legion XIII to a team play-off against the RangeGoats.

“I knew we would find our stride at some point,” Rahm added. “It was definitely a surprise to end up winning the first week, and I would say it was no surprise that we ended up winning this week.”

Rahm, a two-time major champion, is looking to become the first man since Tiger Woods (2001-2002) to win back-to-back Masters titles. He is one of seven LIV Golf stars who have claimed green jackets, including Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Charl Schwartzel, Patrick Reed, and Garcia, and ahead of LIV Golf Miami, the Spaniard shared an image of all 13 LIV Gold stars – which also included Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Adrian Meronk, Joaquin Niemann and Tyrrell Hatton – set to tee off at The Masters.